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Natural Ginger Ale

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How to make natural ginger ale- a healthy and delicious treat full of probiotics and enzymes
Wellness Mama » Blog » Recipes » Drink Recipes » Natural Ginger Ale

It turns out that soda hasn’t always been the high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavor concoction in an aluminum can that we know today.

For hundreds of years (and probably much longer) cultures around the world have made various forms of naturally fermented “sodas” from sweetened herbal teas or fruit juice mixes. These natural fermented drinks contained beneficial enzymes and probiotics to boost health and were a far cry from the unhealthy versions we have today.

This version uses a fermented ginger culture to create a naturally fizzy soda! Ginger is a delicious herb that has been used in many cultures for its health-boosting properties. From my herb profile of ginger:

Ginger has been used in Chinese Medicine for thousands of years and is said to help:

  • Soothe digestive disturbances
  • Alleviate nausea (great in early pregnancy)
  • Reduce fever
  • Calm coughing and respiratory troubles
  • Stimulate the circulatory system
  • Help relieve muscle aches and pain
  • Can help get rid of dandruff
  • Emerging evidence shows it helps lower cholesterol
  • Japanese research has found ginger is effective in lowering blood pressure and cancer risk

This natural recipe for ginger ale uses fresh ginger and a cultured ginger mixture (called a ginger bug) to create a naturally fermented and naturally fizzy ginger ale. Though this mixture can contain a small amount of alcohol if left to ferment at room temperature for weeks, we use the short brew method to create a fizzy soda without the alcohol.

Delicious Ginger Ale

Homemade ginger ale is soothing for digestive disturbances and contains probiotics and enzymes. As with any fermented product, I’d suggest starting with a small amount (4 ounce or so) and working up, as all the probiotics and enzymes can cause an upset stomach in those who aren’t used to consuming fermented products. I found small amounts of this mixture helpful in early pregnancy and any time one of us has an upset stomach, to ward off nausea. It also just tastes great!

This recipe makes 2 quarts of natural ginger ale, though the recipe can be adjusted up or down by using a ratio of ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup ginger bug starter per 1 quart of water.

How to make natural ginger ale- a healthy and delicious treat full of probiotics and enzymes

Homemade Ginger Ale Recipe

A naturally fermented old-fashioned ginger ale (also once called ginger beer) that contains beneficial probiotics and enzymes.
Cook Time 7 minutes
Total Time 2 days 7 minutes
Calories 53kcal
Author Katie Wells

Servings

2 quarts

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Make a “wort” for your ginger ale by placing 3 cups of the water, minced ginger root, sugar, molasses if needed, and salt in a saucepan and bringing to a boil.
  • Simmer the mixture for about five minutes until sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to smell like ginger.
  • Remove from heat and add additional water. This should cool it but if not, allow it to cool to room temperature before moving to the next step.
  • Add fresh lemon or lime juice and ginger bug or whey.
  • Transfer to a 2 quart glass mason jar with an air-tight lid. Stir well and put lid on.
  • Leave on the counter for 2-3 days until carbonated. Watch this step carefully. Using whey will cause it to ferment more quickly. It should be bubble and should “hiss” like a soda when the lid is removed. This is very temperature dependent and the mixture may need to be burped or stirred during this fermentation time on the counter.
  • Transfer to refrigerator where it will last indefinitely.
  • Strain before drinking.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Homemade Ginger Ale Recipe
Amount Per Serving (1 cup)
Calories 53
% Daily Value*
Sodium 159mg7%
Carbohydrates 14g5%
Fiber 0.1g0%
Sugar 13.7g15%
Protein 0.2g0%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Notes

As with any traditional fermented drink, this is more of an art than a science. The outcome depends greatly on the strength of your culture, the temperature of your house, and the sugar used. The final mixture should smell of ginger and slightly of yeast/fermentation and should be fizzy. Watch carefully that it doesn’t become too carbonated as this will cause too much pressure and may result in an exploding jar! 
The mixture can be strained and transferred to Grolsch style bottles before putting in the refrigerator. 

Like this recipe? Check out my new cookbook, or get all my recipes (over 500!) in a personalized weekly meal planner here!

Have you ever made a naturally fermented drink like ginger ale, kombucha, or water kefir? What is your favorite? Share below!

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

436 responses to “Natural Ginger Ale”

  1. Kaiya Avatar

    I am curious about fizz expectations. I have exploding bottles, lots of fizz, when Iopen, but drinking is fairly flat and fizz-less. Is this just what you get when carbonating naturally, or is it possible to get that really awesome internal fizzing you get in commercial sodas or closeto it? Suggestions?

  2. Marzhall Avatar

    5 stars
    So ah, i followed the steps and its a bit spicy. can you tell me what i could have done wrong,

    1. kaiya Avatar

      I’d like to know what you did right! I tripled the ginger and mine is still barely spicy at all : (

  3. Kaiya Avatar

    Also, I don’t have much carbonation, because my jars are not airtight, I suppose. I have no access to mason jars, is there any way to airtight seal a normal jar, I can’t find any information online, thanks.

  4. Kaiya Avatar

    I have made a quantity of ginger bug, as an experiment, and now I would like to make a much bigger production. If I have a quart of ginger bug, how can I increase it? Do I just add extra water, ginger, and sugar, proportionately, in the same way as creating the bug in the first place? Do I have to feed it big amounts daily like I did in the beginning for a period of time?

  5. Charlotte Avatar
    Charlotte

    Is the lemon vital to the recipe or just for taste? I made mine the night before yesterday and I just now remembered I forgot to add the lemon juice so it’s been over 24 has almost 48 hrs.

  6. daniela Avatar

    Great idea to ferment ginger . Can’t wait to try it 🙂 For my fermenting drinks I use 3 tbls (for 5 liters of water) of bragg vinegar with the mother since it’s simpler and I also get a fizzy drink. In Europe, we used make elder flower and lemon drink all the time since we did not have juices on the market because of communism .So we would bring home elder flowers ( they were everywhere on the streets) and beg my mom to make us juice 🙂

    1. Katie Avatar

      This is so interesting! Was it fermented? You had lemons locally available even when there was no juice on the market? My grandmother used to grow elderberries in upstate NY and made delicious jam with them, but I didn’t know then you could use the flowers – now they’re a favorite flavour!

  7. Melissa Avatar

    I was making this for the first time with my children and I had a “moment” of forgetfulness (doing to many tasks at once). I realized I added the whey in the first step with the ginger, water and stuff on the stove. Did I wreck it or will it still ferment. I did still add the water and the lemon juice in the final step and put it on my counter hoping it will still work.

  8. jules Avatar

    I made another batch of ginger soda using your “ginger bug”
    directions but i did not boil the water when adding the sugar-lemon-ginger and bug.
    couple days later here its nice and fizzy and just tasted it and almost perfect tasting.
    The i noticed on the fermenting lid underside there was a small spot of speckled mold.
    now the 2 days i had my ginger soda fermenting on the counter i was stirring once a day.
    If the batch tastes ok and no visible mold in the brew would this still be ok? I boil/sterilized
    my glass jars but just hand washed the plastic fermenting lids.

  9. Susan Avatar

    Thank you so much for posting your drink recipes. I made the root beer last week and it turned out great. I will make more tonight. I want to make the ginger ale recipe as well. The ginger bug I made is really fizzy! I had no idea that would happen. If I made enough of the ginger bug, I would just use that for my drink! (Might get a stomach ache from it though!)

  10. Brian Avatar

    Has anyone calculated what % ABV this recipe produces?

    The “Ginger Bug” is nothing more than wort that has collected wild yeasts and bacterias (good ones but still yeasts and bacterias nonetheless). Using the word “fermenting” throughout the recipe is accurate because that’s exactly what happens when yeast/bacteria meet sugars disolved in water. The bubbles you’re seeing are the CO2 being released from the fermentation process and the other by-product of that process is…. ethyl alchohol. I haven’t done the mathbut I would be willing to bet that the amount of sugar used along with the amount of water would produce an originaly gravity of… 1.030-1.035… and after fermentation, you would probably end up with about 2.5% ABV.

    Drinking two of these would be like drinking one Budweiser. No wonder it helps ease pain.

  11. Jess Avatar

    Hi, my first ginger ale was good. Had to burp everyday on the counter. I didn’t strain the bug or ginger from the wort last time and it carbonated fast.

    I strained both this time with a metal strainer and I’m hoping this won’t mess it up. Am I or am I not supposed to strain the bug and/or wort before I ferment it? Or does it need the ginger/fruit pieces in it to properly ferment?

    Also, I had my bug in the frig for a week but never added water. I took it out today and let it get to room temperature. It still smelled yeasty and sweet, but wasn’t really fizzy. I still used it. Will it still work?

    I added more water, sugar and ginger after I used it and a few hours later it’s already foamy on top. I think I have a strong bug.

  12. Ian Avatar

    5 stars
    Hi Katie, Wellness Mama, thank you so much for all of your wisdom and knowledge. Quick question, I didn’t see it posted yet I don’t think, is it crucial to seal the big jar of ginger ale for the 2-3 days or can it be covered with a cheesecloth but will just take longer? I ask because isn’t it being air tight that causes the growth of bad bacteria? Thanks! Grace and Peace. Ian.

  13. Nick Avatar

    Tx for the recipe I drink ginger tea often about 4″ sometimes within raw honey sometimes Straight, I recognize a health benefit from this pretty quickly especially for nauseous ness or headache sometimes for join pain. I look forward to trying your recipe and experimenting with it. I Also look forward to maybe trying to make ginger beer described above … Anyway great info.

  14. Ben Avatar

    5 stars
    Hi,

    I realized that I didn’t wait until room temperature to add the ingredients back together. The added water did cool it significantly though, to the point that is was only mildly warm to the touch. Will it be okay?

  15. Barry Avatar

    I thought this to be interesting when you said that making any probiotic beverage that it is more of an Art then Science and I agree with you because many different cultures have their own way of fermenting their beverages.

    I have a new technique that I discovered from 2 natural health sources. First is using EM-PRO liquid probiotic that is fermentation of black strap molasses .

    And the 2nd source of information is from my Ayurvedic Doctor from the Mangosteen Resort and Ayurveda Spa at Rawai Beach in Phuket Thailand where I live.

    Place a small piece of raw or blanched Tamarind paste in the liquid and add some Em-Pro. In addition to the above I add a bit of organic cold pressed apple cider vinegar and a bit of Himalayan Pink Sea Salt or Sole Salty Water. Some fresh squeezed lemon juice with rind. Use only a wooden spoon as metal disturbs the cultured bacteria. I let the brew sit at room temperature for one to 3 days. I do this for making raw goat milk kefir.

    Holistic Chef Barry uses different combinations with the above ingredients for water coconut kefir and other probiotic beverages . Sometimes I may place some fermented Traditional style Korean Kim- chi into a certain brew. Holistic Chef Barry ” The Good Earth Chef “

    1. Louise Avatar

      I would love to have a good kim chi recipe…I used to work at a big hotel kitchen and the nice Korean ladies would bring me some….I miss it sooooo much!

  16. april Avatar

    Hi! I am addicted to this website! I am making this for the first time. On the fifth day of fermenting my ginger bug we were suddenly called away due to a death in our family. I didn’t think to put it in the fridge before I left. Today is day eight. My bug smells okay but has a white film on top. Is it ruined? Should I just start over or can I salvage it somehow. Thanks for any help!

  17. Mary Holman Avatar
    Mary Holman

    Thank you for this recipe, I am really anxious to try it, but do have one concern. You say it is temperature dependent, what temperature is best for making it? I live on the southeastern Arizona desert and have no central heating/cooling system, we heat with wood in the winter and open up windows and doors and turn on fans in the summer. Our temps can range from the upper 20’s in the winter to 100+ in the summer so with no way to regulate a constant temperature I’m wondering if I will be able to brew this drink under these conditions. I sure hope so, I have Celiac disease and this drink could do wonders for my poor, old tired gut. lol

    1. Katie - Wellness Mama Avatar

      It will just ferment more quickly at high temps and more slowly at low temps so if it is hot in your home, watch it carefully and store in the fridge if it gets too fizzy

      1. Mary Holman Avatar
        Mary Holman

        Thanks, I’m going to start it today, can’t wait to taste it.

  18. dana pallessen Avatar
    dana pallessen

    I plan to use coconut flower sugar. do you think this will work as well. I do not use grass (table) sugar. can you respond to my email please?

  19. Aaron Avatar

    yes, I used full fat organic yogurt. What container should I use to make sure it is air tight. I believe that could be my problem. Thank you so much for your help on this.

  20. Aaron Avatar

    I am on my second failed attempt. It is not fermenting. When I transfer it to my “ball” air tight jar do I need to set the jar on boiling water to make sure it’s airtight? Or am I not doing something else? Any help would be very appreciate

    1. Katie - Wellness Mama Avatar

      You shouldn’t need to set it in boiling water… Is your ginger bug getting frothy and bubbly? That would be the first step to make sure as you’ll need the cultures from that for the next step to work. During that step, you’ll want to make sure it is lightly covered so it has access to the cultures in the air…

      1. Aaron Avatar

        I am actually using the whey method (linked to your recipe) and I am not getting any carbonation. Even after 4 days of sitting on the counter. I am just hand tightening it and I don’t know if that is enough. Thoughts?

        From: Discouraged dad trying to do something in the kitchen 🙂

          1. Morgan Avatar

            I am not using the ginger bug, I am using whey. I thought I could use this as a substitute?

            Thanks

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