# Ginger Bug Advice



## dessertmaker (Jul 31, 2013)

Anybody on here have any experience getting a ginger bug ferment kicked off? This ginger is like STUBBORN! I keep yelling at it to ferment and its like "NO!" 

I've got about half a cappuccino mug of ginger mash sitting in 1:1 organic brown sugar/water and I've added a 1 inch bulb of minced ginger and 2 TSP 1:1 sugar/water every day for about 4 days now and i'm seeing nothing.


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## saramc (Jul 31, 2013)

Your bug likes warmth plus make sure the skin of the ginger is intact. I have used this bug for years, http://homegrown.org/blog/2009/02/l...-your-own-ginger-ale-cola-root-beer-and-more/


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## beardy (Jul 31, 2013)

saramc said:


> your bug likes warmth plus make sure the skin of the ginger is intact. I have used this bug for years, http://homegrown.org/blog/2009/02/lacto-fermented-soda-skillshare-make-your-own-ginger-ale-cola-root-beer-and-more/



so awesome!!


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## dessertmaker (Aug 1, 2013)

Looks like warmth was the missing factor. I was fermenting at 72 with my wine which must be on the low side for this. I moved it to my window sill which is a few degrees warmer and I can see the bubbles starting. Hopefully the sunlight doesn't have a negative effect.


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## saramc (Aug 1, 2013)

dessertmaker said:


> Looks like warmth was the missing factor. I was fermenting at 72 with my wine which must be on the low side for this. I moved it to my window sill which is a few degrees warmer and I can see the bubbles starting. Hopefully the sunlight doesn't have a negative effect.



No the sun should not bother it. This is one time where some sunlight is okay.


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## dessertmaker (Aug 21, 2013)

Surprise: I bottled a 1 gallon batch of ginger beer soda and decided to try pouring wort over the dregs in the carboy to see if I could get a quicker ferment. 6 hours later my cap started hissing at me. On a whim I put it under airlock and within 24 hours had alcoholic ginger beer. I obviously didn't take SG readings as this was originally intended to be soda. But my tastebuds say somewhere close to 4% and it is GOOD!

I may just have to give this a shot again and try a skeeter pee or dragon blood on ginger dregs!


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## saramc (Aug 21, 2013)

Just remember if you combine your ginger bug with winemaking you are combining lactobacillis/wild yeast ginger bug with cultivated yeast. Keep us posted.


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## dessertmaker (Aug 21, 2013)

GBP is is a symbiotic colony of yeast and bacteria naturally present inside of the ginger root right? Primarily a specific yeast that is supposedly unique to the root and a specific lactobacteria? 

I sterilized the knife and jar using KMeta and sterilized the sugar/water by bringing it to a rolling boil and allowing it to return to room temperature. I washed my root in tap water for 60 seconds scrubbing the outside with my hands, and then completely submerged it in boiling water for another 60 seconds, before adding the ginger root. So I'm fairly confident that my starter doesn't have much of whatever is in the air here. 

Anyone know of any good modern articles that explore pure ginger culture? 

Or maybe I could take a swab of my culture and send it to the mold identification lab my dads company uses for inspection samples.......


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## saramc (Aug 22, 2013)

Ginger bug made by combining fresh ginger root with sugar and water and then allowed to rest in an aerobic environment will encourage colonization of lactobacilli (found on skin of all fruits) and wild yeast.
The resulting liquid culture can be maintained indefinitely as long as it is fed intermittently with just sugar and water. Some feed with more ginger too. Same concept as a sourdough starter.

Ginger beer plant, the crystal like culture, looks like super small tapioca pearls but translucent, should not be confused with ginger bug or the stuff people make a 'plant' from using bread yeast-sugar-water-ground/fresh ginger is composed of two specific yeast and bacteria: Saccharomyces florentinus and Lactobacillus hilgardii (formerly Brevibacterium vermiforme). The origin of this GBP has never been confirmed, they have documentation going back to Crimean War, and some theorize it was found as a cluster of clear crystals on a ginger plant, but I have never stumbled across any lab recreation. Jim with www.gingerbeerplant.net in the UK is probably the #1 source for ginger beer plant in the world. People are selling knock off ginger beer plant which is made from bread yeast, wine yeast, water kefir grains or hybrid water kefir grains. The two organisms in true GBP, which slowly produces new 'grains', are not the same as water kefir grains, which has many different names(tibicos, Indian sea rice, Japanese water bees, etc) and water kefir is commonly composed of lactobacilli, lactococci/streptococci, and yeast. It should be noted that water kefir grains and real GBP have one shared organism, Saccharomyces florentinus.
Read up about all things kefir including the common organisms found in milk kefir grains(30+ organisms) vs water kefir grains(10+ organisms), http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html. This kefir site is info provided by the kefir community's leading resource, Dom is his name. I own water kefir and Jim's GBP and use ginger bug, none are the same. You can make the same 'ginger beer' recipe but use each of these cultures and get three dofferent outcomes.

FWIW, I've even made a 'bug' using pineapple rind instead of ginger, the soda I make taste just like soda made from my ginger bug, even maintained the starter for about a year and eventually tossed it. Yemoos.com has a very good photo of ginger beer plant and water kefir grains, they are both crystal like gems but very, very different.

I would love to know what organisms are growing in your ginger bug, even the ginger for that matter.


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## dessertmaker (Aug 22, 2013)

saramc said:


> I would love to know what organisms are growing in your ginger bug, even the ginger for that matter.



I can do a swab of the bottom of my jar. I think I have an old swab kit floating around in one of my toolboxes. The lab would isolate yeast and any mold it might have in it for sure. I don't know whether he would be willing to give results on bacteria though. I'll shoot him an email and see.


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