Interrupt / ginger-beer-guide

A guide to capturing ginger bug and brewing homemade ginger beer

Ginger Beer Guide

A cultured guide to home brewing your own ginger beer.

Equipment for brewing:

• Glass jar (size is not particularly important, except for scale of ingredients and desired quantity of product)
• Knife
• Cutting board or surface
• Strainer/sieve (food-grade plastic is best)
• Measuring cup
• Spoon!
• Sealable bottles (ideally pressure bottles)
• Funnel (ideally plastic)
• Paper towel, napkin, clean washcloth, or something similarly clean and breathable
• Pitcher

Equipment for initial culture capture:

• Grater
• Small jar

Ingredients:

• Fresh organic ginger root
• Fresh organic turmeric root
• Sugar (any kind will do, but it has to be an actual sugar or honey, not a sweetener)
• Candied ginger
• Filtered water

Capturing the culture

This step is only required if you don't have access to some live ginger beer to use as a mother.

Use the grater to shred a small amount of ginger (skin on) into the small jar. Add a bit of sugar (e.g. a packet, a teaspoon). Fill jar part way with filtered water. Stir. Cover with paper towel/clean cloth and use a rubber band to keep it over the mouth of the jar. Every day or two shred in a bit more ginger, add a bit more sugar (same amount is fine), stir, and cover again. Within a few days (usually 3-5) there should be signs of fermentation, specifically there should be some bubbles at the top of the mixture. Keep feeding in the normal way until this bubbling is vigorous, at which point you have captured your starting culture. If you do not see this within 10 days, it may be necessary to get ginger from a different source.

Brewing

Pick a piece of ginger sufficiently large for your fermentation vessel. 5-6 inches per gallon is probably sufficient, though more may be desired for flavor (this amount will be relatively mild). I use about 3-4 inches for a 1.5 liter jar. Peel the ginger (not required, I just like to). I like to use a spoon for this (ideal size is probably a teaspoon), as I find it is the easiest, most effective method to peal ginger. Select a piece of turmeric (if you are using it) somewhere in the range of 1/5 to 1/3 the amount of ginger used. Peel it as well (again, not required). Cut ginger and turmeric into smallish slices (size does not particularly matter). This is easiest when cutting with the grain (in the direction the "fingers" grow), especially for the ginger, which tends to be fibrous.

If finishing a batch, strain it into a suitable vessel, such as a pitcher, and clean out the glass vessel (optional, but recommended; the dead organisms won't cause any harm, but they are unsightly), and retain a few of the slices or ginger and/or turmeric from this batch. Put the new slices of ginger and turmeric into the glass jar (and the pieces you retained, if finishing a batch). Add sugar. I use between 1/2 and 3/4 cups for a 1.5 liter batch. 1.5 cups per gallon is probably sufficient (but add more or less to taste). Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup from the last batch (or your captured culture) to the glass jar. Fill the jar most of the rest of the way with filtered water. Stir. Cover with paper towel/clean cloth and secure over the mouth of the jar with a rubber band. Mark the jar with the date of the batch start (I like to use tape + sharpie for this).

If finishing a batch, bottle it now for a secondary fermentation. This is the part where it will become carbonated (and potentially more alcoholic). Cut up one piece of candied ginger per bottle (this is for flavor finish, and is optional, but recommended). The goal in cutting it up is to ensure that the pieces will come back out of the bottle, so check the sizes against the bottle's aperature, and bear in mind that the pieces of ginger will swell some in the bottle. Fill the bottles with your batch, leaving some room for the gas (carbonation) to accummulate. Set the caps. If not using pressure bottles, it will probably be necessary to regularly off-gas the bottles to avoid explosions.

Let the primary fermentation (the large glass jar) and the secondary fermentation (sealed bottles) run for approximately the same amount of time. I like 3 - 4 days. After this, bottle the primary fermentation, and refrigerate the secondary fermentations. They can be consumed anytime after this (even before refrigeration). I recommend opening bottles in a sink until you get used to the amount of carbonation produced, as you may get overflows (or worse, ginger/turmeric beer gushing out like a sprinkler). The right balance will produce a nice champagne-like pop when the stopper is removed, but will not overflow.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Recommendations:

I like to use rapadura (sometimes speleed rapidura), and whole-cane, unrefined sugar rich in minerals (which make the organisms happy). Brown sugars are usually better than white in terms of mineral content. However, the organisms will happily consume any sugar you give them, including honey (it may take longer, as honey is composed of relatively complex sugars). Lighter sugars will give lighter flavors. If using white sugar, considering adding a bit of molasses for a mineral booster. Alternatively, a pinch of a natural salt (e.g. Himalayan pink salt) will provide a good mineral base.

Use fresh organic ginger, especially for capture. Non-organic ginger may have been irradiated, which tends to kill the organisms you are trying to capture. Also, ginger and turmeric are roots/rhizomes, which tend to soak up whatever is in the soil around them (and organic produce cannot use pesticides, etc). Powdered ginger may contain anti-caking agents, and is unlikely to have live organisms (not necessarily required if you already have the culture, but will keep your culture more healthy).

Filtered, or otherwise chlorine-free water is important. The organism do poorly in the presence of chlorine.

Use glass or food-safe plastic wherever possible. The organisms are sensitive to metals.

I like to add turmeric to this for these reasons:

1. Makes a thicker head; ginger alone makes a reasonable, but light head
2. Adds complexity and a bit of spiciness to the flavor
3. Adds a bit more sourness to the flavor (which is better than it probably sounds)

The candied ginger is added to the bottles for finish. I've found it adds a nice, sweet offset to the natural sourness/tonic flavor of the brew.

Use pressure bottles, if possible. These will generally have for a cap wire baling and a stopper (ceramic or plastic) with a rubber seal, and may or may not be made of amber glass (it doesn't particularly matter in this application, as light is not a factor). They can be acquired for approximately $2/each at San Francisco Brewcraft (http://www.sanfranciscobrewcraft.com/; I recommend a personal visit, if possible, as their actual stock is not always accurately reflected online). While it is possible to use even plastic bottles, they are much more likely to literally explode. The pressure bottles won't explode literally, but if too much carbonation is allowed to accummulate, the force with which the brew leaves the bottle may still leave a huge, highly-aromatic mess; I've seen it come out so fast that the stopper didn't have time to fall out of the way, and ginger beer sprayed out in all directions like a sprinkler, soaking me in the process. I have also found that the bottles in which Dave's/GT kombucha is distributed can keep a good airtight seal, if the cap is tightened down firmly. Do not use metal. The organisms are generally sensitive to metal, so you'll likely end up killing off the probiotics.

Suitable organic supplies can be obtained pretty reliably at Rainbow Grocery (http://www.rainbow.coop/). Rapadura can be difficult to obtain locally elsewhere. Organic ginger (and often turmeric) are usually also available at Thom's (on Geary between 22nd and 23rd avenues). Whole Foods and/or Safeway may also carry organic ginger.