Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

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Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby tijanaoc on Wed May 27, 2015 7:14 am

Hi all,
I'm not a complete fermenting newbie (have done kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut successfully in the past). I have decided to have a go at making ginger bug (to make ginger ale) but not having much success so far.

1st try.
Used store bought ginger, demerara sugar, bottled spring water (2 tbsp of each). After daily feeds for 8 days there was no sign of fermentation. Room temperature is about 66-68 degrees. Figured maybe it was the ginger, since it was not organic maybe it was irradiated and I read somewhere that won't grow anything.

2nd try.
As before, but used organic ginger. Around day 6 there were some small bubbles around the edges and on top - not a huge amount but definite fermentation happening, which I took to mean it was ready to use. I was eager to make ginger ale so followed a recipe to make 2qts, took out some bug (half a cup from memory) and strained it and put in my bottles. I then fed it again with more ginger, sugar and water and kept feeding it daily as before but the bubbles never returned. My jar was going to overflow and mold was starting to form so I tossed it out.

Meanwhile my ginger ale...
I capped the bottles and set to ferment. Since they were glass bottles I thought I would burp them to let off excess CO2 but there was no carbonation happening at all. After a couple of days I didn't burp them at all. I left them for about a week and there was still no sign of any fermentation happening.

I'm kind of reluctant to start another bug. Organic ginger is pretty costly where I am, and no one has an unlimited budget for failed experiments :)

Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks in advance
tijanaoc
 
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby Christopher Weeks on Wed May 27, 2015 1:37 pm

I don't know what's going on when the ginger bug fails to take off. But you should have pretty good foam on your bug when you use it -- not just a few bubbles.
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby tijanaoc on Thu May 28, 2015 5:14 am

Okay thanks - I probably just rushed it then in my impatience for ginger ale :)
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby yeaitsme07 on Thu Jul 02, 2015 8:39 am

Hello there. I was just introduced to the ginger bug a little over a week ago when i realized my ginger ale recipe called for some ginger bug. I quickly leaned what it was and got a recipe, along with many other variations of it online, and began my first bug last tuesday so 9 days ago. It started off just like others' experiences have went, 2 or 3 days start to notice some nice bubbles. At that point I had the understanding that it would take 5 to 7 days to complete before using to make the ale. I continued to feed it and around day 5 the bubbles started to cease. By day 6 there were no bubbles at all, yet still smelled very fermenty. I started a new bug yesterday with organic ginger and sugar, thinking that irradiated non-organic ginger could have been the problem, while still keeping and feeding the first one just to see. Today there is some bubbly/foaminess around the top edge but still doesn't seem like feeding it the past two days did anything. Should I just use it as is or is it just a lost cause now? Also even if its only been 3 or 4 days but seems to be at peak bubbliness, should I use it or try and let it go closer to 7 days? Was also thinking about taking the first one and separating it into two jars so i can top em off with a cup of fresh water and replace some of the old ginger with some new ginger. Do you think doing that would kickstart whatever culture I have growing thus far?
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby Christopher Weeks on Fri Jul 03, 2015 7:00 am

That question about kickstarting the ginger bug is a good one. It sure seems like it should work, but in my kitchen it never does. I have *no* idea why not. You should still try it (and report back to us) but I wanted to share my experiences.

I use my bugs at full-froth, whenever that happens. It is sometimes three days in and sometimes nine. Which is a pain because I'd rather bottle soda on the weekend, but these bugs are among the most temperamental that I work with.

Also, you can try using your no-longer fully active bug to ferment a soda. I've done that. Usually, it hasn't worked for me and I had to pitch commercial wine yeast to save the batch. If you're willing to keep some packets of commercial yeast in the fridge for when you need to save the day, that's an OK, if less satisfying, route. If you *really* want the ginger bug to work, I'd only use it when clearly very active.
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby yeaitsme07 on Fri Jul 03, 2015 9:00 am

Im willing to try whatever. I didn't know until you telling me that it needed to foam, which mine never seemed to do. It was just super bubbly and fizzy on day 3 or 4. The first one was on top of my fridge, which was pretty cool due to this weird chicago weather, so i put the new all organic one in my closet on the top shelf. Im hoping that that will help also. At times it was almost cold to the touch while in my kitchen.
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby yeaitsme07 on Fri Jul 03, 2015 9:19 am

Also i just checked the old bug, which is on the top shelf in another rooms closet so they dont cross ferment. I read that that is a problem with 2 different things fermenting but never read anything about what happens when 2 bugs are stored near each other. Could I keep them together so i'm not running around the house to mix them?
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby Christopher Weeks on Mon Jul 06, 2015 7:18 am

You can keep them together. Cross-fermenting (to the extent that it's a problem at all) is an issue between broadly different types of fermentation. I ferment almost everything together in my kitchen with only wine and miso going in the basement. You (probably) wouldn't want lactobacillus from your kraut getting into a batch of beer that wasn't supposed to be a sour. But other than specific things like that, I don't sweat cross contamination.
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby yeaitsme07 on Mon Jul 06, 2015 4:23 pm

I went and got some yeast today. I was wondering how much I should add? I already added some to my old one as a test but it was barely any, just to see if a little did much.
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Re: Ginger bug / ginger ale troubleshooting

Postby yeaitsme07 on Sun Jul 12, 2015 9:56 am

Update on my ginger bug/ale endeavor:

So the first bug I added the wine yeast too just completely stopped working and started to smell so I tossed it.
The second bug that I made, which was completely organic, wasn't foamy but really bubbly so i decided that i'd just use it to make the ginger ale.

So far the ale has been in 2 mason jars and one big 106 oz jar with grolsch style flip-top lid. They've been in a big plastic tote, for exploding prevention, for going on 4 days now. They finally seem to be carbonating, which i was afraid wasn't happening.

Back to the ginger bug I used. I added without measuring, just eyeballed it, more water back to it and fed it 2 tbsp of sugar and ginger and then let it sit the rest of that day. By the next morning it was actually foaming like crazy. Since then i've been feeding it and stirring it daily as usual and its getting more and more foamy. Its been 4 days since I restarted it and Im thinking about just starting another batch since it seems so active.

One question I have is- Is it ok if the foamy bubbles seem to be like a milky white and not just a clear bubble? I was thinking it was mold but im not quite sure because it still smells delicious! Any thoughts on that one?
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