I mix my kombucha 50-50 with grape or cranberry juice. I haven’t tried ginger bug, but now I have to try it. I also make water and milk kefir. Water kefir and ginger is really good.
I juiced plums from my Santa Rosa plum tree a few months ago - just straight up juice (no sugar or water added) then hot water bath canned it all. After watching your how to make a ginger bug video about 8 days ago and successfully making it, and after watching this video, I decided to give my home canned juice a try. I used 1 cup purified water, 1 cup strained plum juice, 2 TBSP of cane (white) sugar, and 1/8 cup of ginger bug in a pint sized canning jar. I placed a canning lid on top loosely. This sat overnight and had a nice layer of bubbles on top today. I decided to go ahead and bottle it in empty and thick plastic water bottle this morning and it's carbonating nicely! After about 8 hours carbonating in the water bottle, I tried a taste and it's a nice tart sweet flavor with a kombucha like flavor and very nice effervescent bubbles! Very enjoyable. Will let it go another 6 hours or so either drink up or put in fridge tonight. Thanks for your videos!
😮😮😮 Whoah! Freshly juiced plums? I bet that tasted so good! That sounds amazing to be able to drink something so fresh that you grew yourself. Thanks so much for telling us about it. So happy to have you here! 💕
@@FermentationAdventure Thanks 😊! The tree produced a crazy amount this year and I figured I'd better juice and can it all. Have discovered the juice is amazing when mixed with ginger beer and that's what started me into finding out about ginger bugs. I have a ginger bug ginger beer fermenting now as well. Giving that a try after watching your video on it. Also trying out freshly juiced concord grape one. We have so much fruit varities we grow here!
Somebody already mentioned here the ph of the juices. It is well known for home brewers that any yeast has its own ph tollerance and there is way to controll it. Usually the lower the ph the less activity for the yeast to the point that it goes dormant. However as soon as the ph raises it will resume its activity. Lemon juice has the lowest ph which is equivalent to the highest acidity of all juices and that is because lemon juice is basically citric acid. Yeast like the ph around 5 -5.5 while lemon juice could be as low as 2. The remedy? You have to neutralize a bit that acidity and the most available method is to add a bit of baking soda, stirr it, let it react with the acid until calms down, it will be an efervescent reaction but won't take long. When the ph rises the yeast will start working. Another thing worth mentioning is that any yeast fermentation consume sugar and releases alcohol and CO2. The bubbles are the CO2 released and it will come up as long there is still sugar for the yeast to eat and if you bottle it will build preassure. That is how beer is preassurized in the bottles in home brewing, however you need to add a bit of sugar. As sugar being consumed the juice becomes... more sour at taste. About the alcohol content. The hydrometer, an important tool in wine and beer making, measures the sugar content. So when you measured in your drink the 1.020 it means that there is still sugar left in your drink and that 3% ABV is the potential than can be made if all sugar left is consumed, untill the measurement goes down to 1.000. In order to measure the alcohol present in a liquid you have to use the hydrometer to measure sugar content BEFORE and AFTER the fermentation. You subtract the numbers and that will tell you the alcohol percentage. The fruit juices that you used have a sugar content of around 1.050 on the hydrometer scale. You measured after the fermentation 1.020 so the difference is 0.030. That will give you a 3.9 ABV with the potential to go up to 6.5 if the rest of sugar is consumed. www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
Thank you so much for this detailed explanation! We've seen some batches like our lemonade slow down with the lemon juice. We'll have to try some baking soda in there to get it back to fermenting quicker. Awesome comment!
@@FermentationAdventure don't add too much. I don't know how much is enough for that particular quantity, the best way is to add some, stir and check the ph. In a bucket of 5 gallons fermentation I added few table spoons of baking soda, for a jar probably a tip of teaspoon would do it. The back draw of this method is that it may incur a bit of salty/bitter taste as a result of the salts are being created after the acid+soda combination. Remember from school, any acid combined with any base will neutralize resulting is water plus some kind of salt. Nice videos you make, by the way. I made the tepache after your recipe and it had success with my wife and daughter. I am at the second batch now. :o))) Keep the good work!
This is a great note! I’m just getting started with ferments. Trying different flavors for water kefir soda. I’ve had a lemon flavor jar that just will not get fizzy. This explains it all. I will add a bit of baking soda see if that sparks it up. Thank you for taking time to write such great detail. Be well ✨
I made a ginger bug a few months ago and have been using it my switchel. After watching this vid and having pineapple juice on hand I decided to try this. I just used it yesterday in a margarita, it was good.
You guys are quickly becoming a fixture in my fermentation kitchen! I absolutely LOVE the content and the sense of wellness and joy that you both exude.
I love fresh made sodas but I skip the first fermentation as it just makes it more alcoholic and taste worse. Just mix up the room temp fruit juice with the gingerbug and then bottle them. Have one bottle that is plastic so you can tell when pressure has built up and then refrigerate. No burping. You will end up with a carbonated juice that does not taste like booze or cider.
@@justinelourdes6686I read that any plastic bottle that had Perrier water or even just soda would work. It's not a matter of being safe, that's more of a concern when you're stealing a glass bottle. It's a matter of feeling for the bottle getting hard with pressure. Turn like a two liter bottle of 7-Up that you just bought, it has some give. Then, if you shake it a bit the carbonation builds up and the bottle gets harder. That's all you're feeling for.
This is a good tip, I’ll give this a try. I am on a health binge and interested in non-alcoholic beverages. I think I accidentally made alcoholic ginger beer 🥴.
Just discovered your channel and I love you guys!... Not just the amazing content but the positive uplifting energy your videos are packed with. I've got some catching up to do. Thank you
Wow thank you so much for the love El Tuco! We're so happy you're enjoying our videos! There's a lot in life to be happy about. We hope you get to try some of these amazing ferments! 💓
Wow! I made a ginger bug a few weeks ago, it's been in the fridge (I actually made 2 as I knew I wouldn't be able to not-drink it). Usually I make mead out of honey from my hives, and I decided to use the ginger bug, sugar and organic ground ginger and add champagne yeast. Within 6 hours my mead was looking relatively quiet, while my ginger bug wine was going nuts! The ginger was not just floating, it was careening around inside the jar! Three days have passed and the ginger is still moving, and, after a small taste test, I could tell that it has quite a kick to it already! Thank you for the inspiration and all the information :)
Made a bunch of these this past couple of weeks! Thank you! I also made some with real fruit -- Rhubarb (and pineapple) is awesome! Would never have thought to use Rhubarb but I had some in the freezer. Thanks for all your great ideas!
I've been saving up my orange and tangerine peels in the freezer. Then I just boil them for half an hour along with sugar, natural vanilla extract, cloves and ginger pieces from the bug. Sometimes I add cinnamon, nutmeg. Back in room temperature, I just strain and bottle in plastic bottles and add the bug. I squeeze them to make room for gas and screw the lids on tight. I keep the bottles at room temperature for 1-2 days until they're very firm and full of gas, then to the fridge they go. They become creamy in taste. Delicious healthy soda!
I made this recently with apple juice, pineapple and mango juice. Mango seems to take longer to ferment but finally seen some champagne bubbles this morning. I’m leaving it to ferment a bit more. The pineapple was overactive while fermenting the first 2 days and suddenly died down on the 3rd day. I added a teaspoon of sugar in each of the bottles (I bottled 24 hrs ago) and opened it to bring some oxygen into the bottle and then shook it a bit. It’s looking really alive now. I’ll wait another 12 hrs before refrigerating. The apple juice taste so much like dry white wine! That fermented 3 days and bottled 12 hrs. I can’t wait to try the finished pineapple and mango! Next time I’m going to try fermenting only 1 day or less before bottling to seriously cut down the alcohol. 😅 PS this is still with using the ginger ground w/brewer’s yeast left over from the first ginger beer batch. I’m going to make big with real ginger this weekend 🎉
Update: I just now tasted the pineapple soda and it’s sooo alcoholic 😂 so instead of waiting another 12 hrs, I put it in the fridge. I was hoping to bring these sodas to work lol I think this is a weekend-to-share-with-special-people kinda drink now. I think I will bottle the mango juice now instead of waiting! There is bubbling. Thanks Fermentation Adventure!
Another update: I threw out one of the bottles of pineapple and added fresh pineapple juice with the left over yeast in that same bottle. It bubbled right away and left it bottled 12 hrs before refrigerating. Let’s see how that goes! It was definitely too alcoholic for my taste 😅
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing! That's interesting about the pineapple juice. They definitely taste a little better with less time fermenting. Did you have a favorite that you settled on? Loved the play by play! 😊
@@FermentationAdventure Hey! Yeah my favourite is the mango soda! Thought it didn’t bubble on top like the pineapple or apple juice, I can definitely taste the fermentation and the fizz. I wonder why the bubbles don’t stay on top! I can see little ones travel up before bottling. Also, when I first opened it after bottling (48 hrs in fridge), the bubbles then showed up but then tapered off. There was definitely fermentation but hardly any alcohol. I will do it again!
I’ve just come across your videos and I just love watching y’all. I’ve been making sourdough bread for about 4 months and love working with my starter. I’ve decided to go further with making kombucha and to get some ginger and make some ginger bug then sodas. Thanks so much for all the ideas and keep the videos coming.
Thank you so much for the kind words Lisa! We're so happy to inspire you to discover even more ferments. Sourdough bread is so tasty! We need to get back into that and get some batches going. Thank you for the reminder! Let us know if you find any tasty recipes and happy fermenting! ❤️❤️❤️
I love watching yalls videos! You explain so perfectly! I’ve had my ginger bug going and ready. Thank you so much. So I’m making exact juices in awhile. I love you two! Thanks so much!
Here's some of the top reasons it may not have worked for you: ua-cam.com/video/Z0fnIcakwnM/v-deo.htmlsi=-QTMcbMnGATMXlxY&t=385 This is our ginger bug Q&A video where we answer some of the top ginger bug questions like this one. Hopefully this helps give you some ideas of what you might be able to change for the next batch.
Just found your channel searching for homemade soda recipes. Glad I did! The one I was most excited about was the lemon... So glad you hung in there with it. I can't wait to try that one. Thanks again! Grady
@@FermentationAdventure Me too! This seems much more like what I would enjoy relative to the skoby process. I recently started a sourdough that has been fantastic and fun. Look forward to making tasty (and high octane drinks) thanks to you! Take care, Grady
Hey there! I always enjoy your videos. I wanted to share that I have been making ginger ale with my ginger bug for some time now. I wanted to see if I could use honey to make my ginger bug. I made a new ginger bug with honey instead of granulated sugar. I have used honey instead of granulated sugar in the fermentation mix as well as in the ginger bug with great success. I have made several gallons of ginger ale successfully with this recipe modification. I have even flavored it with pomegranate juice from my pomegranate tree. I love the method demonstrated in this video of just using the bug to ferment other juices quickly. I am juicing grapefruits from my tree this week and will be trying the method in the video with that fresh juice soon. I will let you know how it turns out. Thank you for the continued inspiration!
Thank you so much for watching! I believe you've been with us since the beginning, which is just so awesome! For fresh squeezed juices, you may want to remove the pulp or stir often to make sure you don't get a layer of mold on top. Can't wait to hear how it goes!
I’ve been wanting to make a ginger bug for a while now and I’ve been making kombucha for 5 to 7 years on and off. After flavoring my kombucha a lot I decided to go ahead and look up a video on Ginger bugs process. It seems pretty easy just reading information, but I tend to do better with videos, so I really appreciate you making yours. I subscribe because they appreciate the effort and information that you guys give. I do have some questions on making it bigger batches and maybe doing a continual brew just like kombucha would do a continual brew
My first bug seems to have failed because I forgot not to use tap water. Watched all 3 of your videos and I cannot wait to try again! Thanks for posting them
So one of the problems you where having with the lemonade is that the High ph stresses the yeast out causing it to take quite a bit longer. I make lemon wine and what you do is make a sugar water with just a little bit of lemon juice and some yeast nutrient to start. You slowly add more and more overtime to finally reach that high pH that’s is desired
Thanks so much for that idea Travis! It was puzzling at first about how long it was taking every batch of lemonade but that makes so much sense. We'll have to try it that way from now on if we're making it fresh. Great to hear how you've gotten around those issues. Happy fermenting!
Have you guys figured out any of the particulars as to why lemon takes longer since releasing this? I've been making a simple lemonade drink prior to trying my hand at fermentation, and found that using citrus-based ingredients has made it challenging to get a ferment going. There is some magic in these processes!
Love the fermentation adventure! Thanks! Question for the better bottles... I noticed the brown bottles, grolsch style with ceramic tops and a rubber seal vs. The newer style grolsch white plastic and red plastic cap... which tends to be better at sealing and reuse with same seal before needing replacement?
Thanks for the love Devin! 💓 We've used a number of bottles and so far it seems the taller ones with the white cap and red silicone seem to work for us. We've also heard though that the flip top Grolsch bottles work well and you basically get free beer when you buy them! We've noticed the shorter brown bottles we bought doesn't always hold pressure. Cheaper ones we've gotten at Marshalls also don't seem to hold pressure. You'll have to experiment to see which ones work for you. Happy fermenting!
I had a similar result when I used peach and lime juice mixed with home made syrup into a ginger green tea komboocha. I'm in tx, and in a second floor apt without central air and heat. It gets really hot in summer. I did it as a second ferment komboocha and it took 3× as long to carbonate than other combos I've done. Even pineapple mint/ginger or orange/Berry mint took maybe 48hrs. The peach ginger limeaid took over a week. Lime and lemon juice take forever to ferment. Fyi, I've started a cool recipe you might want to try for fall. It's a apple cider recipe. I make the apple cider out of juice and ferment it with komboocha. It's a nice one to try. I've also got 3 recipes for acv too. I'm gonna maybe try cold pressing apple juice for ferments too. I don't have a juicer, and the magic bullet blender I have isn't up for a big job like that. Also, you guys make komboocha, I've got a recipe for fruit and veggie leathers made out of the mother you might want to try
Wow! Thanks so much for all the info Melissandra! Yeah we had the same experience with lemon taking longer but it did eventually ferment. All those recipe sound good and great idea on the fruit leather out of the kombucha mother. I bet that would be a pretty interesting snack! Happy fermenting!
Your results are pretty much exactly what I would expect. Level of activity 1-apple 2-cranberry 3-lemon Level of acidity 1-lemon 2-cranberry 3-apple The lower your ph, the more stressed your microorganisms will be which will slow down (or entirely prevent) fermentation. But when a lemonade does ferment its oh so worth it. If you're not fond of the ginger flavor from the bug you can get the colony going and keep a bit from each batch to start your next brew eventually leaving you with a fruity starter instead of a spicy one.
That makes so much sense. Great observation! That's also a good idea about reserving some of the soda for the next batch. Thanks so much for the comments! 😊
@@FermentationAdventure of you haven't tried it yet, my favorite soda (or cider, if you forget about it for a couple of days) to do with ginger bug is orange. The flavors work beautifully together and it's a nice refreshing drink, especially great with brunch. Cream soda can also be incredibly satisfying for those who are interested in doing sodas using refined sugars but I know that's not for everyone.
@@FermentationAdventure if I'm able to get fresh oranges straight from the source that's preferable for a soda but if I want something with a tiny bit of alcohol (2%or so) and some sweetness i look for a orange and grape blend because oranges have very little sugar and can seem very acidic after a few days even though the ph is higher than cranberry juice.
Hi Craig, I just started my first fermentation of water kefir grains. I'm going for the more of a soda pop taste. Would you suggest me not using ginger bug? Should I just ferment fruit in second fermentation and bottle it? I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say "if your not fond of ginger flavor from the bug you can get the colony going and keep a bit from each batch to stgart you next brew....." could you explain better what you mean? Thanks
@@FermentationAdventure Well, my ginger bug didn't quite work out... or at least I'm not sure if it did or not. The first 3 days it was bubbling like crazy, and I was very happy. Then, on the 4th day all the bubbles were gone. I kept feeding it, and I'm on day 6 now, but there are still no bubbles. There's a white sediment like substance in the bottom. Someone on reddit said that it sounds like it's probably been overfed, and said that 1tbsp of sugar each day with 1tbsp of ginger is way too much. They said about half that amount of sugar is what you should use. Any thoughts?
Okay, follow up if someone gets stuck on this like I did. I made another batch. I only changed one variable, which was to reduce the sugar by about 1/2. Now I have a very bubbly ginger bug, ready to be used. So I would say that the recommendations in this video are probably *right* on the edge of having too much sugar. It worked perfectly with half as much. You can tell that's the problem when the ginger bug tastes sweet. It shouldn't taste real sweet -- it should taste kind of spicy and yeasty. If it's sweet, add some more ginger, but not more sugar for a day or two and see if it comes out of it. You might also add some more distilled water to dilute the sugar.
Thanks for the notes JR! Once you're getting bubbles it just pretty much be good to go and you know it's active. At that point since it's active you can start making sodas with it. We've had batches where there was a bit too much sugar and it started slowing down like you saw. It usually works out well once you try making soda. We hope it's going well and you're getting some good ginger ale! 🍺
Thank you for this really great video! You explain and show everything so clearly. I'm curious: What would happen if I added the ginger bug to a one quart bottle of juice, and let it sit out (for a day or two, with the top lightly covered) Instead of pouring the juice into a mason jar first (along with the ginger bug) and then pouring it back into a different bottle? Maybe you explained this in a different video.
If it was pasteurized juice that doesn't have any other live cultures it should do the same as if you were to put it in a mason jar. We like to transfer it to glass but feel free to use whatever you're comfortable with! Thanks for the question! 😊
I've talked to a friend and my dad about chlorinated tap water. It's a liquid that turns gaseous. If you use a sprayer on your sink into a container (low spray) it will remove the chlorine from your water and than you can use it without issues.
Thanks so much for the comment Brian! Also leaving it on the counter to off-gas the chlorine works for most people but in the areas that add chloramine, the only way to remove that one is with a filter since it contains ammonia in addition to chlorine. Good tip though!
Lemonade didn't work because of PH (stressing the fermenta) and lack of tannin (yeast nutrient). Try to put a quarter teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate to compensate PH, and a quarter cup of long steeped tea to add tannin. It should work. Great video, I make the same thing with beer yeast instead of gingerbug. Should try to build up a gingerbug myself. Thank you. You gained my subscription!
Thanks so much for the suggestions Fabio! Those sound like great ideas! It did seem like it was because of the pH from the lemon juice. We've also noticed that if we add too much lemon juice to our ginger ales right from the beginning. We'll try the baking soda idea for sure! Happy fermenting!
@@FermentationAdventure This is where I learned about bicarbonate and tea: this italian guy is my fermentation inspirator ua-cam.com/video/Ev3IxSwf9Yg/v-deo.html
Oh boy, so I followed your instructions for the ginger bug... awesome stuff, made ginger ale, really nice. BUUUUT, I started a juice soda with it before watching this. It was a thick juice (and I even dumped in a bit of leftover marijino cherry juice in it. Just one day in, and it was already bubbly (like soap bubbly), and at one point started pressurizing in the large plastic water bottle I was using for fermentation (I didn't use a wide mouthed jar) and the bubbles had pushed some material up against the towel and basically clogged it. And now, two days later, after a couple of taste tests... I think it's gone pretty strong a.l.co.hol.ic (could feel the after effect in my throat), I might have to dump it out. I guess let this be a lesson for others :D Don't use thick juice, don't go too crazy on the sugar, use a wide mouthed jar of some kind for the primary fermentation, and don't let it go too long, lol. Kind of scared to cap it and leave it in the fridge overnight as well.
Oh my goodness! 😂 You apparently have an active ginger bug! That's great news! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with the thick juice. It's helpful for us all to learn about how it went! 😅
The lemon one would probably work a lot better with just more gingerbug to lemonade ratio. The high acidity will make things slower and harder to ferment.
Before reading the ingredients on the bottle, I had started a grape soda, only to discover that it had potassium metabisulfite. On the same day I started orange soda, which had no additives. Three days later I discovered that the grape with the PM, has lots of foam on the top and is bubbling. However, the orange juice no fizz at all. But I'll continue to wait to see the final results.
Hi! The orange soda may take a while longer if it is really acidic, so it will be interesting to see how that one progresses. For the grape juice, it may have still worked, if there was very little metabisulfite in the juice. You're looking for that slight yeasty pleasant smell, with no growth on top, and no thickening of the juice (sludgy).
Hello! It's a Caribbean drink made of the Mauby tree bark. Have you tried it? We don't have access to fresh Mauby bark here in Florida (that we're aware of, anyway!) so maybe we'll have to try ordering it online. Thanks for the suggestion!
I think I am going to buy some 1 gal carboys that come with the water traps and start making my own sodas / ciders. Probably save myself a bunch of money over the store bought stuff.
A few years ago we got a Mr Beer kit and made a batch. When we bottled it, we also used the Mr Beer plastic bottles. Is there any reason why we can't use them for the ginger bug sodas? They would all be testers. LoL Thank you for your time and efforts! Be safe.
Hey guys you vids are awesome. A question, can I use Ginger bug to make fizzy teas like Hibiscus (Jamaican water)? Also is it possible to make a simple syrup (water and sugar) add Ginger bug to have some sort of carbonated water? I love to just have plain water with a drop of edible mint oil extract. What about adding it and the end of fermentation of the water syrup?
Thanks for the great question Alessandro! Yes, you can use the ginger bug to make fermented flavored tea. And you're right that it really just needs a simple syrup, whether it's flavored or not. You could certainly add the mint extract for flavor after fermenting. If you try the fermented sugar water, let us know how it goes!
I love you guys so much!! You have brought the fermentation experience to life with your videos. I am so happy I came across your channel. I’m making mango homemade soda/bee. Using my finger bug! I love finding jars in thrift shops. It’s all just such an adventure. Thank you for being the best.
Quick question... after you use your ginger bug a couple of times, do you add more water, ginger, and sugar to keep it going, or do you toss it and start a new one at some point? Thanks!!! Love your videos. 🥰
Thanks so much for the question! We strain off the ginger pieces and keep some of the original ginger bug as its own starter. Then we'll just add more fresh ginger, sugar, and top it up with fresh non-chlorinated water and it should be good to go! The live culture should consume the sugar and it's off the races again! We hope that helps and thanks for the love! 💓💓💓
Thanks for the question Gil! You definitely can! We only boil it to break it down some more and also destroy any other bacteria or yeast to let the ginger bug takeover faster. Feel free to try it out. It might even be more active so watch out!
Why haven't I done this sooner? 😡🤣 Just now getting into fermentation and stuff but I was completely obsessed with making fruit sodas over the summer im definitely gonna have to do this
@@FermentationAdventure My bug failed. I live in Toronto, Canada and I have my house at a low temp to save money 65 to 68 deg F. I tried it with brown sugar because that is what I had at the time. I may have put too much in as well. I bought some white sugar and will try again when the temperature goes up. Thank you for answering my post and you make fermentation fun :)
Awesome channel! Great videos! I also tried making a ginger bug, which at first seems to work just fine! But when I try this with apple juice, it tastes extremely yeasty. I can barely make out any other tastes. I have the feeling that's not what the taste is supposed to be, right? While fermenting it's extremely active, with lots of gas/bubbles forming. So at least that seems fine!
You should be on the right track. Whenever we made our soda from apple juice we could almost swear it tasted like an actual beer and so far all of our batches have tasted like that. If you don't like the flavor you could always try it from fresh apples and wild fermentation or adding a ginger bug for an even better flavor. It tasted fairly yeasty to us too. So glad you're enjoying. Happy fermenting!
It's not soda anymore, you've got a fruit juice wine. Don't toss it though, it's great as a alcoholic drink after work, or you can let it sit and turn into vinigar and make bbq, salald dressing, or ketchup with that. And yes, you can make fermented ketchup and bbq sauce. I Haven't done ketchup yet. But I have fermented bbq sauce sitting in the fridge right now I intend to use at some point. It goes great on a pack of ribs or with a nice baked brisket and some fried potates
We hope you love it as much as we do! It's a simple process and creates such a yummy drink. Ours reached 3% after 3 days, so if it seems to be fermenting about the same rate as ours, you may reach 5% between 5-7 days.
I love listening to you two kibitzing! You provide valuable information, and support. I made my first ginger bug by your videos. Try pineapple -mango soda!
hello friends, i am loving this soda so much, i end up drinking about a quart per day. Would it be too much..? My stomach seems a bit upset..? So can we drink probiotics in big quantities? Thank you guys for your work!
We're so happy you got some tasty ferments going! We can't say how much is too much when it comes to fermented beverages. You have to listen to your own body and that includes alcohol of all types including beer and wine. Everyone is different! 🙂
Here's a question I have not seen answered. When making a soda from a ginger bug, to what extent does the ginger flavor persist or comes through the juice flavor? Will everything I make have a ginger flavor regardless of the kind of juice I choose? Your videos are great and very helpful.
Hello! We're happy to hear you're finding our videos helpful! Since we're only using a little bit of ginger bug for our fermented drinks, we haven't noticed a ginger flavor in our end result (from the ginger bug) Like when we made root beer or our orange cream soda (ua-cam.com/video/zzBW0MTzA9s/v-deo.html), there was no residual ginger flavor. And when we make our ginger ale using our ginger bug, we create a whole new batch of ginger wort (ua-cam.com/video/KsMUuMmKwps/v-deo.html) to make sure it tastes plenty like ginger!
I appreciate the heads-up about the lemonade, I think to stay on the safe side I will probably just get the _Simply Lemonade_ from the refrigerated section so that it would have _only_ lemonade, and not that other stuff. When I'm ready to try it, that is. I actually have some cranberry grape juice or something like that but I have to look at the ingredients before I try. If not, I have cranberries that I threw fresh in the freezer last Christmastime and I probably need to hurry up and use them I have some in my kefir water as the second stage of fermenting, but today's the second day (of second stage fermentation) and it hasn't even started bubbling yet. I'm a little concerned about that stuff right now and I have friends coming over, I was hoping to share some with them. I have two gingerbugs, and one is bubbly but the other I can't see bubbling. It's too cloudy to tell. But I do see white bubbles on the top so I guess it's been doing what it has to. I started the gingerbugs last Sunday I believe, but it looks like they may be okay to start using even now.
We hope it all turned out tasty! It sounds like you have some great ideas on the sodas and yes the lemonade took a lot longer than we thought! We hope you're doing well and happy fermenting! 😊
Hi guys! I love all your videos, and thank you for all the time and energy you put into them! I was wondering if you had any tips on working with a ginger bug/sodas in a somewhat cold house. Lately, my sodas aren't fermenting well (meaning few bubbles) and one strawberry soda actually has a couple of white fuzzies (looks like mold not kahm yeast but we'll see) on top. I keep the ginger bug in the fridge and keep bottles away from direct sunlight, etc, pretty much all the prescribed things. I'm wondering if I should let my bug hang out on the counter for a few days, start over, just be patient with my sodas and wait a couple weeks, or if there's something else?
Hi Jan! Thanks again for watching! This is a common problem, especially in the winter. You could try fermenting in a warmer place in your kitchen or even your home, like under the microwave with the light on, on top of the refrigerator, or even in a dehydrator. You could also try a heating mat, but just be careful not to have too much localized heat as it could kill your ferment. Once you've found a warmer spot to ferment, then your sodas should start to show signs of fermentation within 5 or so days. If that isn't happening, it could have to do with your ginger bug.
Use a smell cooler bag, check on it daily, if your counter is granite or marble they retain the cold so put cooler bag on trivit to keep it off counter
I have already tried some of your recipes and they have turned up great, considering I am just a novice in this world of fermentation. Would it be too much to ask if you could also include measurements in grams, liters, etc.. on top of the cup measurements?. I appreciate you are American but it would be very useful for people like me outside of the USA not familiar with this cup measurement system. Keep up the good work!
That's definitely a great idea! We actually started putting gram measurements in our latest videos for all of our viewers around the world. So sorry they're not in the older videos!
Wow Moonwalker. We feel so honored that we're keeping you company and wish you much health with whatever you're going through. 💓 If you happen to really love watching our content, we actually also have an adventure channel! ua-cam.com/users/psadventures Not meant to be a commercial but in case you wanted more, we have a lot more videos over on PS Adventures. We hope you make a speedy recovery and that this year brings you back to good health! 🌠🌞🌅
Sweet! Thanks so much for watching! We've got plenty of recipes on here so far, but we've even got a new recipe brewing on the counter right now. If all goes well, we can't wait to share it with you all soon!
I can all my own juice: apple, blueberry, elderberry, peach. I have a finger ready to go but am not sure if or how much sugar I should add to my own juice to get it going? Any suggestions as I do not add sugar when steam juice in gathering fruit. Thanks for you wonderful informative videos
Hi! Thanks so much! We'd recommend still adding some sugar to the fresh fruit juice so that there's enough sugar for the yeast and bacteria in your ginger bug to get excited about. You could follow this recipe for our fresh watermelon soda: ua-cam.com/video/ldvpyz60O8w/v-deo.html. If you like your fermented drinks less sweet, you could probably even cut the added sugar in half, and it should still ferment just fine. Thank you!
Hi! I wonder how tasty these drinks would be if done with water kefir instead of the ginger bug. I know that the ginger bug makes them fizzier but i'd still test this if I had some
Yum! We're sure it would taste delicious! If anyone wants to try it though, be careful about harming the kefir grains. They are delicate and I would think could be harmed if there were any preservatives in the juice. These store-bought juices can easily have hidden preservatives in the ingredient list.
I just started my ginger bug starter. Once I use it to make soda. How do I keep my ginger bug going? Do I refill it with water and feed it again? In this video, it just shows you guys putting it back in the fridge.
Hi! Thanks for the question! Yes, you can refill with water and feed it again. We made a really short tutorial on how to maintain your ginger bug, so feel free to check it out here: ua-cam.com/users/shortsDjfHqZisQRs? Hope that helps!
Thanks for this! I noticed when I make my water kefir with anything citrus like lemon or orange, it takes forever to fizz… So I think citrus fruits slows down fermentation.
You definitely can! We like to ferment in larger batches first to make sure we get a good batch. Otherwise we'd have to clean a lot more bottles. Good question! 😊
Hi lovelies! I have an important question: I recently learned that if you experience lymphatic swelling then you should not drink kombucha. That made sense to me because it didn’t work well in my system and I am experiencing swelling. Can you tell me if this ferment is lichen to kombucha or if it is very different? Thank you- I can’t wait to make some
That's interesting Oya! We hadn't heard of that but everyone reacts to things differently so you'll have to decide that one for yourself. I wish we could tell you more on that one! 🥤
I made a ginger bug and it was bubbly the first three days. Is it still good if you don’t see bubbles and what went wrong if it’s not? I used ginger, distilled water, organic cane sugar.
Hi Dj! Is it warm where you are fermenting? It's definitely possible to have a working ginger bug after only 3 days if it's warm. The fact that you had bubbles early on is a great sign. As long as you don't see any warning signs like a bad odor or slimy consistency, it sounds like you're ready to use your ginger bug to make a fermented drink!
Hello! Alcohol is a natural biproduct of the fermentation process, but there are some drinks that create very minimal alcohol or is very slow to produce alcohol. These would be the fermented drinks we recommend: Water Kefir (ua-cam.com/video/Ndf-SobBJBg/v-deo.html), Kombucha (ua-cam.com/video/g9n2U9srchE/v-deo.html) and Tepache (ua-cam.com/video/ib4l1nPLWM8/v-deo.html). Hope that helps!
I just tested the flavor of my apple juice fermented drink is only day 2 and it tastes amazing. It’s 78 degrees in my house so it worked fast. It’s hot here in Phoenix now 😁I just bottled it. I think this might just be my favorite so far. I will definitely try other flavors but the apple one is amazing 😋 Thank you so much guys can’t wait for more videos!!! Still waiting on my jalapeño fermented salsa so far a lot of bubbles. I’m new to fermentation but you guys make it so easy to learn!!! Keep up the great work 👍🏼👍🏼😜
Well, loving your videos! I started a bug but used a different recipe, 2 tbl ginger-2 tbl sugar-2 tbl water, now watching your video on making bug, so much more water is used, will mine be ok?
Thank you so much! 💓 So the other recipe used equal amounts of the ingredients? Seems like the fermentation process would have a more difficult time getting started with that much sugar concentration. You could continue and see if it works! You could also just add some non chlorinated water and continue with the process as we show in our video. It's always a fun experiment! ☺️
Thanks for your reply, good news its bubbling, now my dilemma is, should I do the 2tbl ginger, 1tbl sugar(not 2) then up the water to a 1/4 cup? Becuase there hardly any liquid, wish I would've seen your video first! Thank you for your quick reply!
If it's bubbling, that's a great sign! You could continue to follow that other recipe you found, or you could start to add more water at any time. Since it's already bubbling, any water you add should take on the same good bacteria and yeast that you're looking for in your ginger bug. 😄
Great video. Love both of your energy every video. As far as the alcohol goes I do want the least amount so I'm going to try a day ferment, do you also suggest a day of secondary ferment for carbonation or may that be too much alcohol at that point. Ive been trying to aim for around 1 percent alcohol content for my ferments. Going to buy a tester soon so ill definitely know.
Thank you for your kind words! You gotta love what you do, right?! If you're aiming for 1 percent or less, we'd recommend 24 hour of primary fermentation, and then maybe just a few hours of secondary fermentation. Or, if you definitely want carbonation, you could try fermenting directly in the closed bottles for primary fermentation - just make sure to check the pressure often!
That is some nice grape soda after 2 days primary and 12 hours secondary. Tasted sweet and was bubbly just like a Martinelli’s sparkling cider. Next batch will go for 3 day primary to reduce sweetness some more. This was THE most active ferment I’ve ever seen. Before bottling, tried stirring gently and a purple volcano bubbled all over my table and floor! A bowl underneath the mason jar is a must when bottling :-) apple juice is next 😋
Hi Steve! Hopefully not all grape juices have that ingredient. We haven't been out to the store to check the ingredients but online it looks like Welch's should work just fine.
I’ve tried making cherry soda with my ginger bug twice now, but have had problems with mold growing at around day 2. I’ve been covering my mason jars with a towel, leaving it at room temperature, and my ginger bug is very active on its own. Is there anything I can do to prevent this or do you have any tips on keeping mold away?
Hi! A fermentation lid that prevents any oxygen from entering the ferment, but still lets out any excess gases, would help keep mold at bay since mold likes oxygen. Although it could have to do with the juice that you're using. Is the cherry juice all natural without preservatives? Preservatives hinders the fermentation process. Does the juice have enough sugar to kick off the fermentation process? And also is the juice thick? If it's thick, it would create a layer on top that the mold could grow on. If it's a thick juice, you could try giving the jar a light shake a few times a day to prevent the mold from taking root on the top layer. Hope that helps!
@@FermentationAdventure Thank you! I don’t think the juice is the problem, (it is all natural and it isn’t thick) but I will definitely try using a fermentation lid! Thank you for the quick response, and advice! I really appreciate your channel and all of your knowledge.
in the nicest way possible/ just a heads-up. Lactobacillus is the bacteria/culture you introduce when using a Ginger bug. One of the most common of the "LAB" (lactic acid bacteria) All LAB(s) eat sugar and excrete lactic acid. There should be no alcohol in any of those drinks. Tho you still would see sugar displacement in the gravity readings. Additionally you're lemonade was most likely made with cane sugar / disaccharide Monosaccharides are easier for Yeast and bacteria to metabolize. Stick to corn syrup for anything w sweeteners added, or you can just bring anything with cane sugar to a boil first (breaks the bond making x2 mono) Sorry for the unsolicited advice. Truly just trying to be helpful. And I thoroughly enjoyed the video regardless 👏👏
Thanks so much for the info Frank! 🙂 We're definitely not bio-chemists, but are always learning more about natural processes! Nature is so amazing. While we only have a hydrometer to measure, they definitely taste alcoholic to us. We've relied on the info of many others, but it would be cool to send samples to a lab and have them test it somehow. Thanks so much again!
No luck with using a ginger bug. Primary ferment goes great, but secondary is always flat. Trying with a little ec-1118 champagne yeast now. 16 hours in and I'm getting slow steady bubbles in cranberry cocktail and apple/peach.. Fingers crossed.
That's awesome that you're trying it out with champagne yeast. That should work out well for you. Keep on experimenting it's sure to work. Happy fermenting!
@@FermentationAdventure Thank you. Yes, the ec-1118 champagne yeast is very fast right now in our Atlanta temperatures. 12 hours is plenty to get aggressive carbonation. 24 hours lets the beginning of tartness set in. Then 12 overnight hours bottled on the countertop before chilling. The apple peach is my favorite so far. I did see a cream soda recipe somewhere else I want to try. Just sugar, yeast, and vanilla extract fermented. Cheers 🥂
That's interesting because, in Kansas, they have - or used to have, not sure if they still do - but bars served 3% beer (age required, 18 yrs). To get 6% beer, you have to go to a private club (age required, 21). So 6% beer was rated the same as bourbon or rum. It was really weird.
That's interesting! Everyone views alcohol and age limits around the world so differently. Isn't it funny that in one state or country you're allowed to drink something but drive just over the border and somehow it's now illegal or even immoral? The world is an interesting place. Thanks for sharing! 🍺
@@FermentationAdventure I hear Kansas is finally thinking about moving into the 20th century! So, if they DO, then they'll only be 100 years behind! They still have regulations out the wazoo and the drinking age is now 21, across the board, whether you buy 3.2 beer or 6%.
Hi! We're really not familiar with the Keto diet, but if you're trying to reduce your sugar intake, you're welcome to check out this recent video we made where we talk about different options on how to create fermented drinks with much less sugar. Here's the link to that quick video: ua-cam.com/video/wTt1hXoAQGU/v-deo.html
How do these drinks compare to Kombucha? I quit making Kombucha because the caffeine wires me so I now make a pineapple fermented drink but these look awesome but I do need the probiotics. Thank you in advance for your answer.
Sarah completely understands about the caffeine in Kombucha! But no worries, all of our fermented drinks on our channel have healthy probiotics - it's just part of the natural fermentation process. This easy soda video is the quickest and easiest way we've found to make a fermented drink, but you could also use natural fruit. (Like in our blueberry soda video.)
I started a ginger bug,5 days ago and only have minimal bubbles, there is still a lit of ginger floating, it smells fine, no mold growth on top. I feed and stir daily. Any suggestions or thoughts, appreciated. Thank you
Thanks for the question Lisa! You might have some ginger that's a little less active. Make sure it's not too cold and also you're using non-chlorinated water. If all else fails we try to find another source of ginger to make sure it wasn't irradiated. Shine a light into it and see if you have any tiny bubbles that are hard to see. We hope that helps!
Hi! That is a bit high for ideal fermentation. We ferment in the low 70's Fahrenheit. Anything higher than that will ferment much more quickly. Do you have access to a refrigerator? If so, you could try fermenting at the high room temperature for a much shorter time period, and then refrigerate it once it is ready or has finished fermenting. We'd recommend watching it closely to see how quickly the bubbles start forming, and also to make sure there is no mold on top since that is also more likely in warmer settings. We hope that helps! We'd love to hear how it goes!
Greetings again! Have you ever tried making ginger beer using water kefir? It would be interesting to check if the taste is different (I'm betting that it is)
Hi Jane! Great thought! We have not yet tried this. If you give it a go, we'd love to hear how it goes! We imagine it would be a sweeter, lighter, and less alcoholic version of a ginger beer made with a ginger bug.
@@FermentationAdventure i did ferment some ginger sugar syrup with water kefir just now. For the record I never tried the ginger bug variant. What can I say, of all the things I fermented with the water kefir, I like this (and the gingery taste) the most. It is definitely less carbonated and after 3 days, you won't be tasting the sweet as much. I suspect that the ginger bug one is tastier, more fizzy, I imagine it to be like fermenting it with Saccharomyces. The grains actually grow like mad in the ginger which is not what I was expecting, I keep hearing about other people's grains dying when switching to ginger. But yeah, after all being said and done, i don't much drink it for taste rather than as a probiotic, unlike with the ginger bug where i could see myself enjoying it. ps: As a personal touch, it seems that ginger really goes well with... a touch of hot peppers
@@janespright Thanks for keeping us posted on this ginger experiment! Very cool. Great to that the grains are doing so well in the ginger syrup. For those that struggled with this, maybe they had combined the grains directly with actual ginger pieces? And again we love hearing about the hot pepper idea! Seems that a touch of hotness is a great idea in many ferments. Someone also just mentioned this about their tepache!
Just wanted to share something. My wife soaks banana peals only in water to feed her potted plants. After a time in a closed dark closet, I added more banana peals to the jar and noticed fermentation bubbles, very active. Banana soda maybe? Just a thought. 😏
Same here! We were pretty surprised and almost gave up ourselves until it finally started bubbling. The acidity of the lemon juice must really slow it down by quite a bit. Once we got a batch out of it though, whoa! It was good. Happy fermenting! 🥤🍋😊
So the ferment starter IS the ginger bug? Did you say how much of the ginger bug to add?I think the ginger bug is so tasty- I made it with fresh pineapple and ginger that I blend and strain. Then I added 1/4c acv that I had a scoby floating in. Should I have added a little scoby to my bug too? I did not.
Thanks for the question Jennifer! We usually add about 1/4 cup of ginger bug starter to soda syrup for most of our recipes. You got it right. The ginger bug is the starter. We hope that helps! 👍
We know how you feel! There's no rhubarb growing here in Florida either but we find it at the grocery store sometimes. It's not necessary to use and you can probably use some other tart things like cranberries. We hope that helps! 😊
Thanks for the question! You probably could use a flavor concentrate along with a sugar water solution but you'll have to watch out to make sure that the concentrate doesn't have preservatives. You can always experiment and give it a try though! Let us know how it goes!
The second I saw this I fermented all the juice in my house. Made it so much better! Didn't even think to use store bought juice
Yay! Might as well, right? Turns it into at least a healthier version. And it also tastes great too!
I mix my kombucha 50-50 with grape or cranberry juice. I haven’t tried ginger bug, but now I have to try it. I also make water and milk kefir. Water kefir and ginger is really good.
I juiced plums from my Santa Rosa plum tree a few months ago - just straight up juice (no sugar or water added) then hot water bath canned it all. After watching your how to make a ginger bug video about 8 days ago and successfully making it, and after watching this video, I decided to give my home canned juice a try. I used 1 cup purified water, 1 cup strained plum juice, 2 TBSP of cane (white) sugar, and 1/8 cup of ginger bug in a pint sized canning jar. I placed a canning lid on top loosely. This sat overnight and had a nice layer of bubbles on top today. I decided to go ahead and bottle it in empty and thick plastic water bottle this morning and it's carbonating nicely! After about 8 hours carbonating in the water bottle, I tried a taste and it's a nice tart sweet flavor with a kombucha like flavor and very nice effervescent bubbles! Very enjoyable. Will let it go another 6 hours or so either drink up or put in fridge tonight. Thanks for your videos!
😮😮😮 Whoah! Freshly juiced plums? I bet that tasted so good! That sounds amazing to be able to drink something so fresh that you grew yourself. Thanks so much for telling us about it. So happy to have you here! 💕
@@FermentationAdventure Thanks 😊! The tree produced a crazy amount this year and I figured I'd better juice and can it all. Have discovered the juice is amazing when mixed with ginger beer and that's what started me into finding out about ginger bugs. I have a ginger bug ginger beer fermenting now as well. Giving that a try after watching your video on it. Also trying out freshly juiced concord grape one. We have so much fruit varities we grow here!
Somebody already mentioned here the ph of the juices. It is well known for home brewers that any yeast has its own ph tollerance and there is way to controll it. Usually the lower the ph the less activity for the yeast to the point that it goes dormant. However as soon as the ph raises it will resume its activity. Lemon juice has the lowest ph which is equivalent to the highest acidity of all juices and that is because lemon juice is basically citric acid. Yeast like the ph around 5 -5.5 while lemon juice could be as low as 2. The remedy? You have to neutralize a bit that acidity and the most available method is to add a bit of baking soda, stirr it, let it react with the acid until calms down, it will be an efervescent reaction but won't take long. When the ph rises the yeast will start working. Another thing worth mentioning is that any yeast fermentation consume sugar and releases alcohol and CO2. The bubbles are the CO2 released and it will come up as long there is still sugar for the yeast to eat and if you bottle it will build preassure. That is how beer is preassurized in the bottles in home brewing, however you need to add a bit of sugar. As sugar being consumed the juice becomes... more sour at taste. About the alcohol content. The hydrometer, an important tool in wine and beer making, measures the sugar content. So when you measured in your drink the 1.020 it means that there is still sugar left in your drink and that 3% ABV is the potential than can be made if all sugar left is consumed, untill the measurement goes down to 1.000. In order to measure the alcohol present in a liquid you have to use the hydrometer to measure sugar content BEFORE and AFTER the fermentation. You subtract the numbers and that will tell you the alcohol percentage. The fruit juices that you used have a sugar content of around 1.050 on the hydrometer scale. You measured after the fermentation 1.020 so the difference is 0.030. That will give you a 3.9 ABV with the potential to go up to 6.5 if the rest of sugar is consumed. www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/
Thank you so much for this detailed explanation! We've seen some batches like our lemonade slow down with the lemon juice. We'll have to try some baking soda in there to get it back to fermenting quicker. Awesome comment!
@@FermentationAdventure don't add too much. I don't know how much is enough for that particular quantity, the best way is to add some, stir and check the ph. In a bucket of 5 gallons fermentation I added few table spoons of baking soda, for a jar probably a tip of teaspoon would do it. The back draw of this method is that it may incur a bit of salty/bitter taste as a result of the salts are being created after the acid+soda combination. Remember from school, any acid combined with any base will neutralize resulting is water plus some kind of salt. Nice videos you make, by the way. I made the tepache after your recipe and it had success with my wife and daughter. I am at the second batch now. :o))) Keep the good work!
This is a great note! I’m just getting started with ferments. Trying different flavors for water kefir soda. I’ve had a lemon flavor jar that just will not get fizzy. This explains it all. I will add a bit of baking soda see if that sparks it up. Thank you for taking time to write such great detail. Be well ✨
I made a ginger bug a few months ago and have been using it my switchel. After watching this vid and having pineapple juice on hand I decided to try this. I just used it yesterday in a margarita, it was good.
Omg that sounds so good! I bet using fermented pineapple juice in a margarita would give it such an interesting flavor. Thanks for the suggestion!
You guys are quickly becoming a fixture in my fermentation kitchen! I absolutely LOVE the content and the sense of wellness and joy that you both exude.
Thank you so very much for your kind words!! 💓 We hope you are having great success with your ferments! 😄
This is insane I can't wait for my ginger bug to be ready, first timer😉
That's wonderful!! Well welcome to the Fermentation Adventure! 😄🥰
I love fresh made sodas but I skip the first fermentation as it just makes it more alcoholic and taste worse. Just mix up the room temp fruit juice with the gingerbug and then bottle them. Have one bottle that is plastic so you can tell when pressure has built up and then refrigerate. No burping. You will end up with a carbonated juice that does not taste like booze or cider.
Thanks for the comments and we love your name! Haha! 😆🥤
What plastic bottle do you use? I don’t have any that are pressure-safe
Thank you! I like apple juice but can't stand cider so was hesitant about fermenting apple juice.
@@justinelourdes6686I read that any plastic bottle that had Perrier water or even just soda would work. It's not a matter of being safe, that's more of a concern when you're stealing a glass bottle. It's a matter of feeling for the bottle getting hard with pressure. Turn like a two liter bottle of 7-Up that you just bought, it has some give. Then, if you shake it a bit the carbonation builds up and the bottle gets harder. That's all you're feeling for.
This is a good tip, I’ll give this a try. I am on a health binge and interested in non-alcoholic beverages. I think I accidentally made alcoholic ginger beer 🥴.
Just discovered your channel and I love you guys!... Not just the amazing content but the positive uplifting energy your videos are packed with.
I've got some catching up to do.
Thank you
Wow thank you so much for the love El Tuco! We're so happy you're enjoying our videos! There's a lot in life to be happy about. We hope you get to try some of these amazing ferments! 💓
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my question. The instructions are very clear again thank you and have a great day.
Hello! Thanks so much for the sweet comment! We're so happy to hear you liked this video and recipe! Happy fermenting! 😄
Wow! I made a ginger bug a few weeks ago, it's been in the fridge (I actually made 2 as I knew I wouldn't be able to not-drink it). Usually I make mead out of honey from my hives, and I decided to use the ginger bug, sugar and organic ground ginger and add champagne yeast. Within 6 hours my mead was looking relatively quiet, while my ginger bug wine was going nuts! The ginger was not just floating, it was careening around inside the jar! Three days have passed and the ginger is still moving, and, after a small taste test, I could tell that it has quite a kick to it already! Thank you for the inspiration and all the information :)
All the juice in the house are getting fizzy! I quit buying beers anymore! Started making my own flavored beer! Thank you guys! Love lots
Woohoo! That's great! Yum... oh the many flavors!!
Amazing!
Made a bunch of these this past couple of weeks! Thank you! I also made some with real fruit -- Rhubarb (and pineapple) is awesome! Would never have thought to use Rhubarb but I had some in the freezer. Thanks for all your great ideas!
I used to make grape soda for my kids with Welch’s grape juice and water kefir, they loved it! This is a reminder to start again
Yum! What a great treat! 😄
I've been saving up my orange and tangerine peels in the freezer. Then I just boil them for half an hour along with sugar, natural vanilla extract, cloves and ginger pieces from the bug. Sometimes I add cinnamon, nutmeg. Back in room temperature, I just strain and bottle in plastic bottles and add the bug. I squeeze them to make room for gas and screw the lids on tight. I keep the bottles at room temperature for 1-2 days until they're very firm and full of gas, then to the fridge they go. They become creamy in taste. Delicious healthy soda!
Wow!! This is a great recipe coffee cat! That's sounds like it would be really delicious. Thank you so much for sharing your suggestion! 😍🥤😋
This sounds awesome! 😊
I've made a ginger bug using your method and it turned out perfect then I made ginger ale also very good. Now I have to try this..thank you.
That's awesome! This one is life changing. 😆
I made this recently with apple juice, pineapple and mango juice. Mango seems to take longer to ferment but finally seen some champagne bubbles this morning. I’m leaving it to ferment a bit more. The pineapple was overactive while fermenting the first 2 days and suddenly died down on the 3rd day. I added a teaspoon of sugar in each of the bottles (I bottled 24 hrs ago) and opened it to bring some oxygen into the bottle and then shook it a bit. It’s looking really alive now. I’ll wait another 12 hrs before refrigerating. The apple juice taste so much like dry white wine! That fermented 3 days and bottled 12 hrs. I can’t wait to try the finished pineapple and mango!
Next time I’m going to try fermenting only 1 day or less before bottling to seriously cut down the alcohol. 😅
PS this is still with using the ginger ground w/brewer’s yeast left over from the first ginger beer batch. I’m going to make big with real ginger this weekend 🎉
Update: I just now tasted the pineapple soda and it’s sooo alcoholic 😂 so instead of waiting another 12 hrs, I put it in the fridge. I was hoping to bring these sodas to work lol I think this is a weekend-to-share-with-special-people kinda drink now.
I think I will bottle the mango juice now instead of waiting! There is bubbling.
Thanks Fermentation Adventure!
Another update: I threw out one of the bottles of pineapple and added fresh pineapple juice with the left over yeast in that same bottle. It bubbled right away and left it bottled 12 hrs before refrigerating. Let’s see how that goes! It was definitely too alcoholic for my taste 😅
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing! That's interesting about the pineapple juice. They definitely taste a little better with less time fermenting. Did you have a favorite that you settled on? Loved the play by play! 😊
@@FermentationAdventure Hey! Yeah my favourite is the mango soda! Thought it didn’t bubble on top like the pineapple or apple juice, I can definitely taste the fermentation and the fizz. I wonder why the bubbles don’t stay on top! I can see little ones travel up before bottling. Also, when I first opened it after bottling (48 hrs in fridge), the bubbles then showed up but then tapered off. There was definitely fermentation but hardly any alcohol. I will do it again!
I’ve just come across your videos and I just love watching y’all. I’ve been making sourdough bread for about 4 months and love working with my starter. I’ve decided to go further with making kombucha and to get some ginger and make some ginger bug then sodas. Thanks so much for all the ideas and keep the videos coming.
Thank you so much for the kind words Lisa! We're so happy to inspire you to discover even more ferments. Sourdough bread is so tasty! We need to get back into that and get some batches going. Thank you for the reminder! Let us know if you find any tasty recipes and happy fermenting! ❤️❤️❤️
I love watching yalls videos! You explain so perfectly! I’ve had my ginger bug going and ready. Thank you so much. So I’m making exact juices in awhile. I love you two! Thanks so much!
Aww, you rock! 😄 Thank you so much for your kind words! 🥰 Happy fermenting!!
Followed your recipe for ginger bug. It never had any bubbles !
Here's some of the top reasons it may not have worked for you: ua-cam.com/video/Z0fnIcakwnM/v-deo.htmlsi=-QTMcbMnGATMXlxY&t=385 This is our ginger bug Q&A video where we answer some of the top ginger bug questions like this one. Hopefully this helps give you some ideas of what you might be able to change for the next batch.
I am so excited about it!
I will show it to my grandson! that is so good
Thank you very much 👍
You're so welcome Carmen! We hope you guys have a fun experiment to try! There are many different kinds of soda you can make! 😊
Just found your channel searching for homemade soda recipes. Glad I did! The one I was most excited about was the lemon... So glad you hung in there with it. I can't wait to try that one. Thanks again! Grady
Yay! So glad you found us! We were so pleasantly surprised about the lemonade and it's so delicious! We'll be making more of that for sure.
@@FermentationAdventure Me too! This seems much more like what I would enjoy relative to the skoby process. I recently started a sourdough that has been fantastic and fun. Look forward to making tasty (and high octane drinks) thanks to you! Take care, Grady
@@FermentationAdventure l
Hey there! I always enjoy your videos. I wanted to share that I have been making ginger ale with my ginger bug for some time now. I wanted to see if I could use honey to make my ginger bug. I made a new ginger bug with honey instead of granulated sugar. I have used honey instead of granulated sugar in the fermentation mix as well as in the ginger bug with great success. I have made several gallons of ginger ale successfully with this recipe modification. I have even flavored it with pomegranate juice from my pomegranate tree.
I love the method demonstrated in this video of just using the bug to ferment other juices quickly. I am juicing grapefruits from my tree this week and will be trying the method in the video with that fresh juice soon. I will let you know how it turns out. Thank you for the continued inspiration!
Thank you so much for watching! I believe you've been with us since the beginning, which is just so awesome! For fresh squeezed juices, you may want to remove the pulp or stir often to make sure you don't get a layer of mold on top. Can't wait to hear how it goes!
I’ve been wanting to make a ginger bug for a while now and I’ve been making kombucha for 5 to 7 years on and off. After flavoring my kombucha a lot I decided to go ahead and look up a video on Ginger bugs process. It seems pretty easy just reading information, but I tend to do better with videos, so I really appreciate you making yours. I subscribe because they appreciate the effort and information that you guys give. I do have some questions on making it bigger batches and maybe doing a continual brew just like kombucha would do a continual brew
Get Fizzy With It! You two crack me up.
Hahaha! We were wondering when someone was going to comment on that! 😂
Love your show. Thank you for your great, really fun way to learn. My first batch is in 1st fermentation, can't wait.
I want to add tamerin to my drinks.
Thanks so much for watching and we're so happy to hear you're enjoying our content! Happy fermenting! 😃
My first bug seems to have failed because I forgot not to use tap water. Watched all 3 of your videos and I cannot wait to try again! Thanks for posting them
You're so welcome Connie! Good luck and happy fermenting!
So one of the problems you where having with the lemonade is that the High ph stresses the yeast out causing it to take quite a bit longer.
I make lemon wine and what you do is make a sugar water with just a little bit of lemon juice and some yeast nutrient to start. You slowly add more and more overtime to finally reach that high pH that’s is desired
Thanks so much for that idea Travis! It was puzzling at first about how long it was taking every batch of lemonade but that makes so much sense. We'll have to try it that way from now on if we're making it fresh. Great to hear how you've gotten around those issues. Happy fermenting!
Oh interesting!!!!!!😊
Thank you for those nice recipes. I will try with my new ginger bug. Merci beaucoup pour votre bonne humeur et le partage. Sandrine from france 😃
Thank you so much for the nice comment voi la! We love the name! We're happy you enjoyed! 💓
Have you guys figured out any of the particulars as to why lemon takes longer since releasing this? I've been making a simple lemonade drink prior to trying my hand at fermentation, and found that using citrus-based ingredients has made it challenging to get a ferment going. There is some magic in these processes!
Love the fermentation adventure! Thanks! Question for the better bottles... I noticed the brown bottles, grolsch style with ceramic tops and a rubber seal vs. The newer style grolsch white plastic and red plastic cap... which tends to be better at sealing and reuse with same seal before needing replacement?
Thanks for the love Devin! 💓 We've used a number of bottles and so far it seems the taller ones with the white cap and red silicone seem to work for us. We've also heard though that the flip top Grolsch bottles work well and you basically get free beer when you buy them! We've noticed the shorter brown bottles we bought doesn't always hold pressure. Cheaper ones we've gotten at Marshalls also don't seem to hold pressure. You'll have to experiment to see which ones work for you. Happy fermenting!
I had a similar result when I used peach and lime juice mixed with home made syrup into a ginger green tea komboocha. I'm in tx, and in a second floor apt without central air and heat. It gets really hot in summer. I did it as a second ferment komboocha and it took 3× as long to carbonate than other combos I've done. Even pineapple mint/ginger or orange/Berry mint took maybe 48hrs. The peach ginger limeaid took over a week. Lime and lemon juice take forever to ferment. Fyi, I've started a cool recipe you might want to try for fall. It's a apple cider recipe. I make the apple cider out of juice and ferment it with komboocha. It's a nice one to try. I've also got 3 recipes for acv too. I'm gonna maybe try cold pressing apple juice for ferments too. I don't have a juicer, and the magic bullet blender I have isn't up for a big job like that. Also, you guys make komboocha, I've got a recipe for fruit and veggie leathers made out of the mother you might want to try
Wow! Thanks so much for all the info Melissandra! Yeah we had the same experience with lemon taking longer but it did eventually ferment. All those recipe sound good and great idea on the fruit leather out of the kombucha mother. I bet that would be a pretty interesting snack! Happy fermenting!
I actually do the same with kombucha, it does not have the ginger taste underneath, but also very nice and refreshing!
Oh lovely! Great idea!
Thank you so much for this useful information, I can’t wait to start printing all the juices around my house
Awesome Kylo! If you find any delicious flavors, let us know! Happy fermenting!
Your results are pretty much exactly what I would expect.
Level of activity
1-apple
2-cranberry
3-lemon
Level of acidity
1-lemon
2-cranberry
3-apple
The lower your ph, the more stressed your microorganisms will be which will slow down (or entirely prevent) fermentation. But when a lemonade does ferment its oh so worth it.
If you're not fond of the ginger flavor from the bug you can get the colony going and keep a bit from each batch to start your next brew eventually leaving you with a fruity starter instead of a spicy one.
That makes so much sense. Great observation! That's also a good idea about reserving some of the soda for the next batch. Thanks so much for the comments! 😊
@@FermentationAdventure of you haven't tried it yet, my favorite soda (or cider, if you forget about it for a couple of days) to do with ginger bug is orange. The flavors work beautifully together and it's a nice refreshing drink, especially great with brunch. Cream soda can also be incredibly satisfying for those who are interested in doing sodas using refined sugars but I know that's not for everyone.
Oh nice! So what kind of orange flavored juice are you using? Fresh orange juice or something else?
@@FermentationAdventure if I'm able to get fresh oranges straight from the source that's preferable for a soda but if I want something with a tiny bit of alcohol (2%or so) and some sweetness i look for a orange and grape blend because oranges have very little sugar and can seem very acidic after a few days even though the ph is higher than cranberry juice.
Hi Craig, I just started my first fermentation of water kefir grains. I'm going for the more of a soda pop taste. Would you suggest me not using ginger bug? Should I just ferment fruit in second fermentation and bottle it? I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say "if your not fond of ginger flavor from the bug you can get the colony going and keep a bit from each batch to stgart you next brew....." could you explain better what you mean? Thanks
I tried using my kombucha as starter. It tastes great. I love the grapes and pineapple. Ferment your kombucha as usual and use the f1 for f2. Starter.
That's awesome Roy!! I bet that's really tasty. Thanks for sharing!
What ratios do you use of Kombucha to fruit juice?
@BlueGorillaInTheMist in one liter of kombucha I use 1 cup of fruit juice.
@@roybello8944 Thanks
What a fun couple! Going to create a ginger bug this week. Can't wait!
Thank you so much JR! That's awesome! Good luck on your ginger bug and happy fermenting!
@@FermentationAdventure
Well, my ginger bug didn't quite work out... or at least I'm not sure if it did or not. The first 3 days it was bubbling like crazy, and I was very happy. Then, on the 4th day all the bubbles were gone. I kept feeding it, and I'm on day 6 now, but there are still no bubbles. There's a white sediment like substance in the bottom. Someone on reddit said that it sounds like it's probably been overfed, and said that 1tbsp of sugar each day with 1tbsp of ginger is way too much. They said about half that amount of sugar is what you should use. Any thoughts?
Okay, follow up if someone gets stuck on this like I did. I made another batch. I only changed one variable, which was to reduce the sugar by about 1/2. Now I have a very bubbly ginger bug, ready to be used. So I would say that the recommendations in this video are probably *right* on the edge of having too much sugar. It worked perfectly with half as much. You can tell that's the problem when the ginger bug tastes sweet. It shouldn't taste real sweet -- it should taste kind of spicy and yeasty. If it's sweet, add some more ginger, but not more sugar for a day or two and see if it comes out of it. You might also add some more distilled water to dilute the sugar.
Thanks for the notes JR! Once you're getting bubbles it just pretty much be good to go and you know it's active. At that point since it's active you can start making sodas with it. We've had batches where there was a bit too much sugar and it started slowing down like you saw. It usually works out well once you try making soda. We hope it's going well and you're getting some good ginger ale! 🍺
Thank you for this really great video! You explain and show everything so clearly. I'm curious: What would happen if I added the ginger bug to a one quart bottle of juice, and let it sit out (for a day or two, with the top lightly covered) Instead of pouring the juice into a mason jar first (along with the ginger bug) and then pouring it back into a different bottle?
Maybe you explained this in a different video.
If it was pasteurized juice that doesn't have any other live cultures it should do the same as if you were to put it in a mason jar. We like to transfer it to glass but feel free to use whatever you're comfortable with! Thanks for the question! 😊
Fermentation is bug magic!
It really is! ❤️❤️❤️
This was awesome! I've got a batch going now!
Nice! What kind of juice did you use? Did you love it?!
I've talked to a friend and my dad about chlorinated tap water. It's a liquid that turns gaseous. If you use a sprayer on your sink into a container (low spray) it will remove the chlorine from your water and than you can use it without issues.
Thanks so much for the comment Brian! Also leaving it on the counter to off-gas the chlorine works for most people but in the areas that add chloramine, the only way to remove that one is with a filter since it contains ammonia in addition to chlorine. Good tip though!
Lemonade didn't work because of PH (stressing the fermenta) and lack of tannin (yeast nutrient). Try to put a quarter teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate to compensate PH, and a quarter cup of long steeped tea to add tannin. It should work.
Great video, I make the same thing with beer yeast instead of gingerbug. Should try to build up a gingerbug myself.
Thank you.
You gained my subscription!
Thanks so much for the suggestions Fabio! Those sound like great ideas! It did seem like it was because of the pH from the lemon juice. We've also noticed that if we add too much lemon juice to our ginger ales right from the beginning. We'll try the baking soda idea for sure! Happy fermenting!
@@FermentationAdventure This is where I learned about bicarbonate and tea: this italian guy is my fermentation inspirator
ua-cam.com/video/Ev3IxSwf9Yg/v-deo.html
I'm going to try this with jam
That sounds like it would be good! 😋🥤
Oh boy, so I followed your instructions for the ginger bug... awesome stuff, made ginger ale, really nice. BUUUUT, I started a juice soda with it before watching this. It was a thick juice (and I even dumped in a bit of leftover marijino cherry juice in it. Just one day in, and it was already bubbly (like soap bubbly), and at one point started pressurizing in the large plastic water bottle I was using for fermentation (I didn't use a wide mouthed jar) and the bubbles had pushed some material up against the towel and basically clogged it. And now, two days later, after a couple of taste tests... I think it's gone pretty strong a.l.co.hol.ic (could feel the after effect in my throat), I might have to dump it out. I guess let this be a lesson for others :D Don't use thick juice, don't go too crazy on the sugar, use a wide mouthed jar of some kind for the primary fermentation, and don't let it go too long, lol. Kind of scared to cap it and leave it in the fridge overnight as well.
Oh my goodness! 😂 You apparently have an active ginger bug! That's great news! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with the thick juice. It's helpful for us all to learn about how it went! 😅
this is awesome cant wait to try it for myself
It's a fun drink whichever flavor you decide to go with. Enjoy and happy fermenting!
The lemon one would probably work a lot better with just more gingerbug to lemonade ratio. The high acidity will make things slower and harder to ferment.
We might have to try that next time with the lemon one to see if adding more starter would speed it up. Thanks for the suggestion! 😊
add maple syrup.
Before reading the ingredients on the bottle, I had started a grape soda, only to discover that it had potassium metabisulfite. On the same day I started orange soda, which had no additives. Three days later I discovered that the grape with the PM, has lots of foam on the top and is bubbling. However, the orange juice no fizz at all. But I'll continue to wait to see the final results.
Hi! The orange soda may take a while longer if it is really acidic, so it will be interesting to see how that one progresses. For the grape juice, it may have still worked, if there was very little metabisulfite in the juice. You're looking for that slight yeasty pleasant smell, with no growth on top, and no thickening of the juice (sludgy).
your channel is so underrated. I love the content :)
Have you guys ever done or try making Mavi, or mauby drink? I would like to see that! Love you videos!❤
Hello! It's a Caribbean drink made of the Mauby tree bark. Have you tried it? We don't have access to fresh Mauby bark here in Florida (that we're aware of, anyway!) so maybe we'll have to try ordering it online. Thanks for the suggestion!
I think I am going to buy some 1 gal carboys that come with the water traps and start making my own sodas / ciders. Probably save myself a bunch of money over the store bought stuff.
A few years ago we got a Mr Beer kit and made a batch. When we bottled it, we also used the Mr Beer plastic bottles. Is there any reason why we can't use them for the ginger bug sodas? They would all be testers. LoL
Thank you for your time and efforts! Be safe.
Definitely! That should work well for you. Good luck!
Hey guys you vids are awesome. A question, can I use Ginger bug to make fizzy teas like Hibiscus (Jamaican water)? Also is it possible to make a simple syrup (water and sugar) add Ginger bug to have some sort of carbonated water? I love to just have plain water with a drop of edible mint oil extract. What about adding it and the end of fermentation of the water syrup?
Thanks for the great question Alessandro! Yes, you can use the ginger bug to make fermented flavored tea. And you're right that it really just needs a simple syrup, whether it's flavored or not. You could certainly add the mint extract for flavor after fermenting. If you try the fermented sugar water, let us know how it goes!
Must learn myself to do this, I love this stuff.
You definitely can! It's a pretty simple process after you make the ginger bug and even that's pretty straightforward. It makes some tasty drinks!
I love you guys so much!! You have brought the fermentation experience to life with your videos. I am so happy I came across your channel. I’m making mango homemade soda/bee. Using my finger bug! I love finding jars in thrift shops. It’s all just such an adventure. Thank you for being the best.
Wow, you're the best! We love your sweet message and we're so happy you found us too! 💓 It is so much fun to find unique jars isn't it? 😄
Ooo Cherry juice would be yummy I bet!
Now you're talking! 😄
Quick question... after you use your ginger bug a couple of times, do you add more water, ginger, and sugar to keep it going, or do you toss it and start a new one at some point? Thanks!!! Love your videos. 🥰
Thanks so much for the question! We strain off the ginger pieces and keep some of the original ginger bug as its own starter. Then we'll just add more fresh ginger, sugar, and top it up with fresh non-chlorinated water and it should be good to go! The live culture should consume the sugar and it's off the races again! We hope that helps and thanks for the love! 💓💓💓
Thanks. It's easy.
Woohoo! Our pleasure. Happy fermenting!
Blueberry tastes amazing. Can you use raw fruit instead of boiling them?
Thanks for the question Gil! You definitely can! We only boil it to break it down some more and also destroy any other bacteria or yeast to let the ginger bug takeover faster. Feel free to try it out. It might even be more active so watch out!
First time making this and yes, the blueberry is very fizzy, im just doing the second ferment, cranberry isnt very fizzy.
Why haven't I done this sooner? 😡🤣
Just now getting into fermentation and stuff but I was completely obsessed with making fruit sodas over the summer im definitely gonna have to do this
That's awesome sellelpoc! The flavor combinations for these fermented sodas are endless! Good luck and happy fermenting! 🥤🎉😊
I gotta try that. now Im going to have to make that bug :)
We're glad to hear you'll give it a go! It's definitely the easiest way to make a fermented drink. How's your ginger bug coming along?
@@FermentationAdventure My bug failed. I live in Toronto, Canada and I have my house at a low temp to save money 65 to 68 deg F. I tried it with brown sugar because that is what I had at the time. I may have put too much in as well. I bought some white sugar and will try again when the temperature goes up. Thank you for answering my post and you make fermentation fun :)
Awesome channel! Great videos! I also tried making a ginger bug, which at first seems to work just fine! But when I try this with apple juice, it tastes extremely yeasty. I can barely make out any other tastes. I have the feeling that's not what the taste is supposed to be, right? While fermenting it's extremely active, with lots of gas/bubbles forming. So at least that seems fine!
You should be on the right track. Whenever we made our soda from apple juice we could almost swear it tasted like an actual beer and so far all of our batches have tasted like that. If you don't like the flavor you could always try it from fresh apples and wild fermentation or adding a ginger bug for an even better flavor. It tasted fairly yeasty to us too. So glad you're enjoying. Happy fermenting!
It's not soda anymore, you've got a fruit juice wine. Don't toss it though, it's great as a alcoholic drink after work, or you can let it sit and turn into vinigar and make bbq, salald dressing, or ketchup with that. And yes, you can make fermented ketchup and bbq sauce. I Haven't done ketchup yet. But I have fermented bbq sauce sitting in the fridge right now I intend to use at some point. It goes great on a pack of ribs or with a nice baked brisket and some fried potates
Excited to try it! 😁How long do we have to ferment it to get it atleast above 5%?
We hope you love it as much as we do! It's a simple process and creates such a yummy drink. Ours reached 3% after 3 days, so if it seems to be fermenting about the same rate as ours, you may reach 5% between 5-7 days.
I love listening to you two kibitzing! You provide valuable information, and support. I made my first ginger bug by your videos. Try pineapple -mango soda!
Thank you Sylvia!! 😍 We are so excited to hear you're starting on your ginger bug journey!
What does kibitzing mean?
hello friends, i am loving this soda so much, i end up drinking about a quart per day. Would it be too much..? My stomach seems a bit upset..? So can we drink probiotics in big quantities? Thank you guys for your work!
BTW, i tried with grape juice to see if it will make wine... and yes indeed, after 4 days of fermentation, i started to taste like wine :)
We're so happy you got some tasty ferments going! We can't say how much is too much when it comes to fermented beverages. You have to listen to your own body and that includes alcohol of all types including beer and wine. Everyone is different! 🙂
Here's a question I have not seen answered. When making a soda from a ginger bug, to what extent does the ginger flavor persist or comes through the juice flavor? Will everything I make have a ginger flavor regardless of the kind of juice I choose? Your videos are great and very helpful.
Hello! We're happy to hear you're finding our videos helpful! Since we're only using a little bit of ginger bug for our fermented drinks, we haven't noticed a ginger flavor in our end result (from the ginger bug) Like when we made root beer or our orange cream soda (ua-cam.com/video/zzBW0MTzA9s/v-deo.html), there was no residual ginger flavor. And when we make our ginger ale using our ginger bug, we create a whole new batch of ginger wort (ua-cam.com/video/KsMUuMmKwps/v-deo.html) to make sure it tastes plenty like ginger!
@@FermentationAdventure Thank you for your advice. Happy fermenting.
I appreciate the heads-up about the lemonade, I think to stay on the safe side I will probably just get the _Simply Lemonade_ from the refrigerated section so that it would have _only_ lemonade, and not that other stuff. When I'm ready to try it, that is. I actually have some cranberry grape juice or something like that but I have to look at the ingredients before I try. If not, I have cranberries that I threw fresh in the freezer last Christmastime and I probably need to hurry up and use them I have some in my kefir water as the second stage of fermenting, but today's the second day (of second stage fermentation) and it hasn't even started bubbling yet. I'm a little concerned about that stuff right now and I have friends coming over, I was hoping to share some with them.
I have two gingerbugs, and one is bubbly but the other I can't see bubbling. It's too cloudy to tell. But I do see white bubbles on the top so I guess it's been doing what it has to. I started the gingerbugs last Sunday I believe, but it looks like they may be okay to start using even now.
We hope it all turned out tasty! It sounds like you have some great ideas on the sodas and yes the lemonade took a lot longer than we thought! We hope you're doing well and happy fermenting! 😊
Hi guys! I love all your videos, and thank you for all the time and energy you put into them! I was wondering if you had any tips on working with a ginger bug/sodas in a somewhat cold house. Lately, my sodas aren't fermenting well (meaning few bubbles) and one strawberry soda actually has a couple of white fuzzies (looks like mold not kahm yeast but we'll see) on top. I keep the ginger bug in the fridge and keep bottles away from direct sunlight, etc, pretty much all the prescribed things. I'm wondering if I should let my bug hang out on the counter for a few days, start over, just be patient with my sodas and wait a couple weeks, or if there's something else?
Hi Jan! Thanks again for watching! This is a common problem, especially in the winter. You could try fermenting in a warmer place in your kitchen or even your home, like under the microwave with the light on, on top of the refrigerator, or even in a dehydrator. You could also try a heating mat, but just be careful not to have too much localized heat as it could kill your ferment. Once you've found a warmer spot to ferment, then your sodas should start to show signs of fermentation within 5 or so days. If that isn't happening, it could have to do with your ginger bug.
@@FermentationAdventure Thanks for the help, guys! I'll definitely experiment with finding a warmer place :)
Use a smell cooler bag, check on it daily, if your counter is granite or marble they retain the cold so put cooler bag on trivit to keep it off counter
I have already tried some of your recipes and they have turned up great, considering I am just a novice in this world of fermentation. Would it be too much to ask if you could also include measurements in grams, liters, etc.. on top of the cup measurements?. I appreciate you are American but it would be very useful for people like me outside of the USA not familiar with this cup measurement system. Keep up the good work!
That's definitely a great idea! We actually started putting gram measurements in our latest videos for all of our viewers around the world. So sorry they're not in the older videos!
@@FermentationAdventure thanks, much appreciated
As l lay here in the hospital, looking at the walls, your videos are liike a lifeline of endless entertainment.
Wow Moonwalker. We feel so honored that we're keeping you company and wish you much health with whatever you're going through. 💓 If you happen to really love watching our content, we actually also have an adventure channel! ua-cam.com/users/psadventures Not meant to be a commercial but in case you wanted more, we have a lot more videos over on PS Adventures. We hope you make a speedy recovery and that this year brings you back to good health! 🌠🌞🌅
starting to get addicted to this channel, eheh ;)
Sweet! Thanks so much for watching! We've got plenty of recipes on here so far, but we've even got a new recipe brewing on the counter right now. If all goes well, we can't wait to share it with you all soon!
I can all my own juice: apple, blueberry, elderberry, peach. I have a finger ready to go but am not sure if or how much sugar I should add to my own juice to get it going? Any suggestions as I do not add sugar when steam juice in gathering fruit. Thanks for you wonderful informative videos
Hi! Thanks so much! We'd recommend still adding some sugar to the fresh fruit juice so that there's enough sugar for the yeast and bacteria in your ginger bug to get excited about. You could follow this recipe for our fresh watermelon soda: ua-cam.com/video/ldvpyz60O8w/v-deo.html. If you like your fermented drinks less sweet, you could probably even cut the added sugar in half, and it should still ferment just fine. Thank you!
Hi!
I wonder how tasty these drinks would be if done with water kefir instead of the ginger bug. I know that the ginger bug makes them fizzier but i'd still test this if I had some
Yum! We're sure it would taste delicious! If anyone wants to try it though, be careful about harming the kefir grains. They are delicate and I would think could be harmed if there were any preservatives in the juice. These store-bought juices can easily have hidden preservatives in the ingredient list.
@@FermentationAdventure this is true, thank you
I just started my ginger bug starter. Once I use it to make soda. How do I keep my ginger bug going? Do I refill it with water and feed it again? In this video, it just shows you guys putting it back in the fridge.
Hi! Thanks for the question! Yes, you can refill with water and feed it again. We made a really short tutorial on how to maintain your ginger bug, so feel free to check it out here: ua-cam.com/users/shortsDjfHqZisQRs? Hope that helps!
Thanks for this! I noticed when I make my water kefir with anything citrus like lemon or orange, it takes forever to fizz… So I think citrus fruits slows down fermentation.
Makes sense. At least it still works, just a bit slower of a process!
Could i skip the bottling and leep it in the mason jar in the fridge and pour from it?
You definitely can! We like to ferment in larger batches first to make sure we get a good batch. Otherwise we'd have to clean a lot more bottles. Good question! 😊
Hi lovelies!
I have an important question:
I recently learned that if you experience lymphatic swelling then you should not drink kombucha. That made sense to me because it didn’t work well in my system and I am experiencing swelling. Can you tell me if this ferment is lichen to kombucha or if it is very different? Thank you- I can’t wait to make some
That's interesting Oya! We hadn't heard of that but everyone reacts to things differently so you'll have to decide that one for yourself. I wish we could tell you more on that one! 🥤
I made a ginger bug and it was bubbly the first three days. Is it still good if you don’t see bubbles and what went wrong if it’s not? I used ginger, distilled water, organic cane sugar.
Hi Dj! Is it warm where you are fermenting? It's definitely possible to have a working ginger bug after only 3 days if it's warm. The fact that you had bubbles early on is a great sign. As long as you don't see any warning signs like a bad odor or slimy consistency, it sounds like you're ready to use your ginger bug to make a fermented drink!
Hai sir nice work there.. Can u make a video to make fermentasion drink with out alcohol..
Hello! Alcohol is a natural biproduct of the fermentation process, but there are some drinks that create very minimal alcohol or is very slow to produce alcohol. These would be the fermented drinks we recommend: Water Kefir (ua-cam.com/video/Ndf-SobBJBg/v-deo.html), Kombucha (ua-cam.com/video/g9n2U9srchE/v-deo.html) and Tepache (ua-cam.com/video/ib4l1nPLWM8/v-deo.html). Hope that helps!
I just tested the flavor of my apple juice fermented drink is only day 2 and it tastes amazing. It’s 78 degrees in my house so it worked fast. It’s hot here in Phoenix now 😁I just bottled it. I think this might just be my favorite so far. I will definitely try other flavors but the apple one is amazing 😋 Thank you so much guys can’t wait for more videos!!! Still waiting on my jalapeño fermented salsa so far a lot of bubbles. I’m new to fermentation but you guys make it so easy to learn!!! Keep up the great work 👍🏼👍🏼😜
That is awesome! We're so glad you found our channel and that you like the fermented apple juice!! Let us know if you try any of our other recipes! 😃
And thank you so very much for your kind words! It's fans like you that keep us going! 💗
Well, loving your videos! I started a bug but used a different recipe, 2 tbl ginger-2 tbl sugar-2 tbl water, now watching your video on making bug, so much more water is used, will mine be ok?
Thank you so much! 💓 So the other recipe used equal amounts of the ingredients? Seems like the fermentation process would have a more difficult time getting started with that much sugar concentration. You could continue and see if it works! You could also just add some non chlorinated water and continue with the process as we show in our video. It's always a fun experiment! ☺️
Thanks for your reply, good news its bubbling, now my dilemma is, should I do the 2tbl ginger, 1tbl sugar(not 2) then up the water to a 1/4 cup? Becuase there hardly any liquid, wish I would've seen your video first! Thank you for your quick reply!
If it's bubbling, that's a great sign! You could continue to follow that other recipe you found, or you could start to add more water at any time. Since it's already bubbling, any water you add should take on the same good bacteria and yeast that you're looking for in your ginger bug. 😄
Ok, done! Fun!
I'm truly in heaven 🥰
Woohoo!! So glad you're enjoying Sunshine Bell! 💓
Great video. Love both of your energy every video. As far as the alcohol goes I do want the least amount so I'm going to try a day ferment, do you also suggest a day of secondary ferment for carbonation or may that be too much alcohol at that point. Ive been trying to aim for around 1 percent alcohol content for my ferments. Going to buy a tester soon so ill definitely know.
Thank you for your kind words! You gotta love what you do, right?! If you're aiming for 1 percent or less, we'd recommend 24 hour of primary fermentation, and then maybe just a few hours of secondary fermentation. Or, if you definitely want carbonation, you could try fermenting directly in the closed bottles for primary fermentation - just make sure to check the pressure often!
@@FermentationAdventure yes you do because it speaks volumes with your work. Thank you and I hope you have a great rest of your day.
Thank you! 😄
After seeing this I bought Welches Concord grape juice. Will make this today! ❤️ your videos and always look forward to them.
Thank you for watching! Let us know how you like the Concord grape soda!
That is some nice grape soda after 2 days primary and 12 hours secondary. Tasted sweet and was bubbly just like a Martinelli’s sparkling cider. Next batch will go for 3 day primary to reduce sweetness some more. This was THE most active ferment I’ve ever seen. Before bottling, tried stirring gently and a purple volcano bubbled all over my table and floor! A bowl underneath the mason jar is a must when bottling :-) apple juice is next 😋
Fantastic! So I guess we really must try a grape soda next. 😃
Concord grape juice has sorbate to prevent fermentation
Hi Steve! Hopefully not all grape juices have that ingredient. We haven't been out to the store to check the ingredients but online it looks like Welch's should work just fine.
I’ve tried making cherry soda with my ginger bug twice now, but have had problems with mold growing at around day 2. I’ve been covering my mason jars with a towel, leaving it at room temperature, and my ginger bug is very active on its own. Is there anything I can do to prevent this or do you have any tips on keeping mold away?
Hi! A fermentation lid that prevents any oxygen from entering the ferment, but still lets out any excess gases, would help keep mold at bay since mold likes oxygen. Although it could have to do with the juice that you're using. Is the cherry juice all natural without preservatives? Preservatives hinders the fermentation process. Does the juice have enough sugar to kick off the fermentation process? And also is the juice thick? If it's thick, it would create a layer on top that the mold could grow on. If it's a thick juice, you could try giving the jar a light shake a few times a day to prevent the mold from taking root on the top layer. Hope that helps!
@@FermentationAdventure Thank you! I don’t think the juice is the problem, (it is all natural and it isn’t thick) but I will definitely try using a fermentation lid! Thank you for the quick response, and advice! I really appreciate your channel and all of your knowledge.
Any tips for people looking to use a bottle capper (non burpable bottles)?
in the nicest way possible/ just a heads-up.
Lactobacillus is the bacteria/culture you introduce when using a Ginger bug. One of the most common of the "LAB" (lactic acid bacteria)
All LAB(s) eat sugar and excrete lactic acid. There should be no alcohol in any of those drinks. Tho you still would see sugar displacement in the gravity readings.
Additionally you're lemonade was most likely made with cane sugar / disaccharide
Monosaccharides are easier for Yeast and bacteria to metabolize. Stick to corn syrup for anything w sweeteners added, or you can just bring anything with cane sugar to a boil first (breaks the bond making x2 mono)
Sorry for the unsolicited advice. Truly just trying to be helpful. And I thoroughly enjoyed the video regardless 👏👏
Thanks so much for the info Frank! 🙂 We're definitely not bio-chemists, but are always learning more about natural processes! Nature is so amazing. While we only have a hydrometer to measure, they definitely taste alcoholic to us. We've relied on the info of many others, but it would be cool to send samples to a lab and have them test it somehow. Thanks so much again!
No luck with using a ginger bug. Primary ferment goes great, but secondary is always flat. Trying with a little ec-1118 champagne yeast now. 16 hours in and I'm getting slow steady bubbles in cranberry cocktail and apple/peach.. Fingers crossed.
That's awesome that you're trying it out with champagne yeast. That should work out well for you. Keep on experimenting it's sure to work. Happy fermenting!
@@FermentationAdventure
Thank you. Yes, the ec-1118 champagne yeast is very fast right now in our Atlanta temperatures. 12 hours is plenty to get aggressive carbonation. 24 hours lets the beginning of tartness set in. Then 12 overnight hours bottled on the countertop before chilling. The apple peach is my favorite so far. I did see a cream soda recipe somewhere else I want to try. Just sugar, yeast, and vanilla extract fermented. Cheers 🥂
That's interesting because, in Kansas, they have - or used to have, not sure if they still do - but bars served 3% beer (age required, 18 yrs). To get 6% beer, you have to go to a private club (age required, 21). So 6% beer was rated the same as bourbon or rum. It was really weird.
That's interesting! Everyone views alcohol and age limits around the world so differently. Isn't it funny that in one state or country you're allowed to drink something but drive just over the border and somehow it's now illegal or even immoral? The world is an interesting place. Thanks for sharing! 🍺
@@FermentationAdventure I hear Kansas is finally thinking about moving into the 20th century! So, if they DO, then they'll only be 100 years behind! They still have regulations out the wazoo and the drinking age is now 21, across the board, whether you buy 3.2 beer or 6%.
Hi there， just wondering if these soda drinks are ok to fit in my Keto diet?
Hi! We're really not familiar with the Keto diet, but if you're trying to reduce your sugar intake, you're welcome to check out this recent video we made where we talk about different options on how to create fermented drinks with much less sugar. Here's the link to that quick video: ua-cam.com/video/wTt1hXoAQGU/v-deo.html
How do these drinks compare to Kombucha? I quit making Kombucha because the caffeine wires me so I now make a pineapple fermented drink but these look awesome but I do need the probiotics. Thank you in advance for your answer.
Sarah completely understands about the caffeine in Kombucha! But no worries, all of our fermented drinks on our channel have healthy probiotics - it's just part of the natural fermentation process. This easy soda video is the quickest and easiest way we've found to make a fermented drink, but you could also use natural fruit. (Like in our blueberry soda video.)
Interesting, I was not aware we could use ginger bug like water kefir? Cool! Am I understanding this?
Hi! Yes exactly! They are different cultures, but each can be used as a starter culture to start the fermentation process in fermented drinks. ❤️
Been looking for a channel like this!
We're glad you found us! Welcome!
I started a ginger bug,5 days ago and only have minimal bubbles, there is still a lit of ginger floating, it smells fine, no mold growth on top. I feed and stir daily. Any suggestions or thoughts, appreciated. Thank you
Thanks for the question Lisa! You might have some ginger that's a little less active. Make sure it's not too cold and also you're using non-chlorinated water. If all else fails we try to find another source of ginger to make sure it wasn't irradiated. Shine a light into it and see if you have any tiny bubbles that are hard to see. We hope that helps!
I like ur drinks a lot . But I have a small doubt . Here my temperature is around 88 fahrenheit so which drink can I FERMANT in this high temperature
Hi! That is a bit high for ideal fermentation. We ferment in the low 70's Fahrenheit. Anything higher than that will ferment much more quickly. Do you have access to a refrigerator? If so, you could try fermenting at the high room temperature for a much shorter time period, and then refrigerate it once it is ready or has finished fermenting. We'd recommend watching it closely to see how quickly the bubbles start forming, and also to make sure there is no mold on top since that is also more likely in warmer settings. We hope that helps! We'd love to hear how it goes!
Greetings again!
Have you ever tried making ginger beer using water kefir? It would be interesting to check if the taste is different (I'm betting that it is)
Hi Jane! Great thought! We have not yet tried this. If you give it a go, we'd love to hear how it goes! We imagine it would be a sweeter, lighter, and less alcoholic version of a ginger beer made with a ginger bug.
@@FermentationAdventure i did ferment some ginger sugar syrup with water kefir just now. For the record I never tried the ginger bug variant. What can I say, of all the things I fermented with the water kefir, I like this (and the gingery taste) the most. It is definitely less carbonated and after 3 days, you won't be tasting the sweet as much. I suspect that the ginger bug one is tastier, more fizzy, I imagine it to be like fermenting it with Saccharomyces. The grains actually grow like mad in the ginger which is not what I was expecting, I keep hearing about other people's grains dying when switching to ginger. But yeah, after all being said and done, i don't much drink it for taste rather than as a probiotic, unlike with the ginger bug where i could see myself enjoying it.
ps: As a personal touch, it seems that ginger really goes well with... a touch of hot peppers
@@janespright Thanks for keeping us posted on this ginger experiment! Very cool. Great to that the grains are doing so well in the ginger syrup. For those that struggled with this, maybe they had combined the grains directly with actual ginger pieces? And again we love hearing about the hot pepper idea! Seems that a touch of hotness is a great idea in many ferments. Someone also just mentioned this about their tepache!
Just wanted to share something. My wife soaks banana peals only in water to feed her potted plants. After a time in a closed dark closet, I added more banana peals to the jar and noticed fermentation bubbles, very active.
Banana soda maybe?
Just a thought. 😏
Glad I saw this. I would definitely have bought the lemonade and gave up.
Same here! We were pretty surprised and almost gave up ourselves until it finally started bubbling. The acidity of the lemon juice must really slow it down by quite a bit. Once we got a batch out of it though, whoa! It was good. Happy fermenting! 🥤🍋😊
So the ferment starter IS the ginger bug? Did you say how much of the ginger bug to add?I think the ginger bug is so tasty- I made it with fresh pineapple and ginger that I blend and strain. Then I added 1/4c acv that I had a scoby floating in. Should I have added a little scoby to my bug too? I did not.
Thanks for the question Jennifer! We usually add about 1/4 cup of ginger bug starter to soda syrup for most of our recipes. You got it right. The ginger bug is the starter. We hope that helps! 👍
I would like to know how you made the Blueberry rhubarb one???
Here you go! ua-cam.com/video/6pTF5d0I_qg/v-deo.html We made a whole video on that one. It was so tasty!! 🫐🥤😊
Thank you. There are no rhubarb here where I live. (MX) I love it, but.
We know how you feel! There's no rhubarb growing here in Florida either but we find it at the grocery store sometimes. It's not necessary to use and you can probably use some other tart things like cranberries. We hope that helps! 😊
Okay you talked me into it. Would it be possible to use a flavor concentrate to make soda like cola?
Thanks for the question! You probably could use a flavor concentrate along with a sugar water solution but you'll have to watch out to make sure that the concentrate doesn't have preservatives. You can always experiment and give it a try though! Let us know how it goes!