Ginger Beer

Remember my Ginger Bug post? If not ... feel free to go off and read it.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

Obviously, I didn't make the Ginger Bug for the sake of making Ginger Bug. 

I had to do something with it. Hopefully I'll make several things with it.

I decided to start with Ginger Beer.

I mentioned the @FermentationAdventure Youtube Channel in the Ginger Bug post, and they have lots of videos where they use their Ginger Bug to make homemade sodas.

For my version of Ginger Beer, I decided to use lemonade / limeade as a base.

• 1 Can Lemonade Concentrate
• 1 Can Limeade Concentrate
• 3 Cups chopped Ginger
• 1 Cup Ginger Bug
• 1ish Gallon of Water

I steeped the chopped Ginger in a couple quarts of not-quite-boiling water for 40ish minutes.

I strained the ginger out of this liquid into a gallon jar on top of the frozen concentrate.

I added more water. Added the ginger bug, and then topped up the jar with water. Made sure everything was mixed together.

Then, I covered the jar and let it sit for a few days.

I should have taken a gravity reading, but totally forgot about doing that. Oh well ... maybe next time.

After letting it ferment for a few days, I bottled.

I set them aside in my basement for about 6 days to carbonate. The first few days, I was a little worried that the ginger bug was spent, because my PET's were not firming up.

But on day 4 or 5 ... the bottles were hard. On day 6, I put them in the fridge.

I had a bottle yesterday. It is pretty tasty. I think it tastes more like lime / lemon than ginger, which I suppose isn't a huge surprise. But, there is a little of the spicy ginger flavor to make it just a touch more than the base.

It is still pretty sweet, so I assume the ABV is very low. The carbonation could be a little higher, but not too bad. 

It looks very hazy with just a little bit of a pink tint. 

Overall, I think it turned out well. I think I'll probably do more "homemade" ginger bug sodas.

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