Cut Probiotic Soda Costs

If you love the fermented beverages but want to cut both cost and labor down, I recommend trying ginger bug starter to make your own natural probiotic type sodas.

Here's why I prefer growing a ginger bug over a Scoby culture for kombucha.

Easy to source, it's water, organic ginger knob and your own sugar

Easy to grow- chop ginger, add water and sugar daily. Plus tbh my ginger bug went through biegnin neglect just two weeks ago where I didn't feed it at all and left it on counter ( don't recommend it, will say put it in fridge) I refreshed it and it's doing its thing quite happily.

Cheap- I brew my own tea, right now it's hibiscus/lemongrass which I bought out of the bulk bins on 20% off Wednesdays. You do need a sugar such as fruit juice, simple syrup of honey or sugar or my fave fruit juice concentate, thawed, I use limeade. I figured mine out and with one week of ginger bug starter the limeade and my tea it was a dollar per 14 ounce swing top bottle. I will say though I stay away from

Hardware- got mason jars, or leftover single use water bottles or old kombucha bottles and a strainer? Great it's all you need to make natural fermented probiotic soda.

I'll link a safety first official how to but this is how I do it and while I will say that you should take all precautions you need for food safety and your peace of mind I've been doing this for six months as listed below and haven't exploded one glass bottle or given myself botulism yet.

Safety first official way to make ginger bug and soda:

https://share.google/n5qkpaOo6ewTxuUn3

My method: Ginger Bug soda

Ginger Bug Starter:

1 knob of organic ginger unwashed -very important it's both organic and unwashed mine costs around 1.12 and it lasts forever since you are at most using a tablespoon at a time

Water- I use tap water but all the fermenting experts use filtered. Tap is fine and no I've never had the chlorine or fluoride affect my ferment.

Sugar-no substitutes

Chop about 1/4 cup of ginger skin and all. put in a glass container like a mason jar. I use an old recycled glass half quart one.

Add 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water. Stor to combine. Put lid on and rest on countertop or warm dark place.

Every day add 1 tablespoon of chopped unpeeled ginger, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/4 water. In about 3-4 days you should see bubbles forming and it should smell like it's fermenting usually it's like a stale beer or yeasted bread scent to me. Make sure no mold is growing but if you don't have mold it should smell like old beer, you haven't done anything wrong! It's now ready to use or you can put in fridge. ( See reviving your ginger bug notes at end)

Ginger Bug soda:

Brew your favorite tea and let it come to room tempatire. I brew double strength since I'm adding a syrup or fruit juice concentrateI like herbal for this but black, or green is fine too. Or you brew both a herbal and black or green tea together.

Syrup or Juice: You will need something with fruit sugars or regular sugars to ferment the soda. I like to get a those frozen limeade, fruit blend, or lemonade concentrates (see notes -1) and thaw them on the counter. I've also used a honey simple syrup(see notes- 2) or a homemade simple syrup. If using frozen concentrate I will thaw on counter and let it come to room temperature before using. If I am using a homeade syrup I let that come to room temperature also.

In your clean bottles or mason jar ( recommend to sterilize but I've never found it necessary) decant following:

1-2 cups tea

1/4 cup fruit concentrate, undiluted, juice or simple syrup

1/2 to 1 cup strained ginger bug depending on yield and how many bottles you are making.

Do not fill to top, leave plenty of room like an inch or 2 inches for gas buildup. If you fill to top your bottle will explode on opening or worse overnight at 2 am. Don't give your dog a heart attack, leave room in your bottles.

Discard any ginger in your strainer. Add fresh chopped ginger, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/4-1/2 cup water depending on jar size and how much starter you used to your existing ginger bug.

Put caps on bottles and rest in room temperature dark place or counter for 1-4 days. Each day unscrew the caps to allow for pressure release, do not skip this. By day 3 or 4 you should see bubbles floating top and when you release the cap you should hear gas release like a soda can would or a champagne bottle pop. Recommend you drink within week.

Refrigerate any bottles to slow fermentation process down. However I have found these still do ferment in fridge so I'd drink them sooner rather than later.

Notes:
1) 1 can of concentrate yields 4-5 bottles and I pay two USD for it. I do not recommend either orange juice or orange juice concentrate. It ferments very very fast and ends up tasting medicinal. If you do use orange juice I recommend you pressure release fermenting bottles 2-4 times a day and consume right away.

2) ever wonder why Starbucks honey flavored drinks don't have glob of honey at bottom? They use a honey syrup. One part honey, one part water, bring to boil and simmer for about 3-5 minutes. Let cool.and decant. Excellent way to avoid honey globs in your tea.