How to Grow Your Own Ginger Beer Plant
The true Ginger Beer Plant dates back to around the 1700's and is not actually a plant at all, instead it is a living organism, best described by a man called Harry Marshall Ward as being "a composite organism consisting of a fungus, the yeast Saccharomyces florentinus (formerly Saccharomyces pyriformis) and the bacterium Lactobacillus hilgardii (formerly Brevibacterium vermiforme)".This organism forms a gelatinous cluster which moves about within its jar naturally, and used correctly can allow you to make a lifetime's supply of authentic, naturally fizzy alcoholic Ginger Beer that used to be commonplace in most UK households.
There are many recipes on the Internet for the so called 'Ginger Beer Plant', but most of these call for the use of brewers yeast, which therefore results in fermentation, but NOT an authentic Ginger Beer Plant. Traditionally at the end of each batch of Ginger Beer the 'plant' would be halved, and the second half given away to friends, family or neighbours in order for them to start their own Ginger Beer Plant, whilst the remaining half would be used to make the next batch of Ginger Beer. These days it is incredibly difficult to get hold of an authentic Ginger Beer Plant, and it is widely assumed that this is because it virtually died out during the rationing in World War II. It is not impossible however, and there are suppliers on the Internet selling the authentic plant, although you need to be sure this is what you are buying as there is no legislation governing the description of the Ginger Beer Plant. As I understand it there are some reliable links on Wikipedia which lead to authentic Ginger Beer Plant suppliers.
How to make your own Ginger Beer Plant
This is actually quite straight forward, and as you will see there is no brewers yeast added to the recipe, the fermentation happens naturally within the jar once the ginger root and sugar are left together for a week or so and the 'Saccharomyces florentinus' yeast is naturally produced.
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Method
Dice a tablespoon of fresh ginger root into small cubes and place this into a sterilised jam jar three quarters full of dechlorinated or mineral water.
Add two teaspoons of white sugar.
Cover the top of the jar with some muslin to allow air flow but protect from debris or insects falling into the jar.
Leave the jar in an exposed place at room temperature, e.g. a kitchen shelf.
Every day for about a week add two teaspoons of sugar and two teaspoons of fresh diced ginger root.
If after one week the mixture is frothy with a pleasant odour it is ready to use. If it is mouldy discard it and start at the beginning again.
An Alternative Recipe Using Dried Yeast (not a true Ginger Beer Plant)
Ingredients for the ginger beer plant:
- Half a teaspoon of dried yeast
- 1 teaspoon of ground or fresh grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup warm water
Making the ginger beer plant:
Mix ingredients in a jar and cover with a piece of muslin. Secure with a rubber band. For the following week, add 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of ground or fresh grated ginger daily.
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Assuming you manage to either make yourself, or to find, an authentic supplier of Ginger Beer Plant you then have the ability to make some delicious, naturally fizzy ginger beer of your own in under a week. The only additional ingredients you will need are sugar, lemon juice, fresh or ground ginger and a couple of litres of chlorine free water, (either use bottled mineral water or leave tap water overnight to allow the chlorine to evaporate naturally).
Equipment Required
Fermentation vessel capable of handling more than 2 litres of water (could be a bowl or proper beer fermentation barrel. )
Muslin cloth,
Elastic band
2 litre plastic bottle
Everyday kitchen equipment like a tea spoon, scales, fine grater etc
Saucepan if using fresh ginger
Ingredients
2 litres of chlorine free water
400g of sugar
lemon juice
Either a dessert spoon of ginger powder or a two inch piece of fresh ginger
Ginger Beer Plant
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Method
Next sterilise all of your equipment thoroughly. This is where sterilising powder can come in useful, or you could wash your equipment and then place in an oven at 100 degrees plus for 20 minutes.
Remember sterilising doesn't clean, it just kills. If you've visible dirt inside your fermentation vessel it will still contain bacteria.
Washing up liquid and hot water works just as well - this stuff takes less than a week to make and you'll be transferring it after two days anyway.
If using fresh ginger root you will need to scald it before using. The reason for scalding is to kill any bacteria. Wash the ginger root and then drop it into a saucepan of boiling water for a minute or so.
Remove the ginger root carefully and then grate it.
Add water to the fermenting vessel.
Juice the lemon, you can also grate a bit of the zest into the grated ginger. Put a teaspoon or two into the water.
Add the ginger and lemon zest into a square of muslin cloth. Pull the sides together and secure the corners into a bundle with your elastic band.
Add the sugar to the water and stir in.
Now comes the time to add your Ginger Beer Plant to the mixture along with the grated ginger muslin parcel.
Seal the contents of the fermentation vessel with a lid and assuming this is now airtight add an airlock to allow air to escape. Failure to do this can result in the container exploding as the pressure inside it builds up, if you are using a jar or bowl you can simply cover the top of it with either muslin or a tea towel and secure with an elastic band. You should always leave a third of the jar or bowl empty to allow for expansion.
Wait two or three days to allow the fermentation process to work.
Place a funnel inside the neck of a clean empty plastic soft drink bottle. Line it with a double thickness of muslin.
Carefully pour your fermented Ginger Beer through the muslin in the bottle. Fill to about two inches short of the top.
The gelatinous substance that remains in the muslin is your Ginger Beer Plant and should now be returned to its jar in a warm place, two thirds filled with dechlorinated water and fed daily with a teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of ginger. Keep the level of dechlorinated water topped up until you use your Ginger Beer Plant next. Keep a lid on the jar (or a piece of muslin secured with an elastic band), but don't tighten it completely or your jar will explode, air has to be able to escape. As your plant gets bigger you will need to halve it and either some it to a friend so they can start their own plant, or discard it.
Squeeze all the air out of the bottle so the Ginger Beer reaches the top of the bottle then screw on the lid.
Leave the bottle at a comfortable room temperature for a few days, or until the bottle is hard and has expanded due to the natural production of Carbon Dioxide within it.
Carefully open the bottle and let the pressure escape.
At this point you have two choices, you can repeat the process of squeezing the air out of the bottle and sealing it again in order to make the Ginger Beer more dry, or you can simply place the bottle in the fridge and drink when cold.
Ingredients
Ginger – fresh root ginger (a couple of large thumb sized chunky pieces) or you can use around half a teaspoon of powdered ginger instead
Around a litre of dechlorinated or mineral water
100g sugar ideally unrefined
Juice of half a lemon
Ginger Beer Plant
Optional: pinch of cayenne chilli powder or juice a little fresh chilli
in the same way that you juiced your ginger. Please wash your hands very
carefully after juicing chilli!
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Method
• If you’re using fresh root ginger then start by preparing this - if using a juicer, peel and juice the ginger. If using a blender, blend the peeled, chopped ginger with a little filtered water until it is a pulpy consistency. If using a grater, grate the peeled ginger to get it to a pulp. Now squeeze this pulp to extract the juice to use in your ginger beer. This can be extracted by pressing the pulp through a muslin cloth. For a stronger flavour you can wrap the squeezed pulp in a muslin square and secure it so it can be added to the jar. Again, experiment to find the flavour you like best. If you don’t want the ginger pulp in your brew, just stick it on your compost heap or in your food recycling bin if you have one.
• Add the water to the jar containing your Ginger Beer Plant.
• Then add the ginger juice (or powdered ginger), sugar and lemon juice (and chilli if using) to the jar.
• You need to have about a third empty at the top of the jar to allow for expansion.
• You can then place a muslin or tea towel over the top of the jar and secure it with an elastic band.
• Now leave it for a few days, tasting it every so often. When it starts to develop a nice flavour but still has a sweet taste, then it’s ready to bottle.
Homemade Ginger Beer makes an excellent Christmas gift and has the advantage that it can be made very quickly. Another great gift is the actual Ginger Beer Plant itself, either as a portion of your own plant, or in a dried form from a reliable online supplier of the authentic Ginger Beer Plant. For an unusual gift that keeps on giving, why not buy a Ginger Beer Plant for your loved one today.
- eBay My World - heathyleehousefarm
This ebay.co.uk seller usually sells Ginger Beer Plant if you check out their listings. Click on this link and the on the left hand side of the screen below her profile picture you can see her listings. - Real Ginger Beer Plant and Organic Cultures | Retro Culture
Real ginger beer plant, kefir and other probiotic cultures - buy online at Retro Culture. London based Ginger Beer Plant and Kefir supplier. - Ginger beer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Comments
Thanks Gus, perhaps you might decide to give it a go for yourself one day :)
Thanks Cindy! My son-in-law loves to make beer. I will try to make this and then give him the recipes for Christmas. This year our Christmas will be in January though. New grand-baby is to arrive the first week of Decemeber, so we have to make the party later.
I really enjoy read this hub. I'll bookmark this information. Gardening is my hobby. Good work, my friend. I give my Vote special for you.
Hi LG, well you know babies, they often fail to arrive when duly expected so you could set it going now easily as it only takes days, not weeks to make! You could easily have a batch before the end of November so why not start now!!!
Hi Prasetio, well, not really a gardening project, so although you like gardening, I recommend an interest in home brewing and similar hobbies to have a go at this. I love gardening as you know, but even I do not grow the Ginger root for this, but simply buy it from the supermarket. I do hope you give it a try though, as the results can be very impressive, and up to 11%+ in alcohol depending on how you treat the fermentation stage.
Great stuff - I used to do this as a kid with my dad. Had a couple of issues with exploding bottles, but looking back, that just added to the fun!
Hi TLA, perhaps it is time to have another try at it. Apparently it is far safer to use plastic bottles for this very reason, especially as the squeezing the air out of them before sealing leaves room for expansion.
Great detailed instructions. My Dad used to talk about making ginger beer and root beer from scratch. Sounds like this could become a brewing tradition. I've made a sour dough starter before and it's somewhat like this. Thanks so much for sharing the tips.
You are welcome PegCole17, hope you enjoy it if you make some yourself :)
I tried making the ginger beer plant from scratch. It started bubbling within two days, but I kept feeding it ginger and sugar, and then it stopped bubbling and went flat? did I kill it? choke it out? Did the water run out of oxygen? What happened?
This is tougher to do than it sounds :) but fun.
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Rick, I wish I knew the answer to your question, but the whole process of creating an 'authentic' Ginger Beer Plant appears to be rather a mystery of science, so the best bet is to either keep repeating the start up process and maybe varying locations, quantities etc until it works, or cheat a bit and buy one of the kits that uses yeast, (not authentic, but still tastes great). You can buy the 'real thing', but it can be difficult to find or expensive. The one place I found online that sounds like the 'real deal' is in the links section or here: http://www.dsmz.de/microorganisms/html/strains/str
Hope this helps and good luck.
Excellent and well packaged information you actually shared in here which i so much enjoy reading from.
Thanks Sun-Girl, glad you enjoyed this :)
Actually real GBP is a combination of bacteria and yeast. Thus yeast is a part of it.
I probably worded this badly somewhere in the article kungfukeif, although I do state in the first paragraph that yeast is a part of true GBP. The thing is that the type of yeast (Saccharomyces florentinus) is unique to the GBP, but when most GBP kits are bought on the Internet etc, they usually are accompanied by brewers yeast which will not produce an authentic GBP.
this is too good, THANK YOU!
Thanks ramona, hope you give it a try :)
My wife and I just started making a ginger beer plant after reading this. It seems to be doing great after just a few days. Thank you very much for the article as we were having a hard time finding the a way to make it.
@ Rick, one thing about brewing is you don't want to choke out your yeast with too much sugar. With the low amount of water, it may be good to cut back on the sugar after it starts bubbling. If you put it in faster than the yeast can eat it, the yeast will die. This is something I will take into consideration as well.
Thanks for your feedback Domno25, I hope you get some great Ginger Beer from it :)
hi, thanks for the info, but i am wondering why this would be considered a real plant? you will only get an introduction of endemic yeasts from where you live. This doesn't necessarily mean you get the exact strain. From Sacred Herbal and Healing Beers the author writes "The simple addition of crushed ginger to any cooked starchy grain will result in starch conversion and subsequent growth of Saccharomyces yeast" therefore I wouldn't think just plain 'sugar" is sufficient. In addition there is no introduction of lactobacillus culture? Seems like wild fermentations instead....thoughts? thanks
Golly Joe, I can't answer that as I am not a scientist. The concept of the Ginger Beer Plant is such an old one that I doubt even the original discoverer knew exactly how it worked. It has always been known as the 'Ginger Beer Plant' but I don't know why it was referred to as a plant, apart from maybe the fact it kept growing as part of it was passed from person to person.
Wish I could offer more info, but the extent of my knowledge is already in this article, and the method for making it is also an old one, so I can't give you the full science behind it. I would be interested in hearing the results of any further investigations you might make though.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
I am trying you method for growing my own Ginger Plant. Can i ask did you grow yours or buy it?. I have made both recipes. They are both fermenting well. I see no Ginger beer Plant after 7 days, but the brew is fermenting well and smells good. Fingergers Crossed. Many Thanks for a great article..
Cheers Ray, I actually did both, and in fairness I had a couple of failures from doing it the natural way. In the end I believe the cheats way using brewer's yeast is easier, although not authentic. The only other way is to buy the authentic Ginger Beer Plant culture, which is more costly and harder to track down.
Do let me know how you get on with yours :)
I don't think using yeast is cheating,just a different way to achieve the end result.
Both Demijohns have now been topped up to just below the shoulder. The natural yeast version is brewing somewhat slower.Some of the Ginger is sinking and rising, like a weird lava lamp.I plan to bottle both next Thursday.
Can't wait to hear how yours turns out Ray. Are you going to use a hydrometer to test the alcohol levels?
Works great you can also freeze or put it in the fridge for 2 months if you go away or want a rest from drinking ginger beer
Which method did you use Jeff, the brewers yeast or the natural process? Good idea to freeze the plant, I never thought of that :)
A Hydrometer? No.. I will just taste it. If its too sweet i will just leave it to brew a few more days. I will taste later in the week.I have several Hydrometers floating around the house ( dreadful pun )but i think taste testing will be far more fun.I may have to bottle sooner rather than later.
I am a bit of a purist - so natural is best for this one. In fact it has been a very easy process, although you have to keep at it and the plant takes several iterations to really get established. We travel for long periods and the ability to freeze it is very important. I currently have 3 litres just starting to bubble - my first batch of 2012.
You should try elderberry sparkling wine and also beer as this is equally as easy and satisfying to make.
Hi Ray, loved the 'pun'. Tasting is the nicer method I guess. you will know when it is strong enough because you will fall over.
Hi Jeff, thanks for the feedback. You should do a hub about the elderberry wine and beer. I bet it would be a winner (if you haven't already done it).
We tasted the Ginger beer last night. Still far too sweet. Heat is the real issue here, the house is just not warm enough.Dug out the old wine heater matt. That should speed things along a little.
LOL, keep tasting it and warming it up. I will love to know how it turns out in the long run.
Tasting at 5:50am. Still a little sweet for my taste but getting better. The natural Ginger has a pleasant taste. Could maybe do with a little more ginger,this may improve with a bit more time. The Ground Ginger has a real bite,blending them may be the answer.Watch this space. I was looking at a 90 Gallon tank yesterday and wondering. No i,ll leave the fish in there :-) .
LOL, poor fish :) Seriously though it sounds like all is going really well. Ever so excited to hear what the end result is like :)
Bottled the Natural Ginger Beer today. Will pop into the Cooler on Monday.It looks like Ginger Beer,Smells like Ginger Beer, only 1 test left. I must wait. I must wait.I must........
LOL,I am drooling just thinking about it :)
Not sure if this will work. Picture here.
It worked Ray, and the Ginger Beer looks great, I just hope it tastes as good as it looks. Can't wait to hear from you when you have tasted the finished result :)
This is the Natural Ginger beer, fresh Ginger with no added yeast.
Perfect, as it should be :)
Hi Mistyhorizon, thanks for making this page. It's the only place I could find with instructions for making GBP without buying yeast! I've been trying to make one for a few days now (almost a week) but haven't noticed any frothing or ferment-y smells. I make sourdough bread so I'm used to having lots of bubbles, am I perhaps expecting too much from my GBP? I made natural elderflower champagne last summer but I can't recall how frothy or bubbly it got... my GBP currently doesn't look anything like the picture of yours, though.
Perhaps you need it in a warmer location Richard. Give it time, if not the process may not have worked and you might need to start it off again.
Since bottling the Yeast has Changed. Now it clumps together and rises and falls. I may leave this a few more days to see how it develops. No fear of it breaking the plastic bottles.
Richard Mine took over a week before it started. I never scalded the Ginger as i did not want to kill off the natural yeasts.
That would make sense. This time last week it was 80-degree sunny weather but since then it's been getting colder and colder (it's actually snowing outside right now!). Maybe I should wait until summer is here before trying again...
Hi Ray, if the yeast is clumping and rising and falling this sounds like your true 'Ginger Beer Plant' which is often described as being like a 'lava lamp' for that reason.
Hi again Richard, I think Ray makes a good point above.
Thanks Misty and Ray. I actually took the time to read through all the comments this afternoon (Ray, your updates are really helpful!) I've moved my jar to the airing cupboard where it hopefully won't get too hot but will be warm enough to help the yeast along (I was loath to do this at first because of bad experiences with sourdough in there).
Should I continue feeding it 2tsp ginger and 2tsp sugar every day until it becomes active, or should I stop after a week (which is today I think) and leave it to its own devices? I don't want to kill the yeast with too much food!
I'll let Ray answer this one based on his experience Richard. I fed mine all the way through, but he may have done it differently, and right now his seems to be doing really well. I haven't done this for over 18 months now, but intend to have another crack at it this summer once the weather warms up a bit more :).
Hi Richard I fed mine for 7 days. Do be sure you Starting Jar is large enough or you will just end up with Syrup Goop. Then wait. Smell it every day if it smells off Bin it and start over.
I plan to separate the yeast from the bottles now with a small syphon tube.I want to see what develops.
Hi Misty I checked the ginger beer today. The Natural had stopped fermenting, the Yeast version has continued. Now we have 4 litres of Sweet and 4 of very dry. The Quick cure was to blend the both. Both taste good, the ground Ginger is quite a lot stronger. I kept the last of the must in a jar, this will be used again.
I wonder if the Shop bought pre-cleaned Ginger has had most of the natural yeast removed in the cleaning process.Most things have the yeast on the skin,Sloe,Grape,Elderberry etc.The plan now is More fresh Ginger and another Jar for a fresh attempt.I will Grate/Grind the Ginger next time.There is another thought here,are chemicals being used on the ginger crop that kills the natural yeasts. I will pop again soon..
Thanks for the update Ray. You make a good point about the shop Ginger. Perhaps it might be an idea to experiment with growing your own, either in a garden or a container, as at least this way you know no pesticides have been used on it, (or other cleaning.)
Hi Misty Growing Ginger, We have tried that before here without real success.Maybe under a Glass frame will work.We shall see.
I still believe the Ginger beer plant was originally started in the home. The were no labs making stuff like that or there would be records of it. Some sites suggest adding Geletin and lemon. Maybe i could try that further down the road.
Worth a go in a cold frame or a greenhouse then Ray. It seems to prefer warmer conditions. I am sure you are right about where the GBP started, the only way labs have it now is because they obtained samples of the original plant and 'saved' it. Not heard about adding gelatin or lemon, (gelatin sounds horrible as this is from animal bones), as for the lemon, well maybe, so long as it can't kill the yeast.
After forgetting about my concoction for a week or so (it was hidden away in the nice warm airing cupboard) I went and smelled it this morning. Visually it looked identical, and not at all like it had fermented, but it had a lovely 'something has fermented in here' smell like I remember came from my natural elderflower champagne last year. I've just fed it and replaced it in the warm cupboard and will see if anything looks different tomorrow... Either way I have a day off Wednesday so will be trying the full recipe for ginger beer. I'll be sure to update here!
P.S. While the bulk of my ginger for feeding has been shop-bought, the initial stuff I used was ginger we grew in our house last summer. If we can do it here in Britain I'm sure you guys can! Definitely use a greenhouse/coldframe/put it in the window indoors though.
Great update Richard, (I am in Britain too in the Channel Islands). Can't wait to hear your next update :)
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
I just drank my First glass Homebrewed Ginger Beer. A little sweet, not very fizzy. Tastes great. Thanks.
I could drink that all day long. Thanks.
Hi Richard. I will see if we can grow some Ginger here soon. Thanks for the Tips. I will Pop down to our local Market garden and see what they have to offer.
We did Pick up more fresh Ginger i will get around to shredding it soon.
The project below has been keeping me busy.
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=3245352 Dont know if you will be able to View this.
Feel free to delete my link before posting. It is way off topic.
Hi All
I Started the next batch. I inch Cube of Finely Grated Ginger then Crushed,unwashed. 2 Teaspoons Caster Sugar. Water Boiled, cooled,3/4 pint. 2 Layers of Muslin secured with a Rubber Band. Placed on the wooden surround of a gas fire. This is just warm to the touch,never gets hot. I will feed daily for 7 days and see what the Outcome is.**** Jar is about 1 litre ***
Thanks for the update, sounds like it came out great. Keep us up to speed on how your next batch goes too. Don't worry about the link, as because you didn't simply expect me to accept it I will leave it there. The people who annoy me are those to spam my hubs with links to their websites, articles etc without even asking first but essentially you were nice enough to ask :) Looks like an interesting project although I couldn't get any sound on it here so I don't know if there was meant to be any.
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
No sound, I don't do sound it takes up more space.
The new Starter is already starting to work. I can see minute particles moving around.
Hi Mistyhorizin2003
The new starter Jar Picture is here. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-as
Cool, that looks really good :)
A friend gave my some ginger she didn't need last week, so I'm giving this a go. It looks very genuine - and not too difficult to do!
For the benefit of those of us in the UK - 400g = 14 oz, 2 litres = 3 1/2 pints and 100g = 3 1/2 oz.
Great hub!
I had no idea ginger beer could be made! I have all the ingredients on hand so plan to try it soon. Thank you for sharing an awesome recipe! Voted up and across the board.
Thanks Vicki that is helpful to add, (I too am from the UK but luckily my measuring jug has cups, litres and pints marked on it). Good luck with your Ginger Beer and do feel free to post back here as to how you get on :)
Thanks vespawoolf, good luck with your ginger beer too, and please post back here if you can to let us know how you get on :)
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
You may find the Following of Interest:- The Ginger-Beer Plant, and the Organisms Composing it: This is a very Interesting read.Available to download from Royal Society Publishing org.Circa 1892.
Thanks Ray, any chance you could post a link ?
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
Click the link and wait for the document to load, it,s a big document so it will take a while. Mouse over the lower part of the page to see the menu for saving the Document. http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/183
Thanks Ray, I'll take a look at that later today :)
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
I have now read the complete Document. It does seem possible that the Ginger Beer Plant could be started without a lab if conditions are right. So i shall keep trying. Today I added the Juice of 1 Lemon to the Starter Jar and the Usual daily feed Of sugar and Ginger. This is day 3.This batch seems to be fermenting very well.The addition of the lemon juice may change that, we shall have to wait and see.
How exciting, I do hope it works out okay Ray. Keep updating, it is fascinating to read :)
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
The bit about not having Air is interesting and the need for acid. This is why i added Lemon Juice. I need to read it again, then some more. I will stick my head in the door often. I want to see if anyone else reads the Book.
Wow, that is a long document Ray, I will probably not be able to read it properly until later in the weekend. Still, it looks like it will be very interesting reading.
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
Yes it is more book than Document. It is a very interesting read all the same. My fermentation seems to have stopped.I will let it run for a few more days to see what transpisres.There,s going to be failures but that,s good because i,ll learn from them.Maybe the Lemon Juice killed the natural yeast.
Today I bottled the GB that had been fermenting for a few days. It smells absolutely /divine/, it's definitely been fermenting. I'm looking forward to tasting it in a few days but I don't know if I can wait that long...
I have a couple of questions: In hte recipe you mention keeping the plant fed daily with 1tsp sugar and 0.5tsp ginger - do you mean freshly grated ginger or ground ginger here? And when I make the next batch, do I again freshly grate ginger into a muslin parcel and dump the plant out into the bucket with the rest of the water, then keep the contents of the muslin parcel as next time's plant? (roughly how much plant should I be using for the above 2L recipe?)
Thanks once again for the hub, misty. It's been a fantastic help, as have your comments and replies :)
Hi Ray, yes it is definitely more of a book. I will have to wait a while to read it as my Mum goes into hospital tomorrow, and I won't have much reading time to spare. I will read it soon though :)
Hi Richard, grated fresh or ground ginger should work equally well. The plant is usually divided into two halves, half you give away (traditionally) and half you use for your next batch, I don't think it matters how much you use as far as I can tell providing it is at least half of your plant based on the original recipe. I am not really sure I understand your other question, or what you are asking (sorry). I can only assume you might mean this: (Quoted from above article):
"The gelatinous substance that remains in the muslin is your Ginger Beer Plant and should now be returned to its jar in a warm place, two thirds filled with dechlorinated water and fed daily with a teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of ginger. Keep the level of dechlorinated water topped up until you use your Ginger Beer Plant next. Keep a lid on the jar (or a piece of muslin secured with an elastic band), but don't tighten it completely or your jar will explode, air has to be able to escape. As your plant gets bigger you will need to halve it and either some it to a friend so they can start their own plant, or discard it."
Sorry if I can't respond to many comments over the next few days, but my mum is going into hospital tomorrow (Monday) and I need to be there for her and make sure she is okay. Will be back when I can. Good luck :)
(actually right now Ray is more up to speed on this than I am, so perhaps he could offer you advice on this in more depth whilst I am unable to respond more fully myself).
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
Not much news from me, just sticking my head in the door to keep up with any News.
Richard. I have no real Knowledge of the Ginger Beer Plant. I can only tell you that most people say it must be fed, i don't know that i would want to feed it every day, this would become a bit of a tie. You might take a look at the Ginger Beer group on Yahoo, there is a lot if information there about care. Do be sure you get the right Ginger Beer Group as one of them uses the Phrase Ginger beer for something entirely different.
There seems to be very little real information about the plant in print. I would suggest you download the document from the Link i posted earlier in the week. Let me know how you get on.
I plan to try a few times before giving up on trying to grow a plant.I don't want to get a plant just in case i contaminate my attempts to grow it.
You might also want to consider splitting the plant into 2 separate jars. In case of accidents etc.
Thanks guys.
I read the document you posted, Ray - very interesting! I didn't realise microbiology was so advanced in 1879. They even mention a paper by Emil Hansen, who I've found out was the mycologist who discovered the yeast responsible for fermenting beer at the Danish Carlsberg brewery (and which is used to ferment almost all lager in the world today).
I'm quite fond of home-fermentation. I keep a sourdough yeast culture alive for baking bread with, am currently maturing some plum wine under the stairs, and have made wild-yeast elderflower champagne (not a true champagne or wine, but closer to this kind of ginger beer) in the past. I'd really like to be able to add Ginger Beer Plant to that list!
My question to Misty, which you may be able to answer Ray, is about the next time I make a batch of ginger beer. For my first batch I took the contents of the jam jar (cubed ginger, sugar and water, and evidently the wild yeasts and bacteria needed for fermentation) and added it to the sugar-water in the fermentation bucket, then added the muslin parcel full of grated ginger. Afterwards, following the instructions, I put the contents of the muslin parcel (a very sticky grated ginger blob) and put this into some sugar-water and have been feeding it. Next time I want to make Ginger Beer, do I do the same as before? i.e., do I put the jam jar contents into the sugar-water and then add a separate parcel of grated ginger, and keep the parcel afterwards?
I hope everything at the hospital goes well, Misty. I have friends and family in hospitals at the minute. Hopefully when they are released we'll be able to celebrate with homemade ginger beer! (in fact I just heard one of the plastic bottles 'pop' as it expanded!)
I never placed the grated or cubed Ginger in a muslin parcel Ray, I just kept adding it to the main mix. The straining through the muslin came later once the batch was done.
Can't stay on longer now as need to be back up hospital tomorrow and see how Mum is recovering from surgery and what her specialist has to say. Really tired tonight (02.00am UK time here).
The homemade ginger beer is sounding really appealing right now, but at the moment Strongbow Cider is having to suffice (not the same at all lol).
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
I have only used the muslin to cover the jar at this time. Coffee Filters were used to strain before bottling. We seem to have fermentation working again. I note that the Temperature was cooler on the day when fermentation stopped. Could also have been the added Lemon Juice. Strongbow or Ginger Beer, err, I need to test them both a few more times, to give them both a fair chance.
LOL Ray, yes, I am sampling the Strongbow right now, and it is good, but I might persevere a bit longer just to make sure ;)
Oh, whoops.... I misunderstood the directions. I kept only the little bundle of grated ginger and lemon zest as my plant and threw the strained stuff onto the compost... Fingers crossed that what I have will ferment and be usable next time!
That's a shame Richard, good luck with getting it going. The actual plant is the thing that moves gently around the jar and looks a bit like a blob from a lava lamp.
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
Today is day 7 for my new batch. I am now considering my options ( Where did i dig that up ). Ginger beer or continue with my Ginger Beer Plant experiment. Ginger Beer Plant methinks. So i now need to cut off the Air to the yeast, tomorrow's job i think.
LOL, why not try both Ray, but if doing the science stuff stick with the 'plant' as it should be far more interesting :)
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
I am going to stick with the plant this time.
4:30am is much too early for Ginger Beer, i,ll have to have Tea and biscuits.
LOL again ,ahh well, all the more Ginger Beer for later :)
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
The starter is now in a Demijohn with Airlock. This will left now for a few weeks to see what develops. While waiting for something to happen or not i shall endeavor to find a natural source of the yeast Saccharommycetes. Mr M Ward seems to think it was found in Vegetable Shops.
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
That was easy. Saccharommycetes is found on Grapes. Now i can try that. Grapes will be used with no Ginger for a few days to encourage a good growth of the yeast. Once it is well established the fresh Ginger can be added.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
Saccharommycetes = Bread Yeast/ Bakers Yeast. Doh!! :-). This should have been obvious, bakers yeast would have been everywhere. Sorry for 3rd Post in susch a short time.
Well, batch 1 of my ginger beer turned out very nice! A rather yeasty flavour which is surprising considering there's only wild yeast in there. After about a week it's still very sweet so I'm leaving it a little longer to let it get drier. The ginger flavour is also very subtle so next time I'll really try and squeeze all the juice out of the ginger.
I'm fairly sure there'll be a 'next time' quite soon as I think my jam-jar ginger is still fermenting (though it hasn't turned into the lava lamp ginger beer plant yet, maybe it's just been too cold).
This is great, keep the info coming Ray. So are you going to stick to the grapes or buy some baker's yeast instead?
Sounds like you are doing really well too Richard. This is fun, especially hearing how you are both getting on and what the results of your efforts are producing. Keep on with the updates :)
I'm going to have to give this a try. I mean the making of the plant. First have to get me some new ginger. May try to grow ginger to, i like to learn new things and experiment.
I make kefir, water and milk, and i think the maintenance of ginger beer plant will be similar. You can start a new batch or let it rest if you don't want a new batch.
If you are intrested i'll give the directions on how i think it will work best.
Please feel free to add any such info the comments here Linda. The more the merrier and the more info this provides for anyone reading it. Thank you :)
Hi Mistyhorizon2003
I have made another Starter today. It,s not what is normally accepted. Grape ( for the yeast ), Fresh Ginger. I could have just purchased Bakers Yeast but it is not always labelled with the name of the yeast. No Lemon Juice as there will be acid in the grapes.
Well Done Richard, I hope you enjoy the fruits of your labours.
Loveley Sunny day here today. Temp Is still 11.5 outside, that's great.
Saw my first swallow Saturday. I wondered if he would survive the the rain after such a long flight. He was feeding tonight i guess he is going to be fine :-). Odd how there's often one that will arrive back before the rest.
Can't wait to hear how it goes Ray, (and of course what the end result is like.)
Weather here finally sunny today, but no idea how long it will last bearing in mind the recent rains. Still it was warm here today at least :)
This is how i make a very good kefir culture even when it is way down and i think it will work realy well with gbp too.
When i want to give my waterkefir a rest and to let it clean itself, i put it in a jar with water and sugar and nothing more. But if you feel the gbp might need a little acid to help it along getting there faster, you could add some fresh lemon juice.
I usualy let it sit longer then when i'm making kefir to drink, but it doesn't taste very well so i don't mind throwing it out.
I have noticed that if i leave it in for one or two weeks they grow better then when i clean out the water every day. Ofcourse you can also just throw out three quarter of the jar and add new water and sugar, it will keep the sourness of the soulution and you won't lose the small gbp.
I hope this helps a little with your experiments. And as soon as i make a start with my gingerexperiment i'll let you know (probably in a couple of days).
Thanks Linda :)
Hi Linda-Hoogenboom
My Experiments have been to try to grow Ginger Beer Plant from scratch. This may not even be possible but i will keep trying for a while. I have added Lemon Juice in one of the starters and in the other i added grapes. The Lemon was to Add Just Acidity. The Next starter has Grapes, this was for acidity and wild yeast.
It was good to see that you have used Lemon Juice in your Ginger Beer. I believe it is needed for the good growth of the bacteria. Thanks for your Input. I shall look forward to hearing more about your Ginger Beer Plant.Thanks :-)
Richard:- The Ginger Beer that i made with no yeast is also quite sweet. I have also noted that it need to be warmer than than the Ginger Beer with added yeast. The brew with yeast was dry for me,i blended both brews.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
Look at that i forgot to say hello. Hello :-) .
LOL Ray, hello back again :)
Hi Ray
I'm going to try to grow my onw gbp to.
I like to experiment with things people say is hard or impossible.
At this moment i only have kefir. The waterkefir i have is symilar but not exactly the same, so the care will probably be symilar to.
Today i'll start my first attemd to grow my own gbp. And to grow my own gingerplant. So the coming days and weeks gone be exiting.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
The Grape,s may have been a bad plan.The starter was covered with a nice snowy white Mould today. This starter has now been consigned to the bin. Still it was a very pretty white Mould.
Maybe different grapes will prove more fruitful ( sorry about that ). I will give it another whirl.
LOL Ray, trial and error is a wonderful thing :)
Hi mistyhorizon2003
One little thing i keep forgetting to mention is that the Ginger Beer Plant will not form if there is any air in the mixture. In the experiments that were done by Mr H Marshall Ward, he clearly states that none of the trials that had access to air ever grew Ginger Beer plant. There must be no air at all. So leaving the plant in the open Jar for the first week is probably counter productive if the Ginger Beer Plant is wanted. Maybe the next batch should be in a Demijohn with an Airlock from the start. What do you think?.
That actually sounds like a very good idea Ray, although I wonder what happens afterwards. I can only assume that once you finally do remove your plant through the neck of the demijohn, (tight squeeze) that it must stay as the plant in spite of now being exposed to the air, otherwise they would never have been able to pass it on as they did in the past. It must just be the initial stages that require a lack of air therefore. One other concern would be how to feed it during the first week or so if you can't access the inside of the demijohn without introducing air into the mixture.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
The answer is to make sure there is enough sugar to last for a while.Getting out of the Demijohn will only be a problem if i succeed.
One of the other thing that comes up a lot is that the plant can double in size with each brew. Nobody mentions that it grows between brews, this is may be because it`s back in the jar where there is access to air. I guess it,s time to find another Demijohn and do a trial on a bigger starter.
Well worth trying Ray, but I am guessing ginger will also need to be in the demijohn in order for this to work :)
Hi mistyhorizon2003
Yes, that would indeed be added right at the outset.The first natural brew has is in a Demijohn already complete with Ginger.
The plan now is to start another one going, adding all the ingredients. This could be left for as long as 3 weeks. It wont be good ginger beer but it will serve it`s purpose. Ginger wine maybe :-). You will have to bear with me while i play.
I wonder how Richard and Linda are getting on with their efforts.
Do you get an Email if someone writes to your Hub or do you need to check them every day?
Hi Ray, I get a notification that someone has commented emailed to me and then I need to come to the site to read and approve the comment before it becomes visible. I am on here every day anyway so it isn't a problem.
Looking forward to hearing how your demijohn efforts go. A Ginger wine actually sounds lovely and I would be tempted to have a go at that myself as I have the demijohns, airlocks etc already. If yours turns out like wine can you give me your exact recipe and method please as I know my Mum would love the resulting brew if I made some :)
Hi mistyhorizon2003
Ginger wine is good. I have some Stones Ginger Wine for special occasions, like when i am thirsty :-).
The new starter will be done Monday.
LOL, my Mum loves Stones Ginger Wine, hence the reason I would like to make some ;)
Hi mistyhorizon2003
I found this while cruising the WWW.
2 oz fresh root ginger, chopped
1 lb sultanas, chopped
2 lb ripe bananas, chopped
2 lb sugar
1 tsp citric acid (or juice of a lemon)
1 tsp nutrient
1 tsp pectolase
white wine yeast
1. Put ginger & sultanas in a fermenting bin. Dissolve sugar in 5 pts of boiling water, and add.
2. Boil bananas in 1 pt water for 20 mins, then strain the liquid into fermenting bin.
3. When cooled to 20c, add yeast & additives
4. Stir daily for four days, then strain into DJ, fit airlock
5. Rack and ferment to dry as usual
Here a little update.
In my little ginger beer plant growing jar has no gbp yet, but i'll be feeding it today again.
The idea of no air could indeed be the clou why it is hard to get the gbp growing. It would also be logical, beceause in the early days everything happend in closed bags, with no air added after closing.
Might go and have look at doing something with a closed bag, maybe a zipplock, just to see what it will do.
Thanks Ray, this might be a daft question but what do they mean by 'nutrient'? I am sure I can buy pectolase and white wine yeast online, but would really know what I was looking for when it came to searching for 'nutrient'.
Hi Linda, thanks for the update. the ziplock bag might well prove a good idea. I suppose you could buy one of those heat sealers alternatively as they are great for totally sealing the appropriate kinds of bags.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
Nutrient is yeast food. Most home brew hops will sell it to you. To be honest i never used to buy it. If the yeast work without it why go to the expense of adding chemicals. If it does not work then there is something wrong with the wine. Pectolase, ( from memory ) helps to prevent Haze. ( i looked it up ) Another item i would not be worrying too much over. If you were going to show the wine, or take it to garden fetes then it might be worth adding some.Not buying that will pay for the next batch.
Linda. The Chances of getting GBP are probably quite small. Have you read the Marshall Ward document from the link 2 weeks ago. The document contains just about all you will need to know about GBP. Good Luck.
Still trying here.
Thanks Ray, that is helpful to know, now I just need to find a place I can buy a fermenting bin :)
Hi Ray
I'm reading it, but at the moment i don't have much energy, so it isn't going very fast.
I like to try things, that are hard to do. Even if in the end it doesn't work i had fun trying.
I'm kind of crazy in that way, i like the proces as much as the result. And it gives my brain something to work with, if i dont let it lose on this type of things, it won't let me sleep.
This week i'm starting over, because i'm going to it in a different way. As soon as i have it ready to go i'll post it.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
It,s been very busy here for the past few days,the new starter has not been made yet.Maybe tomorrow will find some time.Have you found a brew bin yet?.
I went swimming just outside of the Harbour in St Peter Port in 1971. It was the fist time i had been able to see to the bottom of quite deep water. It was the first time in my life that i had been scared by Height.I looked down while in the water, it was a long way down. It passed in just a few seconds,an amazing place to swim.
Linda. The Challenge sometimes get,s the best of me. Several weeks to design and build an Electronic Ohm,s law calculator,just to see if i could.It will never be used.
The Ginger beer Plant looks like it may be tougher. The plan is to keep doing it for now.
Hi Ray,
No I haven't found a fermenting bin yet, but I may have a lead as to where I can get one off someone who has given up home brewing. I have my Husband getting in touch with her as he is the one who knows her. Fingers crossed she hasn't already given her gear away yet.
Funny how things change. These days they would not allow anyone to swim in the harbour, probably too many boats now so it could be dangerous. The old bathing pools up by the Aquarium are still open though, and of course as they are built into the rock at water level, the water in them gets changed every tide. I have to say that as a kid I loved swimming on the beaches or wherever I could over here, (somehow at that age you seem to be immune to the cold). Now days I find the water too cold to swim in and prefer to wait until I go abroad to hotter climates, or alternatively swim in swimming pools where they can be slightly heated. My 78 year old Step Dad is amazing though. He is the retired Fire Chief here, and throughout most of the Summer and into the Autumn he swims daily at Petit Bot Bay which is just down a bridle path outside their house. He is an incredibly strong swimmer and actually only looks about 60. He is fitter and stronger than most blokes I know half his age.
Hi mistyhorizon2003
My big starter is still fermenting quite happily. This brew has not been fed to at least 2 weeks,there should be no Air left in the Demijohn by now.Still not started the next batch. I must find some time soon.
We were supposed to stay on the Island for 3 weeks, but i was ordered to leave. I had Caught Shingles and in the 70,s they did not allow people to stay on the Island with what was then considered a contagious disease. My friend Graham who was born on the Island returned with me.
How exciting Ray, I am fascinated to hear how it goes next.
Re-the Shingles, I never knew they had that law, how bizarre.
Hi again :)
It's been a busy couple of weeks so I haven't had the chance to make any more ginger beer or update you on my progress. The first batch of ginger beer I made was very sweet, even after I left it for a week with the cap loosened to ferment some more. It also tasted very yeasty (and one friend even described it as malty), something which surprised me as it only contains the natural yeast. I'm starting on batch 2 today, hopefully I will make it more ginger-flavoured this time (it was very subtle in the last lot). And this time I'll keep the right bit! What I had saved did ferment, but hasn't turned into the lava-lamp GBP at all. Regarding the anaerobic nature of the organisms, I was under the impression that that's why it's kept in water - to keep air away from it. Anyway, my fermenting bucket should be sterilised by now so off I go...
Thanks for the update Richard. I read that if you want it to become more dry in flavour you should loosen the cap of the plastic bottles and squeeze all the air out before resealing the bottle. This causes the bottle to expand over the next few days as the gas builds up in the ginger beer. Doing this process twice increases the dryness of the resulting brew.
I think Ray will have an answer to your question about the water keeping the air away from the organisms, but I suspect it would not work as air will still get into the water if it is not in a sealed environment, hence the use of airlocks in winemaking etc.
Here a little update.
I have two experiments going at the moment.
One is in a sealed bag and the other is in a "weckpot". They are standing for about 4 days or so. In the weckpot there is a slight layer of white developing. In the bag there isn't a real layer but there are getting white spots to. The white isn't mold or somthing like that, i think it is the yeast starting to grow. I started both with compleet ginger grated, mixed with sugar and a little water. We'll see what will happen.
Thanks for the update Linda, it will be interesting to hear the comparisons after another week :)
GusTheRedneck 19 months ago
Hi Misty - Comprehensive and clear as crystal directions. A very fine article. Thanks.
Gus :-)))