Ginger Beer Plant 101

With my summer (beer) brewing hiatus well underway it is time to get something new fermenting, Ginger Beer Plant (GBP). GBP is the original way that people made ginger beer (ale) at home, it produces more interesting byproducts than forced carbonation or a regular yeast (including some acidity) and it will not over carbonate the finished drink after it is chilled.

GBP is like Kombucha in that it is a gelatinous symbiotic colony of microorganisms, in this case our old friends Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces. Although in this case they are different species than are common in beer production (hilgardii and florentinus instead of delbrueckii and cerevisiae according to Wikipedia).

Unlike Kombucha, GBP creates mainly lactic acid and likes to ferment anaerobically. This should lead to a beverage that is more tangy than bracingly sour or vinegary (my main complaint about Kombucha).

I bought my culture from Fermented Treasures (now defunct), dried. The first step was to rehydrated the granules in room temperatures water with a bit of sugar. They swelled up pretty well within an hour, but the directions called for a 24 hour soak. By the next morning there were small bubbles coming through the liquid so I knew the microbes must have been active.

The microbes do their best work in warm temperatures (80-90 F) so summer in DC seems like the perfect time to give it a try. I am starting out with dried ginger for simplicity, then I'll move onto experimenting with fresh ginger. Citrus juice is also a standard ingredient, I'll start classic with lemon and move on to more interesting options (orange, lime, grapefruit etc...). I am also starting with regular white sugar, but will be making things more interesting after that (agave, palm sugar, unrefined sugar etc...).
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1st batch: 7/08/08

1 qrt filtered water (no chlorine because it kills microbes)

2 tsp dried ginger

135 g cane sugar

Juice of 1 lemon (pulp left in)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar (for head retention)

1 rehydrated ginger beer plant culture

Mixed all the ingredients together, let it sit for 48 hours at between 70-90 before bottling. I left the lid loose to allow CO2 to escape. I bottled it in a 1 L plastic Poland Springs bottle, plastic can hold much more pressure than glass and is much less dangerous in the event that it does rupture. Bad choice on the type of plastic bottle though, the bottom went from an inny to an outy when enough pressure built up (less than 24 hours). The flavor is pretty good, but a bit light on the spicy ginger flavor. The GBP added some nice tropical fruit notes and left plenty of sugar behind for it to be much more sweet than tart. Looks like carbonated lemonade.

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2nd Batch 7/10/08

2 peeled fingers fresh ginger

1 cup + 3 cups filtered water

125 g sugar

Juice of 1 lemon (pulp strained out)

Rinsed ginger beer plant

I grated the ginger on a microplane grater than brought it to a boil in the microwave with 1 cup of water. I covered it with plastic wrap and let it cool for 1 hour before straining the ginger solids out, pressing on the ginger to extract all the juice. The ginger juice was then mixed with the rest of the ingredients. Fermented for 60 hours.

The flavor is much more spicy ginger with a milder lemon flavor. I would say that the fresh ginger is definitely superior to the dried, even though it does take a bit more effort.

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3rd Batch 7/13/08

2 peeled fingers fresh ginger

1 cup + 3 cups filtered water

125 g sugar

Juice of 1 lemon (pulp strained out)

Zest of 1 lemon

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Rinsed ginger beer plant

Same as Batch #2, but the lemon zest was steeped/strained along with the ginger and I added the cream of tartar that I had forgotten in the previous batch.---------------------------------------------
I enjoy the quick turn around 4-5 days from brewing to drinking, but like Kombucha I will probably grow tired of the constant cycle of production.

Other reading on Ginger Beer Plant:

Raj Apte

Mike Dixon