Home Made Traditional Naturally Fermented Ginger Beer

To make traditional naturally fermented ginger beer at home, you just need create a wild yeast starter called a ginger bug (we used to call them a ginger plant) using fresh organic ginger, fresh lemon juice and pulp, sugar, and filtered water. Feed it daily until bubbly, then bottle it and wait a few days to build carbonation, and chill.

I have vivid memories of sipping Mums homemade ginger beer in the summer when I was a kid in the 1960's.

Ginger and sugar attract natural yeast and micro-organisms from the surrounding air. These micro organisms feast on the sugar and turn that sugar into carbon dioxide, which is what gives the ginger beer its fizz. This process is called lacto fermentation and produces a delicious and healthy soft drink, full of probiotics.

Antique ginger beer bottle from the 1920's

Ginger Beer Recipe

This takes about three weeks. Start a bug (plant)

Day 1, in a 1 litre glass jar add:

4 sultanas (they have yeasts on their skin which will help)

The juice and some pulp from two lemons

480 ml (2 cups) filtered water

2 tablespoons of ground ginger

4 tablespoons of white sugar

Stir to combine and dissolve sugar.

Cover with cloth or paper towel and elastic band.

Leave for four days.

Day 2 - 4, stir each day.

For the next 6 days:

Day 5 add 2 tablespoons of sugar + 2 teaspoons of ground ginger

Day 6 add 2 tablespoons of sugar only.

Day 7 add 2 tablespoons of sugar + 2 teaspoons of ground ginger

Day 8 add 2 tablespoons of sugar only.

Day 9 add 2 tablespoons of sugar + 2 teaspoons of ground ginger

Day 10 add 2 tablespoons of sugar only.

Day 11, for a new bug (plant) you will need to strengthen it enough to bottle.

Filter the bug (plant) through cheesecloth and use half of the sediment to add it into your new bug (plant). You can discard the ginger liquor as it will be weak.

Day 11, in a 1 litre glass jar add:

Your saved sediment from the fist plant (bug).

4 sultanas (they have yeasts on their skin which will help)

The juice and some pulp from two lemons

480 ml (2 cups) filtered water

2 tablespoons of ground ginger

4 tablespoons of white sugar

Stir to combine and dissolve sugar.

Cover with cloth or paper towel and elastic band.

Leave for four days.

Day 12 - 14, stir each day.

For the next 6 days:

Day 15 add 2 tablespoons of sugar + 2 teaspoons of ground ginger

Day 16 add 2 tablespoons of sugar only.

Day 17 add 2 tablespoons of sugar + 2 teaspoons of ground ginger

Day 18 add 2 tablespoons of sugar only.

Day 19 add 2 tablespoons of sugar + 2 teaspoons of ground ginger

Day 20 add 2 tablespoons of sugar only.

Day 21 bottle:

Add 2 cups of white sugar to 480ml (2 cups) of boiling water.

Stir to dissolve sugar.

Add 3.3 litres (14 cups) of cold filtered water.

Add ginger liquor from your strained plant (bug).

Fill to your bottles.

You can use plastic 1 litre or 1.25 lire soft drink bottles.

In each bottle add 2 sultanas and fill with unfermented ginger beer.

Store them in a cool dark place for 5 days to activate bubbles.

Transfer to refrigerator.

Open carefully when cold.

Keeps for years, the older the drier and more flavour develops.

Remember once you have a strong plant (bug) you can repeat to make more ginger beer od store it in the refrigerator for months and activate it when you need it.

Enjoy

Mums Passing, Anniversary 2016

Seven years after Mum passed away and here is a couple of pictures of Helen sitting on Mums lap.

Helen as a puppy with Mum on her 86th birthday, 2019 in the nursing home.

Helen 7 years later sitting on Mums lap again 2026.

Old Red Gum Pizza Oven Wood

Red gum firewood is a dense, slow burning hardwood known for producing high heat and long burn times. Perfect for my pizza oven but expensive and hard to get these days.

Houses built in the 1950's often used River Red Gum timber stumps for their foundations, which had a typical lifespan of up to 80 years. These days older houses frequently require re-stumping replacement when they are renovated.

A near neighbour had this done and I scored the 70 year old foundations that were removed. About 2 cubic metres which I cut off the rotting or damp ends that was on some. I then cut to length and split the dry aged red gum with my wood splitting machine.

The dry hard river red gum.

Some of the stumps.

One full and two I/4 layers of sugar gum hard wood under the pizza oven.

Two full red gum stacks behind.

Some kindling as well.

I still have about half to go.

Yeah Baby!

8 feet 4 inch mini mal Surfboard

Cleaned up my 8'4" mini mal shaped by Billy Tolhurst in 1999.

In perfect Nic but the leg rope had perished. The mid length surfboard is one of the most versatile boards you can own. Sitting between a shortboard and a longboard its typically in the 7 to 8'6" foot range. A mid-length combines the paddle power and wave catching ability of a longer board but with more manoeuvrability.

dead leggie

The deck

Tail and deck

Fins and bottom

Fins

Billy Tolhurst

Standing up

Winter Breakfast Ciabatta

Got up early today its a feels like temp of 2.6 C. Lit the pizza oven and baked a ciabatta and had it with some home made chicken soup for breakfast. Just added some thyme, sage and rosemary blossom from the garden to garnish the soup. Yum

Ciabatta baking

Chook soup and Ciabatta

totally unrelated fox lamp :-)

Easy Digest Low FODMAP Sourdough

Low FODMAP sourdough bread designed for easier digestion.

FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols. These are a group of short chain carbohydrates and sugar alcohols that are poorly absorbed in the small intestine and can cause bloating, gas, and abdominal pain in sensitive individuals.

From - ANNA PASTRY ARTS, CINEMATIC BAKING, FERMENTATION & GASTRONOMY -

https://youtu.be/ylB0w32DWjc

My starter -

Starter 1:3:3

3 hours

4 hours

Fermented Oat Sourdough Bread Recipe (From - https://www.youtube.com/@annaPastryArts Makes 2 Loaves)

Fennel Infusion

• 500 ml boiling water

• 7 g whole fennel seeds

Pour the boiling water over the fennel seeds, let cool completely, then strain before using.

Fermented Oats (24 hours)

• 150 g rolled oats

• 180 g water

• 25 g active starter

Mix and ferment in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Use 200 g of the mixture in the dough.

Dough

• 130 g active sourdough starter

• 720 g bread flour

• 510 g cold water or cooled fennel infusion

• 18 g salt

Add-ins

• 200 g fermented rolled oats

• 30 g whole dark flax seeds, lightly crushed or coarsely ground before adding to the dough

• 8 g fermented rye malt (or 4 g / 2 tsp ground coriander)

• 2 g fennel seeds

• Zest of 1 orange

Baking Schedule

• Mix and autolyse (everything except salt) — 40 min

• Add salt — Rest 45 min

• Fold #1 — Rest 45 min

• Fold #2 — Rest 45 min

• Fold #3 — Rest 1 hour

• Divide & pre-shape — Rest 10 min

• Final shape → Refrigerate 8–12 hours

Bake

• 445°F (230°C) — 15 min with the lid on

• 465°F (240°C) — 15–20 min with the lid off

My Bake

My loaf into the fridge for fermentation overnight.

Out of the oven

Sliced in half