Too bitter soda, any suggestions?

[Tim Hall]

Tim's Ginger Beer This is a strong, spicy ginger beer that'll wreck your palate. What happens in this recipe is you get both boiled ginger and a strong fresh ginger infusion from the bug. Makes 1 gallon or 4L.

Make a HUGE ginger bug!
100g grated ginger
1-2 table-spoons sugar or honey
Combine in quart jar, fill with water, and let stand until fizzy.

Brew-
Boil for 15 minutes in 2quarts water:
100g grated ginger
Boil for 10 minutes (after 5 minutes):
15g coriander seed (Indian-type that's fruity, citrusy)
10g fresh orange peel
3g grains of paradise
2g black pepper
up to 1g cayenne pepper

Allow the brew to cool, and add:
320g raw honey
juice from 2 medium limes
1 quart ginger bug
water to make 1 gallon or 4 liters.

Stir well, and strain into bottles. Let stand until carbonated.

Sorry everything's in grams...makes for more accurate measures.

[Christopher Weeks]

It's fine, I have a kitchen scale. Though I tend not to measure very accurately -- pinches and dashes and such.

What's the range of time the ginger bug might take to get ready? 2-5 days? Do I include the ginger's peel? Entirely uncovered or maybe cheesecloth?

In the brew, it's just water and ginger for the first five and then I throw the other stuff in with it for the remaining ten, yeah?

[Tim Hall]

That's it. 2-5 days. I always include the peel. Cover the bug with cheesecloth or a loose lid.

BTW, you can use a ginger bug to inoculate other sodas too.

Suggested modifications:
Reduce ginger to 2/3 for less gingery.
Omit pepper, grains of paradise and/or cayenne for less heat.
Add small quantities of any or all of the following - cardamom, allspice, clove.

[Tim Hall]

Oh, all the spices I've mentioned are whole, not ground.

[Christopher Weeks]

Yeah, I've been planning all along to move my soda-making to a wild fermentation once I establish some expectations with this ale yeast that I'm using.

[Christopher Weeks]

Tim, sans grains of paradise and a mixture of raw and pasteurized(?) honey, I followed your recipe. Some questions:

How frothy should the ginger bug have been? There were many bubbles trapped among the shreds of ginger floating at the top but they were never forming so fast that I was watching them rise.

How long might this take to reach appropriate levels of carbonation? I bottled on Saturday and I'd expect a little ring of bubbles at the liquid-gas interface if I'd been using ale yeast. I'm not seeing any bubbles.

There's a ton of sediment in the bottles -- lots of stuff went through the sieve/mesh/filter/thingy in my funnel apparently. Is that expected?

And finally, oh crap! I just now read that I was supposed to be using whole spices instead of ground. I cracked/rough-ground the black pepper and used finely pre-ground cayenne.

[Tim Hall]

And finally, oh crap!

:)

I wouldn't worry too much about the cracked/ground spices, unless it's too hot for you. And the cayenne (or other chilies) I use are ground. I forget most consider them a spice...I think of them as a fruit.

Yes, tons of sediment is normal. Doesn't have the crystal-clear appearance of Canada Dry for sure.

The ginger bug should give off noticeable effervescence when disturbed. The raw honey sometimes takes a while to get started because it has antimicrobial properties. Sometimes it seems to take forever, but there's no harm in letting it sit for a good while. Just be sure you have at least a little in one plastic bottle so you can squeeze it and judge the pressure build up. There's possibly enough fermentables (haven't done the math though) in this recipe it could cause exploding glass bottles, if not tended to.

If it's just taking way too long for you, you could always pour it back into a large container, add the brewers yeast and re-bottle. No harm in this either. I just like letting the bugs do their thing.

[Tim Hall]

If you start your ginger bug in a glass jar, there's another way to tell it's working apart from bubbles. It will start to drop a fine white sediment (dead yeast) at the bottom of the jar after a few days. This sediment is much finer than the ginger sediment, and has a sort of 'smeary' texture when you twist the jar to agitate it.

[Christopher Weeks]

Also, in Wild Fermentaion, Sandor suggests adding ginger and sugar every day. Your instructions didn't. Any comments from experience?

[Tim Hall]

Yes, added to the ginger bug...not the ginger beer. Don't use honey in the bug. Again, somewhat anti-microbial. If you forget to feed it for a day, it won't kill it.