by audaciouspiglet on Mon Jul 30, 2018 8:21 pm
It's great to have some explanation about a bit of science. I feel that way I can troubleshoot better. I am struggling with ginger bugs too and am here just to see if I can find out more about the basic principles. Unfortunately my background in microbiology is not great. My question: isn't a ginger bug going to act similarly to sourdough in that you need to feed it proportional to the amount that is in there already? If not, why not?
The moment I had that concept for sourdough, I was up and running, (the absolute necessity of dividing your sourdough). So why are all the recipes for ginger bug just to keep filling it up with same amount every day? Maybe if so many people are having problems, the recipes aren't good. If the science is that the microbes multiply a lot, and need food, you can't just keep on feeding them the same amount as when there was only 1 tablespoon...can you? I don't want to blindly follow a recipe. My very first experience was that this process is not very well contained by recipes as we are dealing with living things that are influenced by a lot of factors, and that anyways, some recipes out there are erroneous!!
The sugar content stopping fermentation is a great clue. Thanks for that. I am trying to experiment with that idea. I have a feeling the source of ginger could also be an issue. Maybe even organic ones, if they have traveled a great distance, simply are a bit feeble in yeast?? (I had a fabulous foamy bug in 3 days, but on the 4th it fell flat, similar story to many people... not worth repeating really).
Also - since I am really new - what would be a recommended book that might answer some more in depth questions?