mjbrooks
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- Feb 8, 2021
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Hello,
I recently bottled my first batch of ginger beer brewed from a ginger bug, and today I opened the first bottle to see how it turned out. It was powerfully, overwhelmingly gingery, and under-carbonated. But there's also this funky taste and odor that is just... bad somehow. I am a practiced sourdough baker so I'm used to yeasty fermentation smells, but this just doesn't taste quite right to me. I am not that familiar with fermented ginger beer, so I'm not sure if this is normal, but rather than take any chances I poured out the bottle.
I am hoping someone might be able to help guess the most likely problem. I roughly followed the recipe and procedure from here, summarized below:
- Built ginger bug by daily feeding of 25g ginger + 2tbsp sugar over about 5 days. Kept on counter, loosely covered. Stirred frequently.
- Brought to a boil 0.75 gallons of water, 385g brown sugar, and about 350g of ginger (after running through food processor)
- Kept on low heat for about 30 minutes, then cooled to room temperature over a couple hours (covered).
- Stirred in about 150-200ml of ginger bug liquid.
- Strained and bottled in sanitized flip-top bottles and kept at about 70 degrees for 2 days, before refrigerating and then opening the first one.
Things I think might have gone wrong:
- I think the ginger bug had a hint of this bad flavor even before I mixed up the batch, so maybe it is just a bad culture. I figured that was natural, since it is basically plant matter that's been sitting in water at room temperature for days. But perhaps not?
- I didn't have a fine mesh for straining the liquid into the bottles, just a double-screen sieve, so there is quite a lot of solid material suspended in the ginger beer. I don't know if this might introduce off flavors somehow.
- Could using brown sugar instead of white make the flavor extra pungent?
- I had intended to add lemon juice and zest but forgot, which might have altered the acidity slightly and provided a fresher flavor, I imagine.
- I wasn't very careful about sanitation while building the ginger bug (I reused the same spoon to stir, and taste, while building it). I was assuming that the culture should pretty much be able to take care of itself.
Super appreciate any tips and pointers. Thank you!
I recently bottled my first batch of ginger beer brewed from a ginger bug, and today I opened the first bottle to see how it turned out. It was powerfully, overwhelmingly gingery, and under-carbonated. But there's also this funky taste and odor that is just... bad somehow. I am a practiced sourdough baker so I'm used to yeasty fermentation smells, but this just doesn't taste quite right to me. I am not that familiar with fermented ginger beer, so I'm not sure if this is normal, but rather than take any chances I poured out the bottle.
I am hoping someone might be able to help guess the most likely problem. I roughly followed the recipe and procedure from here, summarized below:
- Built ginger bug by daily feeding of 25g ginger + 2tbsp sugar over about 5 days. Kept on counter, loosely covered. Stirred frequently.
- Brought to a boil 0.75 gallons of water, 385g brown sugar, and about 350g of ginger (after running through food processor)
- Kept on low heat for about 30 minutes, then cooled to room temperature over a couple hours (covered).
- Stirred in about 150-200ml of ginger bug liquid.
- Strained and bottled in sanitized flip-top bottles and kept at about 70 degrees for 2 days, before refrigerating and then opening the first one.
Things I think might have gone wrong:
- I think the ginger bug had a hint of this bad flavor even before I mixed up the batch, so maybe it is just a bad culture. I figured that was natural, since it is basically plant matter that's been sitting in water at room temperature for days. But perhaps not?
- I didn't have a fine mesh for straining the liquid into the bottles, just a double-screen sieve, so there is quite a lot of solid material suspended in the ginger beer. I don't know if this might introduce off flavors somehow.
- Could using brown sugar instead of white make the flavor extra pungent?
- I had intended to add lemon juice and zest but forgot, which might have altered the acidity slightly and provided a fresher flavor, I imagine.
- I wasn't very careful about sanitation while building the ginger bug (I reused the same spoon to stir, and taste, while building it). I was assuming that the culture should pretty much be able to take care of itself.
Super appreciate any tips and pointers. Thank you!