Crafting Ginger Beer, a Healthy Alternative to Soda
- Hilary Elmer
- 12 minutes ago
- 6 min read
If you are trying to help your family be healthy, one of the hardest habits to cut is sugary soda.
I have a relative who was overweight. He made one simple change to his lifestyle: he stopped drinking sodas, and his weight quickly dropped to a healthy level. It was a jaw dropping illustration of the harmful effects of soft drinks, and the immediate benefits of quitting them.
A 12 oz can of soda contains on average a whopping 40 grams of sugar. That is 10 teaspoons of sugar!! The American Heart Association recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar per day for women, or 36 grams for men. A single serving of soda puts you over the daily recommendation. A larger 20 oz bottle contains 65 grams of sugar.
Too much sugar consumption leads to
heart disease
type 2 diabetes
fatty liver
obesity
tooth decay
osteoporosis
depression
stroke
dementia
kidney disease
cancer
Basically, it's destructive for your entire body.
If you choose the sugar free "diet" version, it's no better for you and may be even worse. Despite being low in calories, artificially sweetened soda causes type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, increased belly fat, and higher risk of heart disease. Artificial sweeteners reduce populations of good bacteria and allow harmful gut bacteria to thrive, leading to obesity and insulin resistance.
Are you addicted to soda? Would you like to kick the habit?
If only there was a natural, low sugar, probiotic, fizzy and satisfying drink you could make inexpensively at home....
Meet ginger beer!
Even though the name sounds alcoholic, don't worry, there is only a negligible amount of alcohol, less than 1%. This is because the yeasts responsible for the fermentation are wild yeasts found on organic ginger roots and they are not inclined to make alcohol. If you were to use active live brewer's yeast, on the other hand, the finished product would be alcoholic. I do not drink alcohol, and ginger beer meets my strict standards.
A question I had before I became a ginger beer enthusiast was, if sugar is bad for me, and there is sugar in ginger beer prior to fermenting, doesn't that make ginger beer bad for me? Even if it ferments and microbes consume the sugar, isn't that going to grow harmful yeasts that I will then consume?
The important difference between eating sugar directly, and drinking fermented ginger beer, is that the ginger acts as a starter to grow specific microbes that are beneficial. If you allowed sugar to ferment on its own, or inside of you, it would grow a different profile of species.
Microbes that thrive on heavy sugar consumption | Microbes that grow in ginger beer |
Proteobacteria (bacteria correlated with gut inflammation and fatty liver) | Saccaromyces (yeast associated with fermentation of kefir, wine, kombucha, and sourdough) |
Ruminococcus gnavus (bacteria associated with Crohn's disease) | Lactobacillus (symbiotic relationship with human gut, protects against invasion by pathogens) |
Sutterellaceae (inflammatory bacteria associated with IBS, Crohn's, autism, and ulcertive colitis) | Weissella (anti inflammatory bacteria) |
Candida albicans (yeast that is present in small amounts in a healthy gut, but can easily become dominant and cause thrush, yeast infections, SIFO, and systemic blood infections) | Lactococcus (bacteria commonly found in cultured dairy products) |
Candida albicans (note that this is also present in the column to the left; candida is present in small amounts in healthy microbiomes where a wholesome diet keeps its population in check) |
For ease of use, I like to buy several pounds of organic ginger, puree it and freeze it. Otherwise you always have to have fresh ginger on hand, and have to chop it up before feeding your starter each day or making a batch of ginger beer.
To make ginger puree, slice the roots into coins, put in a blender with a little water, and blend until it is finely minced. Pour it into ice cube trays and freeze. I like the ice cube trays that have lids that seal the top to prevent freezer burn, and soft bottoms so that they are easy to push out while frozen.
Starting and Maintaining a Ginger Bug
Making ginger beer is similar to making sourdough bread: you maintain a starter to inoculate each batch. The starter is called a ginger bug.
Ginger bugs are easy to get going, as long as you follow a few rules.
You must use organic ginger, because conventional ginger was probably irradiated, which kills the natural yeasts that power the fermentation.
Equally important, use non-chlorinated water as chlorine kills the probiotics that we need to nurture.
The optimal temperature to grow these wee beasties is 75-85F, although they will grow slower, down as low as 65F. Do not keep your ginger bug or fermenting batches cooler than 65 or warmer than 85F.
You can use any type of sugar. I prefer unrefined sugars like turbinado. Do not, however, use honey.
1. Fill a pint jar with 1.5 cups of non-chlorinated water.
2. Add a cube of ginger and roughly an equal amount of sugar to the jar. You don't have to thaw the ginger cube first.
My ice cube trays make cubes that are about .7 oz each. 2 tsp sugar is a good amount of sugar to feed this sized cube.
If your trays make bigger cubes, that is fine, but use more sugar so that the amount of sugar is roughly equal to the amount of ginger at each feeding.
3. Put it in a warm place, around 75 - 85F and let it sit overnight.
The next day, add the same amounts of ginger and sugar. It is important to add ginger every time, not just sugar, so that the right microbes keep growing.
4. Continue adding a ginger cube and sugar every day for 3 to 5 days, until you see it starting to bubble.
Congratulations, you now have an active ginger bug!
(A ginger bug can be hibernated when you need to take a break. Put it in the fridge, and take it out to feed and let it warm back up, overnight, once a week.)
Making a Batch of Ginger Beer
There are several types of containers that you can ferment in for different levels of carbonation. The more air tight it is, the fizzier it will be--but also the greater the risk of explosion!
The safest, but least fizzy option is to use mason jars with plastic lids.
Another safe option that is not very fizzy is to use fido/weck jars that have rubber gaskets and locking lids. These are self venting, which is why it doesn't build up very much carbonation.
My favorite container is pint mason jars with metal bands and lids, with the bands screwed on just tight enough to be snug. This allows moderate carbonation, but not to the point of exploding. Sometimes the lid will buckle as it expands, but this doesn't hurt anything.
The fizziest option is Grolsch bottles, with the snap tight lids. Those do not allow any ventilation. They build up powerful carbonation, but if you don't burp them every day they will bubble over wildly when you open one to drink it, or possibly even explode glass shards and make a dangerous mess. If you want max carbonation and you are willing to commit to burping every day, choose Grolsch bottles.
Ingredients
2 quarts of non-chlorinated water
3.5 oz sugar
3 - 4 oz ginger puree
juice of a lemon, a lime, a half cup of 100% cranberry juice, or 1 cup of apple cider
part of your ginger bug
Makes 6 pint jars.
1. In a medium sized pot, bring to a boil 1 quart of water, 3.5 oz sugar, 3 - 4 oz ginger puree, and the juice.
Let simmer for 10 minutes, then remove from heat.
2. Add another quart of cold water. Allow it to cool until it reaches 85 - 90F.
3. Add your ginger bug, allowing a little of the liquid and ginger bits to remain in the jar to inoculate the next bug.
(Restart your ginger bug now by adding 1.5 cups of water, a cube of ginger, and an equal amount of sugar.)
4. Strain the concoction into a large bowl through a sieve. Squeeze the juices out of the ginger in the sieve. Discard the ginger puree, or use it for cooking.
5. Pour the liquid into your jars or bottles and cap. Set in a location that is close to 75F. Write the date that you started this batch on a piece of paper and keep the paper with it so you know when it will be ready to drink.
If you are using Grolsch bottles, be sure to burp them every day.
6. Wait at least 5 days for it to ferment so that the probiotics have a chance to eat up all the sugar. If the temperature is below 70F, give it an extra couple of days. It should not taste sweet--if it does, the sugar has not fully fermented yet.
7. Drink and enjoy!
What benefits would you like to see from quitting sugary drinks? Lose weight? More natural energy? Less risk of chronic disease?
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