Farm & Fermentation

Brewing Ginger Beer From a Ginger Bug

In Progress June 21, 2026

Notes on building a ginger bug and using it to make a naturally fermented probiotic ginger beer.

  • Brewing
  • Fermentation
  • Food Preservation

I used to homebrew beer. I still consider myself a homebrewer, but it turns out that building a business has left me with very little additional time. However, I still really enjoy the process of brewing, and of fermenting things, and some health issues I was having drove me to look for cost-effective ways to find probiotics: things like pickles and naturally-fermented (non-alcoholic) ginger beer.

If you’re looking for an exact recipe rather than my running notes, see Fermented Ginger Beer Recipe From a Ginger Bug.

Ginger isn’t necessarily on the cheap side, but considering I can turn a few rhizomes into a five-gallon batch, keg it the way I would a batch of hoembrewed beer, and have it last several months, it’s easily worth it. Especially since my “brew day” is a couple hours instead of an entire day.

To date, I’ve brewed 3 batches, all with the same “ginger bug”:

  1. To a sanitized pint mason jar, add roughly a cup of distilled water.
  2. Add roughly 40 grams of fresh ginger, minced, and 40 grams of white sugar. Tighten the lid, shake well, then loosen the lid and let sit on a warm countertop (60-70 degrees Fahrenheit is the sweet spot; any warmer and you’ll promote alcohol-producing yeasts, any lower and it’ll be really slow)
  3. For the next several days, add 10 grams each of minced ginger and sugar, then close, shake, and loosen the lid.
  4. When you start to see bubbles forming that aren’t a result of shaking the jar, you have a “ginger bug”, which you can then store in the refrigerator.
  5. When it’s time to use it, wake it up by bringing it back to room temperature and adding a few grams of sugar. Then strain roughly half of it into a sanitized glass to pour into your “ginger tea” (see below), top up the mason jar with more distilled water, add some fresh minced ginger and sugar, allow it to bubble for a couple of days, then store back in the refrigerator.

To actually brew the batch of ginger beer (5 gallons):

  1. Mix 5 gallons of water, 600g of ginger, and 1kg of sugar in a stock pot that can hold at least 7 gallons. Ensure the sugar fully dissolves.
  2. Bring just to a boil and let boil for 5-10 minutes. The longer you boil, the spicier it will be, but also be careful not to let the sugar burn.
  3. Cool the “ginger tea” to room temperature. Above 80F will kill the ginger bug; above 70F will increase the alcohol content.
  4. Dump the “ginger tea” to a keg (or whatever you plan on fermenting in; air-tight is best) and and when it is fully cooled to room temperature, add about half a cup of your ginger bug liquid.
  5. Let ferment for at least a week. The longer you wait, the drier (less sweet) it will be. If your fermenter is air-tight and can hold pressure (like a keg), it’s OK to seal it completely. The first time I made this recipe, I vented it every day; the second time, I just let it build pressure inside the keg. The second time, it still fully fermented, but also naturally carbonated.
  6. If you need to move the fermented ginger beer from the fermenter into a serving vessel, force- carbonate, etc. do that at this point.
  7. Enjoy!

If you want the cleaner recipe version of this process, including a troubleshooting and FAQ structure, see Fermented Ginger Beer Recipe From a Ginger Bug.