Symbiota
Ginger Beer Kit (using organically grown symbiotic culture)
Authentically Fermented Ginger Beer
The ginger beer plant (GBP) is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. Although a similar concept to water kefir; GBP grains are smaller, slower growing and have a sandy-grain-like appearance, unlike kefir grains which are larger and rapidly growing.
The ginger beer plant dates to the 1800’s and it’s thanks to The German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures Bank which was one of the few places that preserved these grains of antiquity before they became completely extinct.
Unfortunately, some sellers advertise ginger beer plants for sale when in fact these cultures are not genuine and are simply “ginger bugs” or hybrids from kefir grains.
Symbiota is extremely excited to now be offering this genuine ginger beer plant.
How do I make or ferment my own ginger beer?
To ferment ginger beer authentically, you need to have the ginger beer plant, also known as ginger beer culture or ginger beer grains.
You simply combine the sugar of your choice, water, ginger (slices, juice or dried powder), and ginger beer culture. Leave to ferment for a few days and you will have a fizzy ginger beer drink.
Drain off your fermented ginger beer (while retaining the culture of the next ferment). You can either drink it as is, or bottle it to get an even more carbonated drink.
With the correct care your GBP will continue to grow overtime, and you can make larger batches of ginger beer.
What is included in my kit?
- 1L Symbiota Jar
- 1 Stainless Steel Strainer
- 1 Tbs Ginger Beer Plant grains (enough to ferment 1L of ginger beer)
- 1 Elasticated Cotton Top
- 1 Stainless Steel Lid
- 1 Portion of sugar mix to get you started
- Recipe and instructions and aftersales support
****Note:
- Please use an urban address where possible.
- Live cultures are couriered out on Mondays & Tuesdays to avoid delays.
Here at Symbiota we pride ourselves on customer care and provide ongoing support so that everyone can enjoy their fermenting journey feeling supported and confident.
Ginger Beer Kit (using organically grown symbiotic culture)
It’s great - kids luv it too!
I love the taste and it’s easy to make but it has absolutely no fizz which is a huge disappointment
Hi Bronwyn. Thank you for taking the time to review. Fermenting can take a little tweaking to find the sweet spot. We encourage all customers to reach out for support and we will help tailor their ferments according to their desires. Please feel free to email us at info@symbiota.co.nz or give us a call and we will happily address this so that you have super fizzy ginger beer:)
The instructions are clear and easy to understand. However I actually found the jar to be too small for the quantities of liquid specificed. It's a 1 ltr jar and 4 cups of water are also 1 ltr, without adding the volume of sugar, lemon juice and culture. I used a bigger 1.5 ltr jar.
But the end product was pretty good. And my culture has grown nicely.
Thanks. I did my first trial and it is ok , it needs to fizz more. So it is a learning experience I guess. Maybe the bottle top is not the best. Will keep on trying. It is always fun to give new thing a go.
We find the ginger beer produced with this kit has a lovely taste to it. Granted it is not as fizzy but that most likely is because we reduce the amount of sugar we put into the mixture and released the gas from the bottles every day! Only make a litre at a time which is just the right amount of our family. Find it super convenient to just sieve (the ready batch into bottles), squeeze (the ground up ginger into a new batch) and serve (the chilled ginger beer from the fridge!) with little hassle. Since we don't have soft drinks at home, this is nice to have in the fridge to offer visitors (young and old) who like a slightly fizzy sweet-ish drink. Everyone has enjoyed the ginger beer so far!