SWITCHEL: How to Use a Ginger Bug

Switchel, a thirst quenching, probiotic rich, and super easy to make fermented beverage. Using a ginger bug for fermentation, this hydrating drink is bursting with antioxidants and health benefits. Great to drink on its own or mixed in a cocktail. I'm Trent Musho and you're watching The Brew Show. Today we're making a berry basil switchel. Switchels were said to have originally been drank by colonial farmers when looking to hydrate themselves while laboring in the fields. Typically they're made from ginger, water, a source of sugar, and vinegar. The ginger adds anti-flammatory and antioxidant properties and the vinegar can boost your energy. If you're looking for a quick pick-me-up or alternative to energy drinks, you can easily toss these ingredients together. Today I'm going to step it up a level and swap out the vinegar with our homemade ginger bug. And if you're not familiar with what a ginger bug is, it's a combination of fresh ginger, sugar, and water that's been fermented. The yeast found on ginger, otherwise known as lactobacillus, is what fuels the fermentation. The ginger bug can be used to ferment other liquids, most commonly ginger beer. If you've never made a ginger bug before, I recommend you check out my ginger beer video for a more detailed explanation. But to quickly cover it here, you add equal parts sugar and fresh chopped ginger into a mason jar of water. Feeding with more ginger and sugar every day, after several days you'll see bubbles of fermentation activity, at which point you know your ginger bug is ready. I've always wondered what else I could do with a So when I stumbled upon switchel, I figured it was a perfect opportunity to make this delicious drink. So go ahead and dust off your old ginger bug in the back of your fridge, and get ready to make this tasty berry basil switchel. If you're starting from a fresh, active ginger bug, then you're ready to go. But if you're pulling from an old ginger bug from the back of your fridge, you're going to need to wake it up and get it ready for work. My ginger bug has been sitting in my fridge for nearly six months, so don't throw your ginger bug out after this. You can easily bring it back to life in the future. All you need to do is pull it out of the fridge and let it come to room temp. Then just repeat the feedings you gave it before. 10 grams sugar and 10 grams chopped ginger. Depending on how long it's been in your fridge, it should start bubbling up in a day or two of feeding. Once you see a good amount of bubbles, you're ready to make the switchel. As mentioned, I'm making a berry basil switchel, but you can use your favorite fruit or herbs here. Pineapple mint, blueberry rosemary, get crazy with it. I'm going to make a half gallon batch, use whatever container you have on hand. Glass is preferred, but food safe plastic works as well. I'm just using this growler that I got from a brewery. If you ferment other things, you might have sanitizer on hand like star sand, and it's not required, but will help make sure you're controlling any other wild microorganisms that might be around. So into the fermentation vessel, I add 100 grams of the strained ginger bug liquid. Next, I add 30 grams of sugar and 30 grams of chopped ginger. Feel free to swap out the cane sugar for any other sugar of your choice. Maple syrup, brown sugar, and even molasses are popular choices for switchel. Just don't use blackstrap molasses, that would bring too much bitterness. Before we move on with the recipe, please take a moment to subscribe to my channel. I love trying out unique fermentations and you won't want to miss what's next. Now time for some extra flavor. I'm adding in 200 grams of frozen strawberries and raspberries that I thawed out. I gave them a good muddle to mash them up for maximum flavor extraction. And now I'm adding 10 grams of freshly picked basil. The fresher the better, but if all you have is dried herbs, then just work with what you got, or you can leave it out altogether. If you want less intense basil flavor, you can dial it back, but I love how fragrant fresh basil is. Lastly, top up to a half gallon of water. Now just cap it or cover the top and give it a good shake to mix up and dissolve all the sugar. What do you make with your ginger bug? I'm always looking for new ideas, let me know in the comments. Once you feel like it's good, cover the lid with a napkin and a rubber band or an airlock if you have one. They're super cheap and good to have on hand for other fermentations if you don't have one. A napkin or airlock just keeps other microorganisms from spoiling our ferment, but allows CO2 from the fermentation to escape. Don't seal this container, it will build up pressure and could eventually explode. Once it's covered, just set it in a room temp area for about two days. Within a day or so, you'll see signs of fermentation activity, whether bubbles in the airlock or bubbles at the top of your switchable liquid. I found that two days is the perfect amount of time to get a small amount of funkiness without being too much. So when you're ready, it's time to transfer into bottles. I'm not too careful about transferring into bottles, I just use a funnel and some way to strain out the berries, ginger, and herbs so I can have a clean, ready-to-drink bottle. I usually toss the used ingredients into the compost. And for the bottles, you want to make sure you use fermentation grade bottles, like cleaned up beer bottles or flip-top bottles for fermenting. This is important because when you put the switchable into the closed bottle, fermentation will still be going on and it will build up pressure, creating a bit of fizz. But if your bottles can't hold pressure, they're ticking time bombs to explode. So be safe. Flip-top bottles are great because you don't need any caps, but if you have beer bottling equipment, you can just reuse bottles and cap them up. Or if you prefer a still drink, you don't need a bottle at all. But once they're closed, just set them in an area out of direct sunlight for another two to three days to build up pressure. Then toss them in the fridge to cool down. At which point, the switchable is ready to drink. The color from the switchable is a beautiful light pink from those berries. And as the light effervescence rises to the top, it invites me in with the strong aroma of basil and ginger. When I take a sip, I get the fruity berry flavor immediately, followed by that strong basil flavor. The combo of these two is really satisfying and they complement each other nicely. But if basil is not your herb of choice, then you can use less or even swap it out for some mint. And lastly, the fresh ginger flavor comes through and brings a brightness and refreshing finish to this drink. It's light and very thirst-quenching. I could definitely see myself having some of this on hand after a hot day outside or as a quick pick-me-up in the afternoon to get me through the day. And although this switchable is perfect on its own, if you want to spike this with a little bit of vodka and some fresh basil, I wouldn't blame you at all. I would love to try this with other flavor combinations too. If you make a different version of this, let me know and send me some pics on Instagram or on the Discord server. Cheers and enjoy! If you have any questions about making the switchable or growing your own gingerbug, be sure to let me know. And don't forget to subscribe for more videos like this. Thanks for watching!