drew805•2d agoProlific Poster

Warning: my ginger bug went bad and nearly blew up my kitchen

I was making a ginger bug for soda last Wednesday, letting it sit on the counter like always. Fed it sugar and ginger daily for about 5 days. Then on Saturday I noticed the lid was bulging out weird, and when I cracked it open a little, it hissed like a angry cat. I barely got it over the sink before it popped and shot ginger liquid all over my cabinets. Turns out the yeast got way too active because my house was warmer than usual, like 78 degrees. I guess I should have burped it twice a day or kept it cooler. Has anyone else had a fermentation go supernova on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakotam172d ago

Whoa, I used to think fermenting stuff was pretty straightforward until this exact thing happened to me with a batch of tepache last summer. My place got up to 80 degrees during a heatwave and I came home to glass and pineapple chunks all over the floor, so I feel your pain on this one. Take this with a grain of salt but I keep my ferments in the basement now whenever the weather gets warm, just to be safe.

val_wilson2d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, is basements actually cooler though? Mine stays around 68-72 year round (which I thought was ideal) but I've heard some folks say it depends on how deep you go and what your soil temp is like. The real trick I learned from a homebrew friend is to use a water bath with frozen water bottles rotated in - keeps things steady even when the house hits 80. That tepache explosion sounds brutal though, I had a similar thing with some kombucha that got forgotten on the counter during a heat spike. These cultures are more temperamental than people give them credit for.