Water Kefir Ginger Ale

by Suzanne

Water kefir ginger ale is one of my favorite fizzy drinks. It brings back memories of staying home from school with a sore throat, lying on the couch watching old movies on TV, with Mom taking care of me and serving a cool glass of ginger ale with a straw! Thinking back to those good old days made me crave a tall glass of ginger ale. I just knew I could make it fermented, too.

First I made ginger tea:

Bring 8 cups water to a full boil.
Add …“-½ cup of chopped fresh ginger, no need to peel it.
Reduce heat, simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat. Stir in 1½ cups sugar. I like to use rapadura for the rich flavor.
Cool completely.
Strain into a gallon jar.

Next, I fermented the sweet ginger tea:

Add 1 quart finished, unflavored water kefir and enough cool, filtered water to fill the jar about an inch from the top.
Cover with a cloth, secured by a rubber band, just like making water kefir.
Let that ginger water kefir ferment 2 days at room temperature. You should be able to see some bubbles or foam on top at this point.

Then I bottled the fermented ginger ale:

After 2 days, bottle the liquid in tightly sealed bottles.
Ferment on the counter-top another 12-24 hours before refrigerating.

I like to open one bottle as a test before refrigerating, just to make sure it’s fizzy. If not, I let the sealeed bottles ferment at room temperature a bit longer. Once the bottles go in the fridge, the fermentation will slow way down, so make sure thewater kefir ginger ale is bubbly before refrigerating.

And that’s it! My kiddo loves this water kefir ginger ale, so try it out on your family and let us know how they like it. Cheers!

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