Ginger beer plant bought vs home grown

[Iancebu]

Hi all am new here. I have recently been brewing home made ginger beer using home grown ginger bug from the yeast and bacteria in the ginger skin because it is hard to find ginger beer where I live.
I am trying to determine what is the difference between ginger beer plant and my home grown stuff. Pardon my ignorance I'm very new to this.
Best, Ian

[AlexP]

Ian,

The ginger bug is derived directly from just the ginger, so the strains (especially the bacteria strains) are very limited. The Ginger beer plant has many more bacteria strains and will generally have more of a sour multidimensional taste vs just yeasty with the ginger bug.

[telloyd]

Alex P is right, GBP tastes like commercial ginger beer (in the best sense). Multi-dimensional and very flavorful. Nothing wrong with Ginger Bug, but you really can't compare the two once you try GBP. I have pretty much stopped drinking the ginger bug version, but don't have the heart to kill it off completely. So it still gets fed.