Yemoos Nourishing Cultures Forum

In the instructions, it says that an airlock is okay, but I tried that once with kombucha and it suffocated. I know yeast fermentation works best without oxygen once it gets going, but aren't there additional bacterial cultures in the Ginger Plant, and would they potentially require oxygen? Is it really okay to use an airlock with the Ginger Plant?

I think its okay to use airlocks with ginger beer just like it is with water kefir. Some bacteria strains are aerobic and some are anaerobic. Some get minimized and some get strengthened with each respective method. Either way works I believe.

Alex

I have looked at the academic research on the primary bacteria and yeasts in ginger beer and found that they both require oxygen to survive and reproduce. People sometimes use airlocks and end up with a fermented liquid. However, according to several sources, all academic research articles, the ferment was caused by other critters in the mix rather than those traditionally associated with a ginger beer ferment. There are always many varieties of the yeast and bacteria families involved, as well as additional bacterial and yeast. So, basically, you have a ginger beer but the ginger beer plant wasn't able to grow because the bacteria and yeast required for growth was deprived of the oxygen it needed. The articles I read did not address whether the 'plant' itself will die during a ferment without oxygen.

If you are interested, check out Zygosaccharomyces florentinus and Brevibacterium vermiforme in an academic data base for scientific studies rather than someone's opinion. I have found reading the abstract at the beginning and the conclusion gives me the info I need in an easier to understand form than the actual body of the study, which may be hundreds of pages. The abstract and conclusion will tell you what was done and what they found to be true. Harry Marshall Ward was a 19th century researcher who is responsible for keeping the ginger beer plant alive and available for us today. His story is fascinating.

Thanks for the interesting info. I've always been curious about it, so I've got some reading to do.

Alex