Advice needed on making fermented ginger beer

[Uberrudo]

I attempted my first batch of fermented ginger beer recently following this short video:

In a nutshell I created a ginger bug with 2 cups water , 2 Tb sugar and 2 Tb chopped ginger (skin on). Roughly every 24 hours i added 2Tb sugar and 2Tb ginger. It was supposed to take maybe 3 days to become active . Mine took 10 but it was definitely alive. When it was ready I mixed 2 quarts water, 1.25 cup +2 Tb of sugar, 1/4 C of ginger boiled and then simmered for 5-8minutes and let cool until room temp. Then I strained it and added 1/2 cup of ginger bug and the juice of 3 lemons. I poured them in tight flip topped bottles where they sat for 6 days before entering the fridge - burping them once a day..

The first few sips were delicious - gingery, fermented , nice hint of lemon. After that though - no ginger. It was just slightly lemony carbonated yeastiness.

Errors I made - the recipe called for filtered water and I used tap (missed that part). Also, i used peeled and chopped ginger in the final step NOT grated (only realized that now while posting this). Would either of these errors make such a big difference that I'd get basically zero ginger taste?

Super appreciative of any feedback.

 

[stefansjs]

I just came across the same video on YouTube and I'm really curious to make my own ginger beer. Did you figure out anything? Did you try again?

I also watched a video that said a lot of older recipes call for only fermenting for a day. He says it's a very green beer. I've never done it, but I wonder if the greenness would help or hurt?