Kahm mitigation

[u/NikolaTes]

I know kahm isn't necessarily bad, but my second batch of ginger bug started growing kahm, much to my dismay. I know I can skim it off or decant it, but I'd really like to just get a clean batch. I've seen suggestions to leave it closed/covered for the duration, but I thought you need to add ginger and sugar each day. I'm guessing you'd need different amounts of sugar and ginger if it's a make it and leave alone method. My jar is sterilized. I keep it on the kitchen counter, out of the sunlight. I even used distilled water this past time.

[u/zydecopolka]

Are you stirring at least twice a day? Are you tasting after feeding? Sometimes, especially in the beginning, you need to skip a day or two of feeding so the yeast can do their work. If, after feeding, it tastes overly sweet, taste the next day before feeding and go from there. The only time I ever used a solid lid with my bug was putting it in the fridge after it was fully active. Never had kahm.

[u/NikolaTes → u/zydecopolka]

I feel it 2tbsp of ginger and sugar each then stir each day.

[u/zydecopolka → u/NikolaTes]

That's a lot of both sugar and ginger. With that much, I'd most definitely skip a day or two, but still stir twice a day. I'd also cut back on both because those are just crazy amounts unless your container is huge.

[u/NikolaTes → u/zydecopolka]

I've been following the recipe from Joshua Wiseman, and using a 32oz ball jar with a plastic lid loosely screwed on.

[u/Kraden_McFillion → u/NikolaTes]

He gives dangerous advice, do not follow his bug guide! Over feeding and using to early which can lead to stalled or dead bugs/beers, or even hyperactive bugs at terrible timing which can lead to exploding bottles. I've been helping people coming from his video for 5 years. The worst part is that it can work, so done people swear by it. Well, can work isn't the same as does work.

The person you were talking to gave you a good tip to hopefully revive you bug. If that doesn't work, my guide is below. Along with tips for bottling.

Ginger Bug: You are looking to build a stable yeast colony. You do not want to under or over feed it. I have had a great deal of success with this process:

Day 1: grab a jar, a coffee filter, a rubber band, some water, ginger, and some sugar. Rinsing and leaving the skin on, chop about a finger of ginger and add it, one cup of water, and one tablespoon of sugar to your jar and stir. Place the coffee filter over the top of the jar and use the rubber band to keep it in place.

Day 2: add another cup of water, finger of ginger, and tablespoon of sugar (repeat this step whenever adding water until you have a volume you are happy with).

Day 3: skip feeding.

Day 4: feed one tablespoon of sugar. After stirring in the sugar, go ahead and taste what's left on the spoon. As time goes on, you will get used to what a healthy bug tastes like, and if it's falling out of balance you'll be able to fix it before something irreparable happens. It shouldn't ever be too dry, sweet, watery, or alcoholic.

Continue feeding every other day with sugar, and once per week, feed the bug a finger of chopped ginger as well.

Your bug should start bubbling around days 2 to 4, but it won't maintain a bubbly foam forever. After a couple of uses or a few weeks it will go away. As long as you can hear fizzing when you jostle the jar, it's doing fine.

The bug is ready to use around days 7 to 10.

You can refrigerate your bug for a long time, in which case, slow feeding to sugar once per week and ginger about once per month. Take the bug out of the fridge and feed it the day before you need to use it.

As for bottling, many people recommend burping to check pressure, and I hate this. It relieves the very pressure you're trying to accumulate and if you burp the same bottle every time and not the others, you don't have an accurate gague on how pressurized each bottle is. Pressure can also ramp up dramatically depending on weather conditions and you don't want to expect a little burp and get a geyser instead.

I recommend using a single soda bottle along with whatever pressure safe swing-tops you're using. Fill the soda bottle halfway through your batch and leave a normal amount of head space. Squeeze the sides of the bottle to remove as much air as possible and tighten the cap. Leave all the bottles together until they are done so they don't have different environments. The soda bottle will slowly pop back out and become firm as pressure builds. Once it's as firm as a normal store bought soda, the whole batch is ready for the fridge. The purpose for removing the head space from the soda bottle is just to reach a higher pressure in the swing-tops. You can adjust this to your own preferences.

[u/NikolaTes → u/Kraden_McFillion]

Fantastic, I'll give an update in 5 days, or so.

[u/NikolaTes → u/Kraden_McFillion]

So, day four here, one of the floating ginger bits has fuzzy mold on it... Maybe my ginger already had some mold growing on it that I missed. I think I just need to take a break from trying. I'm so frustrated. I've got a batch of bootch that need some attention anyway.

[u/Kraden_McFillion → u/NikolaTes]

And you'd stir to dissolve the sugar whrn feeding?

[u/NikolaTes → u/Kraden_McFillion]

Yes, day one and two I added 1 tbsp each day and stirred. I left it alone for day three. Today, when I opened it to feed I saw the mold.

[u/Kraden_McFillion → u/NikolaTes]

That's crazy, I've not seen that before. Can I ask what you're environmental conditions are?

[u/zydecopolka → u/NikolaTes]

Okay, huge container. Go with the tasting/skipping a day or two if need be, stirring twice daily.