Ginger Beer- Please can all members of Team Kereru bring a 750ml bottle that has a screw-on lid.

Today Team Kereru started to grow a bug for ginger beer.  
We are integrating science and maths. 
We have plenty of budding scientists in our team and it is always a lot easier to remember the maths with a practical activity.   Our aim is to learn about litres and millilitres 

It need fed each day and needs to be able to breathe...   This was particularly hard to understand.   Here is an explanation of what is happening.

What's happening?

Ginger ale is made through a process called fermentation. Humans have been fermenting things for a very long time to make bread, vinegar, yogurts, and so many other foods.

Fermentation is a process of energy production in an anaerobic (no oxygen) environment. What ferments your ginger ale is a single celled fungus called yeast – a familiar suspect used to make bread. There are many species of yeast, and each has a particular food source.

When making ginger ale, the food source of the yeast is sugar, and it gets all the energy it needs for life by transforming it, through a series of steps, into energy and by-products. The product is carbon dioxide (this is the gas that will fizz as you open your bottle). The ginger is just there along for the ride (and the taste).

The ginger beer bug will need to be fed for 7 days, then it is placed into a 750 ml bottle and kept in a cool dark place for 2 weeks.   Waiting for 3 weeks for something to be ready was quite a hard concept for a lot of our team.  

Our recipe includes ginger, raw sugar and yeast for the bug.

Then we have to add cream of tartar, lemon juice and lots more sugar and water.  

It will be ready during the holidays.

Please can all members of Team Kereru bring a 750ml bottle that has a screw-on lid.