5 Best Probiotic Soda Making Tools & Accessories
One of the best parts about making probiotic sodas at home with a Ginger Bug starter is the fact that you don't really need any fancy equipment to make delicious drinks. With the exception of swing-top glass soda bottles (which are required to hold in the carbon dioxide gases to create fizziness), you probably already have everything else you need to make soda in your kitchen right now.
Now, just because the tools are simple, doesn't mean that there aren't optimizations to be made for quality and functionality. I love finding kitchen tools and gadgets that work perfectly for the task at hand--and soda brewing is no exception. I've put together this list of my favorite accessories and tools for making Ginger Bug sodas at home. These tools won't make you an expert soda-maker, but they are high-quality, functional, and great for multiple uses in the kitchen (not just soda brewing). Cheers!
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Heat Mat for Fermentation
A Ginger Bug and Ginger Bug sodas ferment best at temperatures between 75°F-85°F. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use a heat mat. Heat mats are affordable (about $10 on Amazon), use very little energy, and will keep your ferments at the perfect temperature. This is the ideal solution if your house is kept at a temperature significantly below 75°F.
View Heat Mat on Amazon -
Large Swing-Top Soda Bottles
The typical sized swing-top glass fermenting bottle is between 8oz-16oz. That's great for an individual serving of probiotic soda. However, my family drinks a fair bit of soda and our fridge cannot survive with 20+ 16oz swing-top bottles packed in there. That's why I like to use larger 33oz or 2L growlers and swing-top bottles when brewing large batches of soda for my family. Swing-top bottles make it so that you can reseal and re-carbonate your soda after opening---so using larger bottles doesn't mean that you have to drink your soda quickly. Simply seal it up and the fermentation process will continue to produce carbon dioxide.
View Bottles on Amazon -
Weck Glass Fermenting Jar
This glass jar is the exact one that I've kept my Ginger Bug culture and sourdough cultures in for many years. These jars are very large, sturdy, and come with an airtight lid system. The rubberband included is thick, sturdy, and it's what I use to hold my muslin jar cloth covers in place when I'm not using the glass lid.
View Weck Jars on Amazon -
Muslin Cloth Jar Covers
You really can't have too many muslin cloth fermenting jar covers! These covers are breathable, made with an unbleached material, and are a good thickness. They are perfect for covering a wide variety of jar sizes from small jars to one-gallon glass jars. I keep a heavy stash of these around for all kinds of fermenting projects.
View Unbleached Muslin Covers on Amazon -
Stainless Steel Funnel w/ Filter
This is simply the easiest method I've found for straining soda mixtures and ferments for bottling. The handy filter ensures that all chunks and undesirable pieces are filtered out and the stainless steel filter fits most swing-top bottles securely. Nothing fancy, but it works.
View Funnel on Amazon
