Pausing a ginger beer plant

Question

I am making ginger beer, the old fashioned way with a plant. The plant is a jamjar which I feed with one teaspoon of sugar and powdered ginger daily.

I'm going on holiday soon, for several weeks. I've been nurturing this plant for a couple of months and it's getting really nice, and I don't want to have to start again from scratch. What can I do to preserve it while I'm away?

I have access to a fridge (about 3ºC) and a freezer (about -10ºC). Given that the plant is a rather complex symbiotic mixture of yeast and bacteria, can I halt both their metabolism simply by putting it in the fridge? Can I freeze it without killing it off completely?

The other thing I'm worried about is that given that the plant lives at room temperature and covered only by a cloth, secondary infections are prevented partly by the sterilising effect of the ginger and ethanol, but mostly by the way that there's a hell of a lot of plant there and it's simply outcompeting any wild yeast or bacteria. If I damage the plant too much it won't be able to do this any more, and I run the risk of poisoning the plant.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Yeasts can be stored in cold temperatures for quite a while, provided they aren't open to the air. I'm not sure about lactic bacteria though, since a lot of them are located in other living organisms. Best bet would be to split your plant, try to keep one going with a friend or family member as fatboab suggested, and keep the other in the refrigerator.

If you have enough, you could split it three ways and try out the freezer too, but I'd worry about damaging the plant ecology if you split it too small.

additional advice: If the plant is in suspension (ie liquid) don't freeze it - the ice needles will puncture the yeast cysts. If the liquid contains sugar, you should be able to store it in a cool-room at 0 degrees C without it freezing. It may gallop a bit in a domestic fridge at 4 deg. C.

Answer 2

Give it to a friend to look after. I can remember my wee brother looking after a friends plant while they were on holiday. The reward? My brother got some of the plant, which he grew on and we got ginger beer.