Kombucha

[j4Christ]

Angie, my scoby arrived (DH said it got here Tues.) I got home from my sister's yesterday to a big blobby scoby!! Thanks for the information. I think I did everything right. I was a bit surprised by the size of it. I just plopped the whole thing in. Was that right? I didn't unfold or anything, just plopped it all in. Can they be cut up to make separate ones or do you have to wait for them to make babies?

The KT I started from store bought looks okay. Lots of bubbles on top but don't see signs of a scoby, just a couple of whitish strands.

[JoSkids]

Originally Posted by j4Christ

The KT I started from store bought looks okay. Lots of bubbles on top but don't see signs of a scoby, just a couple of whitish strands.

You would be surprised at what it is doing even if it doesn't look like much. Mine was all filmy for a really long time. It was almost invisible, but when I would stick a straw in to taste, there was definitely a scoby; and I had great KT. Looks can be deceiving.

[BikerAng]

j4Christ - Oh good, I'm glad it arrived ok. I was using a huge pyrex glass bowl and all my scobies turned out enormous! I actually cut one that size into 4 pieces and put those pieces into my suntea jar. I used really sharp scissors. You can also take 1 piece with some starter and tea and save it aside from the rest just in case your main batch gets contaminated.

[j4Christ]

Originally Posted by JoSkids

You would be surprised at what it is doing even if it doesn't look like much. Mine was all filmy for a really long time. It was almost invisible, but when I would stick a straw in to taste, there was definitely a scoby; and I had great KT. Looks can be deceiving.

That is so cool! Yes, it seems a bit filmy.

Originally Posted by BikerAng

j4Christ - Oh good, I'm glad it arrived ok. I was using a huge pyrex glass bowl and all my scobies turned out enormous! I actually cut one that size into 4 pieces and put those pieces into my suntea jar. I used really sharp scissors. You can also take 1 piece with some starter and tea and save it aside from the rest just in case your main batch gets contaminated.

That's what I am using-a sun tea jar. I have a few of those huge pickle jars that I could use if I cut up that humungous scoby you sent me. So I can just pull it out of the sun tea jar and cut it up in to 1/4's and start more tea? I guess I don't have anymore starter though, because I put it all in my batch with the big scoby. Hmmmm. Just thinking out loud. But if I don't cut it up, it's okay folded up in my sun tea jar, right? I don't want to hurt the poor guy Again, thanks, it came through the mail great!

[metqa]

Fawn, I'm glad your brew is back to proper action.

I love the buzz!

I guess I was confused about the bottle thing cause I bought mine elsewhere, and I though you were refering to the commercial bottles that you buy kombucha in the store. I know a brand of drink I liked just switched from glass to plastic, also.

Got a dumb math question. I wanna make a tea syrup concentrate, and I want someone to check my math.

If the final product is normally 3 quarts H2O with one cup of sugar and 6 tea bags, and I want to to reduce that to a concentrate that takes up only 1 quart of water space but with all the sugar and tea of the full 3 quarts. So if I take a cup of concentrate from that, then I'd add two more cups of water to make the right dilution? since its a ratio of 3:1?

I figure I could do better with continuous if I make a concentrate, rather than having to boil water and make tea, then cool it down, every time I need to refresh. Yeah, I'm lazy like that. Does that sound about right?

I planned to steep the tea in the hot water then add the cup of sugar to the still hot water to make the syrup, and stash it in the fridge in a quart mason jar, till needed.

[JoSkids]

Originally Posted by metqa

If the final product is normally 3 quarts H2O with one cup of sugar and 6 tea bags, and I want to to reduce that to a concentrate that takes up only 1 quart of water space but with all the sugar and tea of the full 3 quarts. So if I take a cup of concentrate from that, then I'd add two more cups of water to make the right dilution? since its a ratio of 3:1?

This is exactly what I would do, but that doesn't necessarily make it right

[metqa]

Originally Posted by JoSkids

This is exactly what I would do, but that doesn't necessarily make it right

I feel much better now, I think . . .

eta: thanks

[JoSkids]

Originally Posted by metqa

I feel much better now, I think . . .

eta: thanks

Well, that's cause I just exude mathematical intelligence - you can even feel it through the boards

[pepperette]

I made a 2 day 2nd ferment strawberry for DS (only 1/2 a bottle), and he liked it. He wanted to know if I could make banana. The question is: would you use a newly ripe, or banana-bread ripe one?

I made the concentrate as 3:1, but I made it a gallon as I wanted to have more brewing than the 2 gallons I'd done before.

[j4Christ]

Okay, I have more questions before I've finished reading through the thread!

I am getting overwhelmed with all the info on this thread and I don't think I need to. Could someone tell me in simple steps how to continuous brew? I just started a batch (in a 1 gal. sun tea jar) from a scoby sent to me by BikerAng and planned to brew about 10-14 days. I don't want to make this more complicated than is necessary so any help would be appreciated.

[Kamalam]

Originally Posted by pepperette

I made a 2 day 2nd ferment strawberry for DS (only 1/2 a bottle), and he liked it. He wanted to know if I could make banana. The question is: would you use a newly ripe, or banana-bread ripe one?

I made the concentrate as 3:1, but I made it a gallon as I wanted to have more brewing than the 2 gallons I'd done before.

I am just guessing here, but I would think the more ripe the better...
Less starch, more fructose for the KT... I know that's why grape concentrate often works so well- it has slightly more sugar than other concentrates, giving the KT more to feed on...

[Kamalam]

J4... look at BikerAng's post #1066 on pg. 36... she distilled it down pretty well I thought.

[j4Christ]

Thanks, kamalam! It does sound rather simple. I'm sure I will get the hang of it all soon!

[Zenngrl]

Well, I just broke down....


I bought a 5 gallon continuous brewer and some Pur eh Tea with a starter.

I don't want to run out of KT again!

I just had to run to WF and grab a few bottles to get me through..

[pepperette]

Originally Posted by Kamalam

I am just guessing here, but I would think the more ripe the better...
Less starch, more fructose for the KT... I know that's why grape concentrate often works so well- it has slightly more sugar than other concentrates, giving the KT more to feed on...

Thanks- I guess we leave it to get riper.

[BikerAng]

Originally Posted by j4Christ

That is so cool! Yes, it seems a bit filmy.




That's what I am using-a sun tea jar. I have a few of those huge pickle jars that I could use if I cut up that humungous scoby you sent me. So I can just pull it out of the sun tea jar and cut it up in to 1/4's and start more tea? I guess I don't have anymore starter though, because I put it all in my batch with the big scoby. Hmmmm. Just thinking out loud. But if I don't cut it up, it's okay folded up in my sun tea jar, right? I don't want to hurt the poor guy Again, thanks, it came through the mail great!

You could pick out the big scoby, cut it into 4ths and put 3 of the 4 scoby's back into your sun tea jar (make sure everything is very clean, hands, scissors, etc). You could take the 4th scoby and put it into another container, add some of the tea from your sun tea jar to make another batch. I'd probably just stash that 4th one away for emergencies until you get a bunch of new babies from your sun tea jar brew. If you prefer to just leave it folded up it should be fine, it won't hurt anything.

Continuous is pretty easy, but you may want to let this batch ferment for at least 7 days to get a stronger starter - because the idea is that you are only adding in a small amount of sweet tea to a batch of strong KT.

After your sun tea brew has brewed for 7 days or so, I'd draw off 16 oz and bottle it. Make your replacement sweet tea to replenish what you took out, here's the ratio I use (assuming you are brewing 1 gallon of KT in your sun tea jar):

16 oz filtered water, bring to boil and add
2 TBS sugar
2.5 - 3 grams tea (or 1-2 tea bags)

Let it come to room temp and add it to your sun tea jar. Every 2 days draw off 16 oz and replenish with the above sweet tea. I just love the way the KT turns out using this method. The other thing I do is before I add the sweet tea to the suntea jar, I draw off about 4+ cups of the KT, then I add the fresh sweet tea, then add the 4+ cups of the KT back (to kind of mix things up without disturbing the mushroom too much). Someone provided that tip a while ago and it works great! Hope this all makes sense!

[Kamalam]

Originally Posted by Zenngrl

Well, I just broke down....


I bought a 5 gallon continuous brewer and some Pur eh Tea with a starter.

I don't want to run out of KT again!

I just had to run to WF and grab a few bottles to get me through..

Yeah!!! Sounds like you'll be having some fun... I know what you mean about running out. It's the pits, lol. Hope you have lots of bottles on hand - if it's just you drinking the boocha, you'll need lots spares! There are two adults and a child drinking the KT in this household. So far we do fine with a 2.5 gallon brewer - we just bought a case of 12 bottles, and looks like we'll be needing another case!

---Let us know how you like the pu-erh tea. I bought the silver needle white tea to start my "super" scoby, but it's too expensive to maintain. Right now we're doing a black/ green tea combo. Cindy tried the pu-erh though.. she might pipe in and let you know about her experience... It's very earthy. I drink pu-erh as a regular tea - but I don't think I'd like it w/o my agave and vanilla soy creamer. Then again, I pretty much use agave and creamer in all my teas, lol.

[metqa]

Well, BF's abonimation has a new twist. We let the grape monster brew for almost 2 weeks and then bottled it. It's been about a week and he's been sipping on it but it's been growing stronger. Today we tasted it and the smell was strongly of wine, but the flavor was like BEER! Well, grape tinted beer. I think we'll let it brew shorter next time.

At least I've started the normal brewery back up again. I'm gonna attempt continuous proper this time. I've got my concentrate already made and I sealed it in a canning jar while still boiling hot so no germs should grow while I wait for the jar to get stronger. I'm starting again with 3 quarts of sweet tea and 2 cups of very cloudy very strong starter.

[JoSkids]

I have mentioned this before - my mom thought my kombucha tastes like vinegar. But every time I have a glass of wine (which is very infrequently nowadays) I think it does not compare to kombucha - kombucha is some much better and it is the wine that tastes like vinegar, but my mom drinks wine - go figure

[metqa]

it's funny how different folks perceive their first taste of Kombucha. Gave some to Friends BF and he pulled a face. She took a sip and liked it immediately.

[j4Christ]

Originally Posted by BikerAng

You could pick out the big scoby, cut it into 4ths and put 3 of the 4 scoby's back into your sun tea jar (make sure everything is very clean, hands, scissors, etc). You could take the 4th scoby and put it into another container, add some of the tea from your sun tea jar to make another batch. I'd probably just stash that 4th one away for emergencies until you get a bunch of new babies from your sun tea jar brew. If you prefer to just leave it folded up it should be fine, it won't hurt anything.

Continuous is pretty easy, but you may want to let this batch ferment for at least 7 days to get a stronger starter - because the idea is that you are only adding in a small amount of sweet tea to a batch of strong KT.

After your sun tea brew has brewed for 7 days or so, I'd draw off 16 oz and bottle it. Make your replacement sweet tea to replenish what you took out, here's the ratio I use (assuming you are brewing 1 gallon of KT in your sun tea jar):

16 oz filtered water, bring to boil and add
2 TBS sugar
2.5 - 3 grams tea (or 1-2 tea bags)

Let it come to room temp and add it to your sun tea jar. Every 2 days draw off 16 oz and replenish with the above sweet tea. I just love the way the KT turns out using this method. The other thing I do is before I add the sweet tea to the suntea jar, I draw off about 4+ cups of the KT, then I add the fresh sweet tea, then add the 4+ cups of the KT back (to kind of mix things up without disturbing the mushroom too much). Someone provided that tip a while ago and it works great! Hope this all makes sense!

Makes perfect sense! thanks for breaking down the ing. for the replacement tea. I wondered about that too. Okay, one more question (or two, for now). Do you only drink the 16 oz. that you draw out every two days? Can you OD on Kombucha?

[Zenngrl]

Originally Posted by Kamalam

Yeah!!! Sounds like you'll be having some fun... I know what you mean about running out. It's the pits, lol. Hope you have lots of bottles on hand - if it's just you drinking the boocha, you'll need lots spares! There are two adults and a child drinking the KT in this household. So far we do fine with a 2.5 gallon brewer - we just bought a case of 12 bottles, and looks like we'll be needing another case!

---Let us know how you like the pu-erh tea. I bought the silver needle white tea to start my "super" scoby, but it's too expensive to maintain. Right now we're doing a black/ green tea combo. Cindy tried the pu-erh though.. she might pipe in and let you know about her experience... It's very earthy. I drink pu-erh as a regular tea - but I don't think I'd like it w/o my agave and vanilla soy creamer. Then again, I pretty much use agave and creamer in all my teas, lol.

I probably won't use the entire 5 gallons, unless I start to give it away!

I only bought the Pur eh because it was supposed to be better for weight loss... I figured I'd try it out...

[soundhound]

First time here... great forum! if I read the whole thing maybe I would find my answer, but I am hoping someone can help me.

Just made a batch with ginger & yerba mate, and it tastes fine, except it is a little too fizzy... and then in the back of my throat there is a distinct taste of platic. yuck. Added fruit juice, let it work some more, filtered & bottled and refrigerated.

Still tastes great... till a few seconds later then that awful plastic afteraste.

HELP! Is it my scoby? What should I try?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

soundhound

[BikerAng]

Originally Posted by j4Christ

Makes perfect sense! thanks for breaking down the ing. for the replacement tea. I wondered about that too. Okay, one more question (or two, for now). Do you only drink the 16 oz. that you draw out every two days? Can you OD on Kombucha?

Every two days I bottle 16 oz, it's too sweet at that point for me so I 2nd ferment with flavors. Here's my schedule, I just did this last night.

* Remove 16 oz and bottle, add flavors (blueberries, ginger and lemon juice, strawberry preserves, etc) and let it sit for at least 3 days at room temp - I try to go longer so the sugar is consumed by the bacteria/yeast.
* Add 16 oz fresh, cooled sweet tea back to the sun tea jar.
* Wait 2 days, and repeat.

I have a back log of 2nd ferment bottles at room temp. I drink the oldest one first (I label them with the date I bottled). I just let my bottles continue to ferment at room temp until I drink them, they just get more fizzy and dry tasting. I drink about 8oz a day, so 1/2 a bottle. I'm not sure if you can OD on kombucha, but I watched a YouTube with Dave from Synergy and he said he drinks like a gallon a day or something crazy like that.

[pepperette]

Originally Posted by j4Christ

Makes perfect sense! thanks for breaking down the ing. for the replacement tea. I wondered about that too. Okay, one more question (or two, for now). Do you only drink the 16 oz. that you draw out every two days? Can you OD on Kombucha?

Geez, I hope not! I had 5, 16 oz. bottles in one day! Drank 1/2 before brekkie, took 2 to work, finished the 1/2 before supper, then polished off one with and after supper. Might have gone for another but was running out. Go figure!

[Kamalam]

Originally Posted by pepperette

Geez, I hope not! I had 5, 16 oz. bottles in one day! Drank 1/2 before brekkie, took 2 to work, finished the 1/2 before supper, then polished off one with and after supper. Might have gone for another but was running out. Go figure!

LOL, you drink more than I do, but I could so easily go this route! Since my boochas are getting tastier and fizzier... it's getting harder to pull back!

[Kamalam]

Originally Posted by soundhound

First time here... great forum! if I read the whole thing maybe I would find my answer, but I am hoping someone can help me.

Just made a batch with ginger & yerba mate, and it tastes fine, except it is a little too fizzy... and then in the back of my throat there is a distinct taste of platic. yuck. Added fruit juice, let it work some more, filtered & bottled and refrigerated.

Still tastes great... till a few seconds later then that awful plastic afteraste.

HELP! Is it my scoby? What should I try?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

soundhound

Soundhoud, are you bottling in plastic? Had to ask that one first!

Otherwise, it might be the YM you are not liking. That is a seriously STRONG flavor - I have avoided using yerba because I'm not crazy about the taste in the first place. I think Cindy used it once - her comment on it was that the flavor was, um... disgusting? LOL. But everyone has a different reaction... if you like YM in general, it could be something else.

Otherwise, do you use plastic at any stage of the process?

[cindy_cfids]

Originally Posted by soundhound

till a few seconds later then that awful plastic afteraste.

HELP! Is it my scoby? What should I try?

,

I'd suggest making a batch with NO flavorings, are you brewing in plastic, bottling in plastic??

I didn't catch that, Yerba Mate batches need to be kept separate - you can't use YM and then switch back to regular tea, the new batch will still taste like YM, I don't know if they will ever loose the taste (mine died in the heat) Not sure if that's what you did or if that's the problem.

I'm not crazy about YM, I think it's disgusting but I can almost drink YM KT

[fawn]

You know, I'm willing to bet it's the YM as well......

pepperette, I find myself reaching for the KT quite frequently as well.......I would drink 3 a day if I thought I wouldn't run out!

[BikerAng]

I'd drink more too, but I'm nervous I'll run out!