Kombucha

[iamfaithful]

Yes! I know exactly what you mean! I wonder how we carried our kids without peaking inside - it was impossible. Guess that is why we are so busy peaking every day!

[sjl330]

Ok, I checked my brew that I'd started completely from scratch and it was ready to bottle!! My first-born scoby! I'm so proud! I'm going to 2nd ferment it a few days and then pop it in the frig for another few. I think I'm about to get flooded with kombucha, lol.

[sjl330]

Oh, I forgot to add, I also started another batch with my first-born scoby tonight too. Now I have 3 gallons brewing that should all be ready about the same time!!

[Selahgal]

Originally Posted by sjl330

Oh, I forgot to add, I also started another batch with my first-born scoby tonight too. Now I have 3 gallons brewing that should all be ready about the same time!!

Three gallons??? Holy cow it's a boocha party!!!

[metqa]

Dang! You's is the Master Brewer, Nah?

Who's gonna help you DRINK all that booch! Haha, rhymes with hooch!
Wait, Why did they call it hooch?

[sjl330]

Well, I hope my DH and I can keep up with it. I really need to slow down but it's hard to do once you get rolling. I don't want to kill off any scobys. I guess I need to read up on how to maintain a Scoby Hotel.

[Selahgal]

Originally Posted by sjl330

Well, I hope my DH and I can keep up with it. I really need to slow down but it's hard to do once you get rolling. I don't want to kill off any scobys. I guess I need to read up on how to maintain a Scoby Hotel.

Scoby Hotels are E Z! Just get a big glass jar and put your scobies in it with the tea and add sugar every so often to feed them!

[sjl330]

How much tea and how much sugar? And about how often is "every so often". I sure don't want to kill them now that I've got them alive. lol

[SeaMaiden]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

Hi SeaMaiden! I think you are referring to Kombucha... Correct? I am sorry it upsets your tummy- maybe someone can chime in to give suggestions.

Yeah, I'm referring to Kombucha or Booch as some call it. I found out I can only have about 1/2 bottle at a time, otherwise I have to run to the bathroom. I like synergy brand.

[metqa]

you don't have to feed the hotels as often, you can let them go semi dormant. I'd say just watch the growing scoby and when it gets to a thickness you think is good enough for a full size scoby, then feed it again just enough to keep the liquid at the top and let it grow another on top. same formula of sugar tea as for the brew.

[iamfaithful]

Yes, Sandy, put enough in a jar to cover the SCOBIES so they don't dry out. Left alone (like growing a SCOBY from scratch) a neW baby will grow on top. You can let it grow til it gets as thick as you want or until you need to add or remove a SCOBY. IF You DON't SEE scoby Forming at all when you add ST to your brew - put some on the top of the hotel maybe a cup or so.. Just to give them a little nourishment tno keepthem going.

@ SeaMaiden - what you are experiencing may be the beginning of the balancing of your body. Remember KY will have a detox affect on people (somemore than others) so if you can maybe start yourself a gallon- drink a little each day & maybe after a while your body will adjust. KT has made me feel HEALTHIER - I don't know how else to explain it.

Happy drinking!

[iamfaithful]

Found organic white tea @ the asian market for 7¢ a bag. Wow that was cheap! So I brewed a batch by itself. Interesting! By the next day a SCOBY was already forming & in 5 days she is showing great form & color.

I just had to taste and it was already fantastic & had more fizz than my continuous brewer that was reloaded the same day. So... Today I went back up there for other things to make Kimchi & bought 3 more boxes. Now I have enough to make 55 more gallons! Maybe that will keep me for a while.

Decided I would use it in my continuois brewer too.

BTW- just couldn't let thil thread go on the back burner again... Too much fun in the prior pages!

Hapoy brewing everyone!

[Selahgal]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

Found organic white tea @ the asian market for 7¢ a bag. Wow that was cheap! So I brewed a batch by itself. Interesting! By the next day a SCOBY was already forming & in 5 days she is showing great form & color.

I just had to taste and it was already fantastic & had more fizz than my continuous brewer that was reloaded the same day. So... Today I went back up there for other things to make Kimchi & bought 3 more boxes. Now I have enough to make 55 more gallons! Maybe that will keep me for a while.

Decided I would use it in my continuois brewer too.

BTW- just couldn't let thil thread go on the back burner again... Too much fun in the prior pages!

Hapoy brewing everyone!

You grew a scooby from scratch??????

[iamfaithful]

Well not from scratch actually ~ I have grown them by just letting plain KT set in a mason jar or bowl for a month & a really thick creamy dense SCOBY FORMED. I used one of those to put in the white tea. The next day SCOBY SPOTS WERE ON THE TOP OF THE BREW & now day 5 there is a well defined SCOBY is there. The one I originally put in the tea was too big for the jar cause she was born in a bowl so she is sideways in the 1/2 gallon jar.

Reminds me tomorrow I need to buy a gal of pickles! Grankids are coming Sun & they can take pickles home & I get the jar!

Haven't seen you for a while on posts... I haven't given up on my WK grains - but still no fizz. Have some ginger in this quart but only put in part of my grains just in case.

TOMORROW I am going to put some on a bottle of grape juice & see what happens... Kidos are coming Sun... Maybe I will have a surprise for them..

Good to see you & visit!

[Selahgal]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

Well not from scratch actually ~ I have grown them by just letting plain KT set in a mason jar or bowl for a month & a really thick creamy dense SCOBY FORMED. I used one of those to put in the white tea. The next day SCOBY SPOTS WERE ON THE TOP OF THE BREW & now day 5 there is a well defined SCOBY is there. The one I originally put in the tea was too big for the jar cause she was born in a bowl so she is sideways in the 1/2 gallon jar.

Reminds me tomorrow I need to buy a gal of pickles! Grankids are coming Sun & they can take pickles home & I get the jar!

Haven't seen you for a while on posts... I haven't given up on my WK grains - but still no fizz. Have some ginger in this quart but only put in part of my grains just in case.

TOMORROW I am going to put some on a bottle of grape juice & see what happens... Kidos are coming Sun... Maybe I will have a surprise for them..

Good to see you & visit!

I'm coming back again more often ... going back to low carb for good AGAIN [I said that the last two times! lol]

I still enjoy my water kefir every day. I keep a second brew on the kitchen counter next to the continuous brew so I don't forget about them. When I go through the kitchen I often take a swig or two. YUM!

[j4Christ]

Hi ladies! It's been a while since I posted too. My scoby grew beautifully (I started it w/ a store bought bottle and brewed sweet tea about a month ago) I bottled some up and need to add more sweet tea. It is delicious

iamfaithful-I see you are going to try grape juice. Do you think I could add some white grape juice to my continuous brew? Would it need any more sugar or is the juice sweet enough?

[iamfaithful]

OH! DON't DO THAT!

You need to play around with that with an extra SCOBY!

NEVER PUT FRUIT OR JUICE IN A CONTINUOUS BREWER!! Danger for the SCOBY!

[iamfaithful]

I was just going to play with it. Metqa's BF liked it so she offered up a SCOBY for him but I think she referrred to it as the "Purple Abomination" I didn't mean to use so many caps in the above post - you just paniked me!

If you like white grape- add it to your second ferment & don't add any extra sugar it is sugared enough. Bananas, grapes, & cherries are the highest fruits in carbs. I think the 2nd ferment would eat them & give a fizzier drink! Maybe 2-4 tb per 16 oz bottle.. If you use concentrate with out added sugar-maybe a tablespoon.

I need to grow a SCOBY Just to try the grape. You just made me think to get one going for that. I take freshly brewed KT put a cup in a mason Jar, cover & leave it alone for month... Makes a beautiful thick, dense, creamy, healthy SCOBY that will easily make a baby when you put her in a gallon of sweet tea.

Hope this helps!

[metqa]

I just pull one of the old daughters from my main jar. there are usually three or four under my most current scoby. But then I have to cut it to size for the Abomination's jar.

Oh Yeah, the grape juice is sugary enough, in fact I had to dilute the grape juice to make he Abomination cause it was fermenting too fast and coming out tasting like Beer not wine as BF hoped. 1:1 with water seemed to make an acceptable starter. The purple scoby looks amazing but is useless after about two brews and you need to scavenge a new KT scoby to continue.

[j4Christ]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

OH! DON't DO THAT!

You need to play around with that with an extra SCOBY!

NEVER PUT FRUIT OR JUICE IN A CONTINUOUS BREWER!! Danger for the SCOBY!

The robot from Lost in Space saying "WARNING, WARNING" came to mind when I read this Guess I'm dating myself:blush:

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

I was just going to play with it. Metqa's BF liked it so she offered up a SCOBY for him but I think she referrred to it as the "Purple Abomination" I didn't mean to use so many caps in the above post - you just paniked me!

If you like white grape- add it to your second ferment & don't add any extra sugar it is sugared enough. Bananas, grapes, & cherries are the highest fruits in carbs. I think the 2nd ferment would eat them & give a fizzier drink! Maybe 2-4 tb per 16 oz bottle.. If you use concentrate with out added sugar-maybe a tablespoon.

I need to grow a SCOBY Just to try the grape. You just made me think to get one going for that. I take freshly brewed KT put a cup in a mason Jar, cover & leave it alone for month... Makes a beautiful thick, dense, creamy, healthy SCOBY that will easily make a baby when you put her in a gallon of sweet tea.

Hope this helps!

Yes, helps alot. I really need to read back over the thread too. I had most of the do's and don'ts well thought out, but it's been awhile. I am going to get started on a baby scoby today!

Originally Posted by metqa

I just pull one of the old daughters from my main jar. there are usually three or four under my most current scoby. But then I have to cut it to size for the Abomination's jar.

Oh Yeah, the grape juice is sugary enough, in fact I had to dilute the grape juice to make he Abomination cause it was fermenting too fast and coming out tasting like Beer not wine as BF hoped. 1:1 with water seemed to make an acceptable starter. The purple scoby looks amazing but is useless after about two brews and you need to scavenge a new KT scoby to continue.

Hmm, I was going to try white grape juice (white wine) but that purple scoby sounds fun, too!

[iamfaithful]

You ladies have me in stitches this morning!

Yes, I remember the robot... Now you know how young I am... I remember when television was invented.... Hummm ... Lived to see that.. The man on the moon... Cell phones... Internet.... And more things I can't remember... So I guess I better have another cup of tea... KT of course...

BTW I have grape juice plain, a baby scoby hanging out in my hotel 4"- maybe a piece of her will do... Metqa do I need much? & does it make a SCOBY of it's own?

Thanks, ladies!

[metqa]

Warning Will Robinson!!!

Hahaha! Nope, You've got all you need Faithful. Just dilute the juice a bit and plop a scoby in. I WILL grown a new scoby, and about two times, but they won't be viable. So the first batch will grow one, then you add more juice mix then it will grow a second , then add more juice and it MIGHT grow again but mine grew very slowly so that's why I think it's not sustainable like KT is. But BF loved it. It's tasty to be sure, just too sweet to drink like I like to drink KT. My friend did it with apple juice and said it didn't come out good at all , but neither of us tried white grape juice. I'd like to hear the result!!

[iamfaithful]

Found a 1/2 gal jar that was empyt! Got so many things going (hotel, bug brewer, Koffucha, white tea brewer, little mason jars growing SCOBIES (growing some in layers-fun- & I need some little ones for a qt hotel to use topically for bites, rashes, & rough feet- I want an Rx hotel all by itself) So I was lucky to find one... Most of my jars are holding my wheat berries from my Rejuvilac days... Might have to plastic bag some.

I will give it a try today. Grankids coming over & they like to full around with my "inventions" like hanging out yogurt for cream cheese. I may have them do this! They are great kids & taste everything regardless of smell but they won't taste KT. Maybe they will taste this & maybe I can 2nd ferment some with grape- hadn't thought about that- son want some better smell... I think blackberry is good but grape has stronger smell...Hmm will see let you know what happens.

BTW went back this am to 2009 & reading forward..J4Christ you have been thinking about this grape juece thing for a while Let us know the results... Will be for you.

Have fun & I will post how things progress.

This Thread! Glad it got revived!

[Selahgal]

You all are an inspiration! Wowza! Yeah, same age group too! Hey I watched the original Star Trek when it first aired! HA.

It's funny because I have water kefir that often has a nice little 'kick' to it, like wine but I never got that with the KT. I was lucky to get that to even FIZZ up! But the WK is wonderful ... nice n fizzy and yummy !!!

[iamfaithful]

still no fizz in mine no matter what! In Oct I will prolly get different ones... I have gifted several times Bit I have no luck with fizz...

Kefir lady said mine must be lacking some yeast parts... Donno... Will just get others if the fizz ok if not ok

[iamfaithful]

Originally Posted by metqa

Mine too but for a different reason:

I'm making my official declaration of the unsuitability of cheese cloth as a protective barrier!

I love cheese cloth for all sorts of uses but it seems more often than not that it is not tightly woven enough to protect a scoby hotel.

I've got a few fruit flies here and there, but I attributed it to my poor pouring skills and the hidden sticky spots I fail to wipe up. They were never in my brewer so I wasn't concerned. My two brewing jars have flour sack cloth over them. Y'kow the really tightly woven stuff you can use to cover yeast bread during rises, or hold flour or used as kitchen rags. My hotel is covered with cheese cloth.

Well I just found out that my scoby hotel had become a fruit fly hotel, in that they figured out a way to navigate into and out of the tightly rubber-banded loosely woven cheesecloth cover. It seemed good enough but I guess given enough time, they can work their way tween the weave. The scoby will now bless the forest behind my building.I needed to start a new hotel anyway.

So DO NOT USE LOOSELY WOVEN CHEESE CLOTH AS A BARRIER. Duck cloth or even unbleached cotton muslin got from the remnant bin at Joanne's Fabric would be better. I like the kitchen cloths. they are the perfect size to cut and sew into fourths to cover my jars and very tightly woven with no lint or loose ends.

End of Public Service Announcement!

BTW Dawn, My Kombucha tastes great! Your Scoby is doing a great job!

Ok! I know we all lnow about this but it was explained so well I thought I would pull this forward to 2011.



Want a really good laugh!


When I started brewing I could not find the right cloth at home. I had just replaced all my "granny panties" with something more up-to-date so I cut the top parts of the front/backs for circles... Of course they were clean!

My sis has some of my circles & is using them for her KT- I sent them with her scoby & starter tea. We all the time about how personal KT making is. Now you can with us and you know the "clean family laundry secret" :ro fl:

[metqa]

PFFFFFTTTTT....BAAAAAAAHA-HA=HA=HA!!

[iamfaithful]

Thought you would like that!

We all have little tricks that would make all of us

& some of us would be :blush::blush::blush: if people found out what we do behind closed doors ...

I promise that is the one I have to tell & maybe the most :blush:

I did start the "Abomination" today. Took my 1st SCOBY, Scoby Doo, out of my cont brewer - had to do somem adjusting to it- separated a few layers to offer it as a sacrifice for the experiment. (1 I used to start Koffucha I put in KT for 2 weeks & she lived to brew again & make babies). Since I was not too shure about this I wanted to use caution.

I put in 1:1 on the bottled grape juice and just for good measure some starter tea from my hotel. We will see... Sure is dark in there... Only did about 60oz jar.

Will let ya'll know... I can post picts on FB from my phone so if you want to friend me there you can see my creations! You can find me as FAITHFUL TO JESUS.

Cleaned out my cont brewer & after I did, it was no fermenting right... Seemed weak but had plenty of CO2 for the length of time it was brewing. So, I went back into the old thread & it was suggested I maybe overloaded the SCOBIES with too much new tea... So I poured a bunch of KT frm my Hotel and after a day it looks and tastes better.

Will let you know on that one too... Meanwhile white tea jar is 7 days and tasting/looking/smelling wonderful! May be my favorite to drink plain.

My Koffucha is about finished & has 3 beautiful SCOBIES in it (2 moms 1 baby) KC is better second ferment a few days then chilled for about 2 weeks to MELLOW In flavor... To me it is very sour when first brewed but melows with time. Yummm.. Watch out though! It has WAY MORE fizzz than KT! (Didnt like first batch til I let it set...hate to throw out probiotics no matter what)

Happy Brewing!

[iamfaithful]

As previously mentioned my continuous brewer was not doing right after I rebuilt it. Thouht I had it fixed and NOPE!

I realized I took Valoby out of a wrong hotel (a non-reuse for KT hotel) & put her in main brewer. What was I thinking! Obviously I wasn't! She had been used to make my 1st batch of KC and while she made another batch of KT after resting in KT for 2 weeks, she was not to accompany her friends anymore! Dumb! Coffee & tea just don't mix!

So, Val is resting again & will be dehydrated for Nitro to chew on as soon as "the Abomination" is finished.

I have a healthy hotel with several healthy thinner SCOBIES and 2 really healthy ones in my white tea that will be ready tonight....

So, I dumped a quart of concord grape juice in my continuous brewer with the SUPER SCOBY! I figured she was contaminated as well.

I will see what hapens.. I thought by the weekend I might have something interesting to report in addition to The Abomination I started thanks to Metqa.

Hope the "Mess" is drinkable so I can send it to my kiddos & not have to compost it.

ALL PURPLE & COFFEE SCOBIES WILL MEET MY DEHYDRATOR!!!

[metqa]

A new market for Grape and Coffee flavored dog chews. Coming Soon From the Kitchen of Faithful!