Kombucha

[iamfaithful]

Metqa- OH NO! Mold! That is horrible stuff! I had it in my house on every window and the total downstairs! It was making us sick & I didn't realize it was there. Have spent 20some years drying the house out & am ALWAYS looking, smelling & touching.

With rhe remodel I drilled holes under the staircase landing & sprayed straight bleach under it til it ran onto the concrete! Then put a fan to let it dry, plugged the hole & covered the whole area with Zinzer BIN primer to seal it. Thought it was the last frontier until I was sliding on the concrete floor in a room downstairs. I was masking the newly painted trim so I could paint walls. The sick odor came up from the concrete, so before I paint that room I have to go over the floor with bleach. I know it is not the "best thing" but it KILLS IT DEAD! Glad I found it before the carpet goes in! I can't put any kind of foam pad in there because it reatins the moisture that wicks up from ground through the concrete.

I am so glad you found that problem! What do you spray on mold? Blessings!

[metqa]

I use 40 volume H202 (peroxide) to kill it when I see it. but there is a commercial product called Stop Mold or Mold Stop... it's a type of organic salt I think that inhibits it.

My Friends mom gave me her extra hygrameter, and I put it where I sleep on the floor and it said normal humidity, near the wall with the mold ( no insulation on the door or window ) and it said High humidity, only 5 feet away. I put it near my stove just now just to reference then I'll check my bath and back room. My bath never has mold or mildew problems.

Gotta go drink my Kombucha. Glad of the double-folded 4 layer thick cloth I use on the brewer, though the mold isn't anywhere near it. Ha I could probably spray it with Kombucha to kill it but then my walls would smell too yummy!

[pepperette]

Look now, Ma!
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... Your scoby in its 2 1/2 gallon brewer! (sorry so dark- no flash on phone)

[jen_1971]

Hi all! How have i not seen this thread before??!! Lol

I used to make (brew) my own kombucha about 10 yrs ago or so.. nothing as fancy as you sll sound. Make some rea, put a baby in, cover with cheese cloth & let sit cool dry place about 2 weeks. Great tasting tea! We moved, my momma never survived trip and nobody local has. How i miss it!! I just wanted to show some love to a great natural item that is a truley awesome!!

[iamfaithful]

PS NEBER USE CHEESE CLOTH FOR A COVER. Fruit flies WILL find your brew & come in to spoil it. Use a tight weave cloth!

[metqa]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

PS NEBER USE CHEESE CLOTH FOR A COVER. Fruit flies WILL find your brew & come in to spoil it. Use a tight weave cloth!

So True. I don't even know why they call it cheese cloth, that stuff never strained cheese properly for me, the solid bits kept sneaking through.

Jen, let one of us send you a scoby!

[jen_1971]

Back then, all I ever found was use a cheese cloth!! hahaha I would fold in half or quarters and keep it thick and rubber band around top of my container. what would you consider a tight weave cloth? i had a book too all about Kumbucha and i think it even recommended cheese cloth. Not that I have one now to worry about anyways!

Metga, I would love to have another one after all these years! I never knew they had names aka "scoby".. i just always called them babies. no one around me ever did that and so learned by just reading online what i could. one of my girlfriends at the time and i drove the 45 mins to VaBeach and met a guy who was willing to give them away. We met at a rest area around there, he had it in a styrofoam cooler, gave basic directions on how to brew and we were on our way! LOL

i do remember reading that folks brew them also in a crockpot on low and always have a brew going like that. now that i'm getting more health conscious I really would like to get back into healther foods and habits including my kumbucha.

[iamfaithful]

Jen SCOBY = symbionic colony of bacteris & yeast
You asked Metqa about a SCOBY, so I will let her reply.

DON'T USE A CROCK POT EITHER! That would cook your baby even on low! Cost for shipping is somewhere around $6-10. SINCE You

[pepperette]

Wonder what "warm" would do? My crock pot has high, low, and warm. Not that I'm going to use it, but I am having trouble keeping it warm in the house.
Have been thinking seriously about changing out my system to the ceramic crocks and getting one of Hannah's heaters- the one with the "dimmer" (why they call it that I do not know ).

[metqa]

I'd love to give out a scoby, but I'm in a time bind right now. If anyone is eager to help out, I'd not be offended, but it may be a week or so before I will be able to be ship it out.

Pepperette, the dimmer most likely came from the idea of people attaching a dimmer switch to the cord outlet in order to control the power flow. you dim the light , ergo you reduce the power to the light, You use the dimmer to reduce the power to the crock so you can achieve temperatures lower than the lowest setting Because most crocks lowest temperatures are well above the kill range of most bacteria.. Folks do this for Yogurt to achieve 110 degrees.

[iamfaithful]

Warm is to hot even for yogurt-bought that T-shirt!

I have Hannah's heating mat for my CB. You don't need a crock mine wraps around my glass CB. Metqa explained the dimmer correctly. I don't turn mine up all the way because the one time I did the brew got to 101.2 and I put my giant SCOBY in my RX hotel & when the KT cooled I put a handful of smaller SCOBYs from my hotel and it took right off!

Jennifer PM me & I can hook you up with what you need. I am in KY so Ohio is not that far. All I ask is postage...

[pepperette]

My cb is a special plastic one- my original was 5 1/2 gallons- lost it in a move so now I have the 2 1/2 gal. one. I got it from the same place I get the pu-erh loose leaf tea. I found a site that carries the ceramic ones and stands. One like this:


I can even get my own design on it if I wanted.
Wish I could find a red one to match my island , but a plain one will do, too.

[metqa]

don't know why i prefer the clear ones. I guess I like to be able to see if something is going wrong. all the ceramic crocks look great, but I prefer my clear one and I think it is now extinct as a product. It has help me out multiple times to be able to see what's going on through the brewere. Once had a huge mess of yeasty strangs clogging the filter, I was able to use a skewer and move them away from the inside opening of the spigot. My house is so dark maybe it doesn't matter about sunshine as much as normal kitchens. If I ever move to a sunny roomed kitchen, I'll sew a brewer cover to keep over it so I can peek under it's skirt to check on it!

[jen_1971]

I always hear glass was best for the brew to be in not plastic?? Guess i have more reading and updating to do if i am going to start again. It seems like even info in that book i had is even outdated. Can someone point me in a better direction for it?

Faithful, thank you for offer, sounds good. I am not in rush i think i need to update my method! I never used a crockpot myself or any heat method. I just remember reading one time that back when Trinoble blew, the folks who werent effected had home brews of komucha in crocks (crock pots?) in their kitchens.

You guys are so full of info, thanks for sharing!

[jen_1971]

Originally Posted by pepperette

My cb is a special plastic one- my original was 5 1/2 gallons- lost it in a move so now I have the 2 1/2 gal. one. I got it from the same place I get the pu-erh loose leaf tea. I found a site that carries the ceramic ones and stands. One like this:


I can even get my own design on it if I wanted.
Wish I could find a red one to match my island , but a plain one will do, too.

Thats cute looking and love the wide mouth on it. I have almost no counter space in my kitchen but you definetely need roominess & cuteness when it will sit on prime real estate!!

[pepperette]

The "crocks" are not what we call crock pots, or slow cookers, but instead are ceramic crocks like used to ferment saurkraut and other vegetables. When all I did was batch brewing, the big ol' pickle jars were fine, but I wanted to do continuous brew and not have to mess with the scobies themselves and prevent possible contamination. I need/want something with a non-metal spigot that is easier to move without worrying about sloshing out via the soft sided brewer I'm using now.

And my counter space- is an island and a small buffet in the kitchen. LOL!

[metqa]

Originally Posted by jen_1971

I always hear glass was best for the brew to be in not plastic?? Guess i have more reading and updating to do if i am going to start again. It seems like even info in that book i had is even outdated. Can someone point me in a better direction for it?

Faithful, thank you for offer, sounds good. I am not in rush i think i need to update my method! I never used a crockpot myself or any heat method. I just remember reading one time that back when Trinoble blew, the folks who werent effected had home brews of komucha in crocks (crock pots?) in their kitchens.

You guys are so full of info, thanks for sharing!

Well, glass is the easiest to find and use immediately, It is non reactive with acids, alkalines or sunshine, however you can use food grade plastic as well. the concern is the PH of the brew and the integrity of the plastic. The Ph of the brew precludes the use of metals other than steel, because of reactivity. Ion's being discharged in the presence of acids and metal particles leaching inot the brew.

Plastic is not recommended because of the nature of plastic being a temporary storage solution, and easy to break down. Food grade plastics do not have that issue. Food grade plastics are designed not to be reactive with acids or alkalines or sunlight( though constant sun exposure will eventually cause some damage to the outer surfaces of almost any plastic, but that would take years of daily direct exposure...)

Many spigots are made of food grade plastic and are safe to use in either a ceramic, glass or food grade plastic crock. Heck you could buy a food grade bucket from Lowes-Depot and tap your own spigot into that with a washer to keep it from leaking and have a 5-gallon brewing bucket! LOL

Pepperette mentioned it, but a crock is just an old fashioned word for a food vessel. The sugar bowl could be considered a small crock. Typically used for either heat cooking, or fermenting or storage. usually made of ceramic. The Crock Pot is based on this idea. A ceramic crock can cook food by being place in a fire pit and left to cook or over a fire like a fireplace, or in an enclosed oven. The electric crock pot supplied the "fire" with the electric coils. the crock itself is just the ceramic insert.

[metqa]

I don't think I'm on the good side of Kombucha Mama after an exchange about Artificial sweeteners and the definition of "whole" foods and what "chemicals" are. LOL.

I got some details from Dom's site in the past and it's links to other sites. A lot of information is here in posts about different people's experiences. and Happy Herbalist also, no links cause they sell stuff, but lots of information and suggestions for free.

[metqa]

I've not kept up with the 30day challenge so well. Been in Jury duty all day all week, but I'm reading the challenges, but not posting much there. Some of the articles I don't agree with so I feel like I'm not 100% into it. Like I'm not gonna switch from AS to cane sugar just because the author doesn't like AS. and I'm not trying yoga again cause it broke me last time I did it If it were mostly about Kombucha and stuff I think I'd be more into it, but it's just another set of New Year resolution promises that I don't feel like keeping cause they aren't that important to me. One thing at a time. Drink more Kombucha. That I can handle.

[pepperette]

metqa- I'm sorta feeling the same as you about the challenge. At first it was like a challenge- see if you can knock the soda out of your life. But after 51 years drinking the various artificial sweeteners, it is a major struggle to kick soda, and I LOVE my kt, but still....[/I][/B][/SIZE][/FONT]

[iamfaithful]

Then guess I am Blessed! Signed up for it but can't see anything on my phone so just gave up trying to figure it out & went back to my morning coffee! Still drink my KT every day but coffee yummm!

[jen_1971]

Thanks for all the info.... i did wonder if crocks were not crock pots but some other way they did a continuoius brew. Maybe the author knew no better either. I understand the plastic issue more now too. I was origionally absolutely no so mine was always in glass. HEAVY!!!! hahaha but your explanation makes more sense. I am browsing earlier discussions on this thread too for info before jumping in & brewing.

I was def an amateur!!! Lol

Pepperette, i guess i am glad i am allergic to the aspartame in diet drinks & foods. I can tolerate a small amount like from gum but cant from diet soda. So i kicked recently kicked my pepsi habit & water it is. I will go back to making my own faux soda. I use a tad of flavor pkt for water & add club soda to give the fizz. It seems like im drinking it then without the caffeine & sugars. For me it works without missing the soda type taste. Lol if i can find cola flavoring one day may add that!

[metqa]

Originally Posted by pepperette

metqa- I'm sorta feeling the same as you about the challenge. At first it was like a challenge- see if you can knock the soda out of your life. But after 51 years drinking the various artificial sweeteners, it is a major struggle to kick soda, and I LOVE my kt, but still....

I use sweeteners more for my baking and stuff than drinks, and I'm a cheapskate so soda aren't part of my daily diet. and I don't seek out caffeine, not for health reasons,.. maybe, I dunno, I just decided to not drink caffienne, I guess because when I want to have it I want to have it affect me noticebly I guess. Anyway, that's why the drop all soda part of the challenge wasn't much of a challenge. Caffeine and artificial sweeteners are not a crutch for me so I didn't see any challenge. In fact when I buy sugar free flavored yogurt, I always mix it half and half with plain unsweetened yogurt to cut the sweet taste. I don't think of KT as a replacement for soda, but I can see how it could be. Oh, I just realized that the Family size Tea bags I'm using ARE indeed Decaff, so I'm not getting a buzz from the KT from caffeine!

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

Then guess I am Blessed! Signed up for it but can't see anything on my phone so just gave up trying to figure it out & went back to my morning coffee! Still drink my KT every day but coffee yummm!

If the morning coffee is not causing you any problems I don't see why you can't have that AND KT. KT in the morning does seem harsher than coffee, but My KT is vinegar. Maybe I should brew some milder KT and try that. But I also don't have morning drinks for pep. So I'd have no comparison. Haha!

Originally Posted by jen_1971

Thanks for all the info.... i did wonder if crocks were not crock pots but some other way they did a continuoius brew. Maybe the author knew no better either. I understand the plastic issue more now too. I was origionally absolutely no so mine was always in glass. HEAVY!!!! hahaha but your explanation makes more sense. I am browsing earlier discussions on this thread too for info before jumping in & brewing.

I was def an amateur!!! Lol

Pepperette, i guess i am glad i am allergic to the aspartame in diet drinks & foods. I can tolerate a small amount like from gum but cant from diet soda. So i kicked recently kicked my pepsi habit & water it is. I will go back to making my own faux soda. I use a tad of flavor pkt for water & add club soda to give the fizz. It seems like im drinking it then without the caffeine & sugars. For me it works without missing the soda type taste. Lol if i can find cola flavoring one day may add that!

You don't have that condition call phenylketonuria, do you? where your body can't process the amino acid phenylalanine? Phe is high in protein foods, Aspartic acid is in animal meats, some seeds and sprouted grains, and of course Aspartame contains both Aspartic acid and Phenylalanine.

Y'know you could do a small batch brew using a cookie jar, or even something as small as a quart sized mazon jar or mayo jar.

[metqa]

I've figured out why the 30Day Challenge is hard for me. I've been thinking that if I want to strengthen a habit then I need to focus upon that habit each day. I'm prone to distraction...very prone, Hahaha.

If I am to focus on my habit each day I have to do just that. I liked the goal setting part of it, but the next day I had to focus on something else and I forgot about the goals, then the next day focus on hydration, I forgot about the gratitude part, then the next day focus on my foods, ...What about the hydration. It's too many all at once. I feel I'm being bombarded.

One of the reasons I had to get a baby sitter for my Water kefir was that I had Kombucha going and Kefir going and I needed to get my milk kefir straight, I was neglecting my Water Kefir. Since I don't want to neglect any of my brewsters, I needed to focus on getting the one set before I tried another. So many New Year Resolutions Fail by week two because people take on Too Much All at once.

Even if we only improve One Thing in our lives, That one thing will be an improvement if we can stick with it. Trying to juggle Many goals is more likely to lead to failure in all of them.

I said I was gonna drink Kombucha each day, That was the first one, and the only one I have been able to keep despite life craziness. The goal was also to drink less soda and coffee. I've had access to free soda all week ( none of it diet) so that has also been easy.

I just fed both of my KT brewers, and I'm leaving the third because I need to clean it out. I'm gonna go out and buy some bottle brushes so I can clean my grolsches and bottle the brew instead of letting it get stronger and stronger in the brewer. I want to make myself feed the brewer more often so I can truly be a continuous brewer. Right now I'm just batch brewing with a convenient spigot for access. Continuous would be feeding it each couple of days and decanting that same amount for drinking or bottling instead of doing it all at once. It's sweeter that way and more vibrant and has all the levels of vitamin production from the early stages to the very late(undrinkable) stages.

Wish me luck.

[jen_1971]

Originally Posted by metqa

You don't have that condition call phenylketonuria, do you? where your body can't process the amino acid phenylalanine? Phe is high in protein foods, Aspartic acid is in animal meats, some seeds and sprouted grains, and of course Aspartame contains both Aspartic acid and Phenylalanine.

Y'know you could do a small batch brew using a cookie jar, or even something as small as a quart sized mazon jar or mayo jar.

You know I am not sure. My sister & I were diagnosed in early/ mid 80's ..when artificial sweeteners really started getting popular. We have some muscle spasms caused by it, hers worse than mine. Mine would manifest almost more like a whole body chill, where you would get goose bumps & shiver a few seconds, but without the goose bumps! Lol she actually had limb spasms to point of her hitting herself like a reflex. We never really felt sick otherwise. the doc had just said stay away from the aspartame sweetners in things & see what happens. They stopped when we stopped. I have sugar free stuff occass and can always tell even if small amount.

However, soy is something i can only process in small amounts. My sister is now vegetarian & i tried a tofu stir fry one night when she came. I got sicker than a dog!! So some things i know i just cant do! Like quitting coffee in the a.m.!!

[iamfaithful]

I am so far ahead in my brewing & bottling I have set my CB on "hold". Seems **** the craving for it has slowed to about 8oz a day. That along witg MK & WK with aloe juice in it must be keeoing by body in balance.

[Shhirl]

I had my first-ever taste of kombucha last Friday. I found it in a grocery store in our town with a population of only 4500 (that's located in the northwoods of Wisconsin no less). I didn't even realize they have a huge bulk and natural food aisle. I usually shop at the other grocery store.

Anyway. They only had gingerade, but I LOVE just about anything ginger so that was awesome. I'd read HB's husband's brewing method, so I saved a couple of ounces and used it to start my own batch. I'd bought a food-grade plastic, spigoted jar to use for brewing ginger beer but it had gotten pushed to the back of a cupboard. I remembered I had it and pulled it out to use for a CB. I wasn't sure a SCOBY would form from just those couple of ounces, but it has!



I just poured off the first sample and it's mmmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm tasty.

I accidentally discovered chaga mushrooms in the woods behind our house (I found the info when I was researching kombucha), so I'm using that as my tea. I'd collected some birch bark that had these cool-looking gnarly knobby things on them. They were just hanging out in the basement waiting to be used in a craft project. I had no idea I had a $30-a-pound, mega-healthy tea source waiting to be wasted. It smells really woody, so I was afraid of how it might taste, but it's quite mild.

P.S. We turn our heat down to 58 at night, so I knew I'd need a heat source. No heating pad in the house, but I'd bought some Benders hair curlers a while back. They don't get hot enough for my hair, but the case is perfect as a kombucha warmer. It's soft-sided with a metal core.

Also, I was wondering with the CB method if it stays sweeter since you're adding sugar on a daily basis, or does the yeast eat it up quickly enough to retain the sour tang?

[pepperette]

With the continuous brew (CB) you can remove as much as you want and replace with the same amount sugared tea. You can bottle a couple, then in a couple days do more. It usually will stay close to the same flavor if you use the same ingredients ie: same type tea/s, amount of time tea is steeped, etc.

HTH

[iamfaithful]

Shhril - sounds like you are doing well. We often have extra SCOBYs should you ever need. Be sure to keep a hotel with extras- sometimes they come in handy.

I would like very much your recipe/method for ginger beer. It is my fav on a hot day & would love to compare my method to yours. Mine packs a powerful punch but is so refreshing after working in the heat & himidity of summer!

BTW to the thread! Glad you found us!

[iamfaithful]

Thank you!

I made mine by 1st making a ginger bug. Discarded my starter for the winter months & will restart when weather gets warmer. Then I took the fermented ginger bug added the juice from some ginger, sugar soome lemon slices & a little cream of tarter. I let it ferment in a gallon jar until dry & well fermented. Thenn I bottled in plastic pop bottles & let fermentation continue until bottles were tight. Put them in the fridge & WOW!

There are some good U-Tube videos out there-that is where I got the idea.

If interested I can dig out the aprox quantities & post for you. It does contain a small amt of alcohol but not but a touch- dry and oh so good after working outside on a hot day. Think I will get some ginger at the asian mkt Fri night & start my bug...see what you started. I have a ginger beer thread hanging around somewhere...dont know if I posted the recipe there. Toodles!