Kombucha

[metqa]

Use Plain Black, Green or White Tea. Flavored teas have essential oils added to provide flavor, those oils tend to be antibacterial in nature. So you don't want to use Earl Gray, Rose Flavored, Orange Flavored, smoked, herbal, Etcetera. You want PLAIN Unflavored Black, Green or White tea.

Now it's okay to have something like a special breed of tea or varieties of black/green/white, but ifyou want to use a flavored tea, it's be safer to get your brewer going and sacrifice a young scoby to a seperate brew to test it out.

The Cheap Store brand tea you've chosen is probably a great choice if it contains no other ingredients than tea leaves.
Your scoby looks like it's embedded with bubbles, but if it's not green, black or white spots it's probablyokay, nd only looks weird because it is not thick enough to not get distorted with bubbles.

[iamfaithful]

Originally Posted by vjsibley

Hi everyone, my name is Vickii and I'm trying my little heart out to grow my scoby from a bottle of gt original raw. So its been brewing for 3 weeks now, first week on the counter, now shes in the oven with the light on as a make shift incubator, the nights are getting cold around here. So I'm not sure what I'm looking at in the jar here, but here's a pic

And here is a direct link, that should be a much bigger pic
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1633/imag0327oa.jpg

[U]I looked at the bigger picture & it looks good. The less you move it the better... everytime it looses its seal it has to "virtually start over" Just find a warm spot for it like the top of the fridge & leave it there covered to keep out the light but not air movement & forget it for about a month... I know that will be hard but you may get a good looking baby... not sure if it is from enlightened it will have all it really needs but it will still make good KT. You may need to get one of our "pre change SCOBYs" to add to your brew....[/U]

Now it started really bubbly and a scummy clear film grew over the surface. Now I know that white spot is in fact a tiny scoby. That grew from what I like to call a bottle loogie. Now last week that clear film stuff was thick and jelly like, and moist looking. This week its looking like its drying out. It shrunk a bit cuz I had to move her out of the oven and well my roommates cat felt the need to trip me lol, so she got a little jolt now because I'm really.wanting to brew my own, I feel the need to make a second attempt at.this while baby #1 keeps going. I only have a 1 qt jar and 3 bottles of loogie laced kombucha. So my questions are:

Is baby #1 ok?
I cant tell by the picture... I do know a FB page where you can post it & experts will be happy to let you know.

How much tea and sugar do I use for a one qt jar, keeping in mind that I want to pour just the top 1/4 of my 3 bottles. (I want to get those loogies into the starter tea)
1/3 cup per quart

And can I flavor the remaining unflavored kombucha that's left over in my bottles with say juice, mango fruit or dried ginger? Yes. If so for how long and should I pop them into the fridge since they are fully fizzy. Put fruit in bottle & cap tightly... several days on the counter should be sufficient & then be sure to refrigerate before opening.


Any advice or ideas would be extremely helpful.
If you are going to start a new one from the KT you bought - dont put any tea in the jar.... use the top portion with your "lugie" from each of the bottles... be sure you have a good portion of the KT you bought in the jar...cover & DONT MOVE IT FOR 3 WEEKS!!! Put it on top of the fridge, on top of the water heater or any warmer spot where the cat wont bother it either... YOU DONT NEED SWEET TEA JUST THE KOMBUCHA TO MAKE A SCOBY!!!


Thanks in advance!

WOW! Loads of ?????
I need to ask you about your GT raw... does the bottle say "enligetened" under the logo?

This is a reply that I sent to a FB friend that I am "gifting" a healthy culture to today.... good luck!

I dont know if I replied to your comment on growing your own SCOBY. IF you are starting it from certain types of KT that are NOT the new formula (after summer of 2010) you can grow a SCOBY from just pouring it into a jar & covering with a cloth. Do not disturb it for at least 10 days! After about 2 weeks you should have a very nice thick SCOBY & starter for a gallon jar of KT. You would then brew tea (6-8 bags of tea) in a quart of water, add 1 cup of plain white sugar & enough water to make 3 quarts. Then put your SCOBY in the jar & add the liquid in the jar that grew the SCOBY. In about 14 days you should have KT & a new baby on top!

If your Kombucha is Enlightened or one of the newer varieties since the change in 2010, you can still accomplish growing a SCOBY but it may not have all the bacteria & yeast that the former kombucha made. It still works but will not be as great a benefit

(I have done both & there is a difference in taste & quality). When I started brewing a year ago I did not know there was a difference. When I learned the difference I searched out a friend that had been brewing for 9+ years & got a SCOBY from her. I made the KT separately & the difference was significate....subtle but significant. I did away with all my SCOBYs from post 2010 & now only have babies/mammas from pre2010.

Porcupine is close to where you live.... maybe I can connect you two. He probably has a good healthy Metqa offspring he can share with you...

[iamfaithful]

Originally Posted by vjsibley

Oh and the type of tea I originally used was a cheap $ store brand of Orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea and regular white cane sugar. I uses tap water that I boiled for 30 mins to evaporate the chlorine out of. I have since bought red rose brand tea which is straight black tea and evaporated cane juice sugar. Buying bottled water is not going to happen as I don't have a car and I walk back and forth to the grocery store that's 2 miles away, and I'm afraid my upper body strength is lacking,lol. Thanks again!

You can leave your water to set out in gallon jars that are covered with a cloth (like you would for KT)... after a day or so the chlorine is supposed to disaipate into the air... you should be save then... PORCUPINE, METQA & PEPPERETTE what do you think? Am I right????

[vjsibley]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

WOW! Loads of ?????
I need to ask you about your GT raw... does the bottle say "enligetened" under the logo?

This is a reply that I sent to a FB friend that I am "gifting" a healthy culture to today.... good luck!

I dont know if I replied to your comment on growing your own SCOBY. IF you are starting it from certain types of KT that are NOT the new formula (after summer of 2010) you can grow a SCOBY from just pouring it into a jar & covering with a cloth. Do not disturb it for at least 10 days! After about 2 weeks you should have a very nice thick SCOBY & starter for a gallon jar of KT. You would then brew tea (6-8 bags of tea) in a quart of water, add 1 cup of plain white sugar & enough water to make 3 quarts. Then put your SCOBY in the jar & add the liquid in the jar that grew the SCOBY. In about 14 days you should have KT & a new baby on top!

If your Kombucha is Enlightened or one of the newer varieties since the change in 2010, you can still accomplish growing a SCOBY but it may not have all the bacteria & yeast that the former kombucha made. It still works but will not be as great a benefit

(I have done both & there is a difference in taste & quality). When I started brewing a year ago I did not know there was a difference. When I learned the difference I searched out a friend that had been brewing for 9+ years & got a SCOBY from her. I made the KT separately & the difference was significate....subtle but significant. I did away with all my SCOBYs from post 2010 & now only have babies/mammas from pre2010.

Porcupine is close to where you live.... maybe I can connect you two. He probably has a good healthy Metqa offspring he can share with you...

Aw man, it sure does! &$#*, now what,LOL! I've got 3 loogie laced bottles of original Yuck flavored not the BEST kombucha. :'(
Ok, so how do I salvage this? When life throws you lemons, get out there and catch em to make lemonade, right? So can I 3f these gt bottles? And how on earth do I do a 3f without ending up with vinegar? My fav is the gingerade (but wegmans is always sold out), how can I duplicate that? I'm sorry for all the ???? I'm super new to all this. I'm starting with kombucha, and hopefully work my way into kefir (both milk and water), then off to kimchi (hope that's how its spelt) and homemade sauerkraut. I guess you could say I have a love for friendly microbes, lol.

[vjsibley]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

You can leave your water to set out in gallon jars that are covered with a cloth (like you would for KT)... after a day or so the chlorine is supposed to disaipate into the air... you should be save then... PORCUPINE, METQA & PEPPERETTE what do you think? Am I right????

Oh, I like that idea, and it uses no extra energy!

[vjsibley]

Iamfaithful, so if my house is between 60-65 degrees, by putting the baby above the fridge, would that be warm enough? We don't turn the heat on till around end of Oct. That's the main reason I put her into the oven with the oven light on. Is there another way to keep her cozy?

[porcupine73]

The kombucha seems to do best in my opinion at around 80F. So with the oven light on or on top of the fridge might work if it stays around that temperature. Much below 75F it seems the yeasts start to go dormant, the brew goes flat, and you will start getting an off taste from the bacteria growing out of harmony with the yeasts.

For your water, if you let the water boil for a good while before adding the tea bags, it might get most of the chlorine out. The water shouldn't be above about 180F when adding the tea bags. I've found a bitter taste comes out of many teas if they steep above 180F or maybe 190F at the absolute maximum.

I did not have good results with making a scoby from gt's enlightened. It did make a scoby but the kombucha never tasted quite right, and definitely not as good as that made from the gt's pre-change scoby metqa gave me.

The scobies I have right now are all clones from ones I had from Hannah. I messed something up in a few batches (contaminated the scoby with other organisms), and the Hannah clones were the only good ones I had left.

Ok milk kefir, I don't think you can use soy milk to make kefir. Soy is a separate topic all together. Store bought whole milk works. If you happen to live near a Feel-Rite, they have a non homogenized milk that would probably work well. Otherwise the two nearest places licensed to sell raw cow's milk are buttercup farms up north about 30 miles of Buffalo, and Lapp Dairy in Cattaraugus. There are a few cow share programs around but it's $100 buy in usually. I've heard people tell me they get raw cow's milk from the Amish but I don't have any contacts there. So if you need a good scoby and milk kefir grains I could just drop some in a small priority mail box out to you some time, you'd probably get them the next day. It would be a gift, no money exchanged, because this site will ban us otherwise. Your temperatures sound perfect for milk kefir, it likes it cooler, around 60 - 65F it seems.

From your photo above, yes that looks like a scoby growing. That looks similar to what I was able to get to form from gt's enlightened. It was always kind of thin and clear like that, and it would grow unevenly, thick in some spots and thin in others.

[Matrigna]

Hi everyone!

I'm brewing my very first batch of kombucha, as of this past Saturday. I grew my own scoby over three weeks first.

I have a question... my scoby (grown in a quart-size jar and now in a gallon one) appears to have floated onto its side and against the side of the jar. Sort of like a snail looks in an aquarium. Should I be concerned? Should I put my fingers in there to adjust it or just leave it be?

Even though I only had 3/4 cup of sugar (instead of a cup) and had to add 1/4 cup of pasteurized honey to make up for the lack of sugar, everything else appears to be looking so far so good. Except for the side-ways, up-against-the-glass scoby.

Thanks a bunch

[porcupine73]

You might be able to get it back upright if you use your clean hands to readjust it. Do not wash your hands with antibacterial soap though before handling the scoby, as those normally contain triclosan which is toxic. If you leave the scoby where it is, what will normally happen is another scoby will form, which is not a problem. Thin scobies will usually fold up or get messed up if additional liquid is poured on top (but another scoby will just form then).

[metqa]

scoby form on the surface of the liquid. It doesnt' matter if it floats or floats sideways or sinks, It's a constant process that only happens at the surface so it will continue to grow a new on on the surface of the liquid regardless of what happens to the current growing skin. Leave it be, don't poke around at it, it will keep growing just fine so long as the liquid has food and it has air. Scobys don't have to be pretty, even, or straight to be just fine.

[Maid of Erin]

listen to metqa, scobys do best when you leave them alone.

[iamfaithful]

Hi Cindy! Glad to see you pop in! How did the SCOBY work for the horse's leg... was curious to find out....

& BTW... thanks for helping out the people in England get some goodies .... it was so nice of you to offer....

[iamfaithful]

Originally Posted by Matrigna

Hi everyone!

I'm brewing my very first batch of kombucha, as of this past Saturday. I grew my own scoby over three weeks first.

I have a question... my scoby (grown in a quart-size jar and now in a gallon one) appears to have floated onto its side and against the side of the jar. Sort of like a snail looks in an aquarium. Should I be concerned? Should I put my fingers in there to adjust it or just leave it be?

Even though I only had 3/4 cup of sugar (instead of a cup) and had to add 1/4 cup of pasteurized honey to make up for the lack of sugar, everything else appears to be looking so far so good. Except for the side-ways, up-against-the-glass scoby.

Thanks a bunch

Honey is not a good thing for SCOBYs... I dont know if pasturized will kill all the antibacterial qualities.... Next time if you are short of sugar, you could add molasses or maple syrup...

Speaking of honey... all store bought (not local or unprossessed honey) is ACTUALLY NOT HONEY BY BEEKEEPERS STANDARDS. It has NO bee pollen & has been filtered so much there is nothing good left in the honey. ALSO most of it does not come from natural sources but the commercial honey producers put large vats of HFCS in the fields, bees take that back to make their honey... then what little is good in it is processed out.... you are basically left with HFCS that has a honey texture & flavor... Yuck! I know....

[porcupine73]

Yes right on, much storebought honey has been processed in many ways. I have brewed kombucha using primarily honey and some maple syrup as sugar sources. It does not taste good out of the brewer nor out of a second ferment. However, after about eight months aging in the refrigerator after second ferment at room temp for a few weeks, it does taste delicious. It really clears up and is amazing. I discovered that by accident, a few bottles left in the fridge after what I thought was a failed experiment with honey.

When fed primarily honey, I have noticed the scoby is much paler and smoother than normal. It seems to grow ok. It did not concern me, since I clean my CB's every two weeks anyway and I just substituted the scoby in the honey fed CB with a fresh scoby from one of the other brewers fed sugar only. I get my honey locally in five gallon pails which are about 60 lbs, it's far less per lb than store bought, lasts a really long time. It can also be used to make mead, one of the oldest fermented beverages, which becomes amazing tasting if aged for a number of years.

[terez]

Originally Posted by porcupine73

Yes right on, much storebought honey has been processed in many ways. I have brewed kombucha using primarily honey and some maple syrup as sugar sources. It does not taste good out of the brewer nor out of a second ferment. However, after about eight months aging in the refrigerator after second ferment at room temp for a few weeks, it does taste delicious. It really clears up and is amazing. I discovered that by accident, a few bottles left in the fridge after what I thought was a failed experiment with honey.

When fed primarily honey, I have noticed the scoby is much paler and smoother than normal. It seems to grow ok. It did not concern me, since I clean my CB's every two weeks anyway and I just substituted the scoby in the honey fed CB with a fresh scoby from one of the other brewers fed sugar only. I get my honey locally in five gallon pails which are about 60 lbs, it's far less per lb than store bought, lasts a really long time. It can also be used to make mead, one of the oldest fermented beverages, which becomes amazing tasting if aged for a number of years.

Now I'm going to look up how to brew meade. I've had it before at Renaissance faires, but I'm about to turn my kitchen into a veritable brewery.

[Matrigna]

Thank you all very much for the advice/tips!

Hopefully, that 1/4 cup of honey won't make things taste too off. The honey I used was local and pasteurized from a farm market I trust. I wish I would have known about the molasses because I have a huge bottle of backstrap (my husband read it reverses gray hair... I haven't told him that's one of the purported benefits of KT yet). Next time I'm out of sugar late at night, I know now!

The brew is looking great-- my 7-day taste test is on Saturday.

After reading (and reading and reading) about KT and the brewing process, I like the idea of continuous brewing. I did not, however, like the price of brew kits on one of the main sites I was reading! I discovered that these are basically lead-free water crocks that you can find around a LOT cheaper, so I did that-- a crock and a short stand; they look exactly like the ones on the KT site, right down to the colors available, and very reasonable cost. My splurge after working a 73-hour work week last week! So I will hopefully be a continuous brewer soon, and maybe have a gallon jug or two going on the side, just to get my stock built up, because my husband is starting to eye my store-bought KT with interest

Hope you all have a great day!


Editing to add: Terez, my husband brews meade. I try not to do more than take a sip or two because of the carb-age, but it is great stuff!

[porcupine73]

Sounds nice. I haven't tried using molasses in kombucha but it sounds like a nice experiment. I use the white water crocks as my CB's too, they work very well. Swing top or ez-cap bottles are great for the second ferment if you want it carbonated. Priming the bottles with a little extra sweetener helps if it's already pretty dry when bottled. Meads can be fermented to dryness and have pretty much no residual sugar left in them. It depends what type of yeast you use and how much honey you put in.

[terez]

Originally Posted by Matrigna

Thank you all very much for the advice/tips!

Hopefully, that 1/4 cup of honey won't make things taste too off. The honey I used was local and pasteurized from a farm market I trust. I wish I would have known about the molasses because I have a huge bottle of backstrap (my husband read it reverses gray hair... I haven't told him that's one of the purported benefits of KT yet). Next time I'm out of sugar late at night, I know now!

Hope you all have a great day!


Editing to add: Terez, my husband brews meade. I try not to do more than take a sip or two because of the carb-age, but it is great stuff!

So, really? It reverses gray hair! Well, Clairol won't be happy, that's for sure!

As for brewing meade, right now that's light years off!

[Maid of Erin]

drinking KT several times a week and still loads of grays here!

[Matrigna]

LOL! That's what I've read more than once now. I am full of gray right now. I am so overdue for my cut and color it is not funny-- cancelled and rescheduled twice now; suddenly needing a brand new HVAC unit inside and out and a bunch of other little surprise crises (sp?) right in a row will do that! So I could use a little kombucha gray hair magic myself! Here's to hoping

[iamfaithful]

Still have my gray as well... would not like it if it left.... earned every hair.... However the pepper part of the salt & pepper seems to be more plentiful sometimes... It is thinning so bad... wish I could find a cure for that... rubbing KT or SCOBY on the head is not an option! However, I have tried that & MK

[metqa]

Originally Posted by Matrigna

Thank you all very much for the advice/tips!

Hopefully, that 1/4 cup of honey won't make things taste too off. The honey I used was local and pasteurized from a farm market I trust. I wish I would have known about the molasses because I have a huge bottle of backstrap (my husband read it reverses gray hair... I haven't told him that's one of the purported benefits of KT yet). Next time I'm out of sugar late at night, I know now!

The brew is looking great-- my 7-day taste test is on Saturday.

After reading (and reading and reading) about KT and the brewing process, I like the idea of continuous brewing. I did not, however, like the price of brew kits on one of the main sites I was reading! I discovered that these are basically lead-free water crocks that you can find around a LOT cheaper, so I did that-- a crock and a short stand; they look exactly like the ones on the KT site, right down to the colors available, and very reasonable cost. My splurge after working a 73-hour work week last week! So I will hopefully be a continuous brewer soon, and maybe have a gallon jug or two going on the side, just to get my stock built up, because my husband is starting to eye my store-bought KT with interest

Hope you all have a great day!


Editing to add: Terez, my husband brews meade. I try not to do more than take a sip or two because of the carb-age, but it is great stuff!

You got the right idea!

[iamfaithful]

:good post:

[pepperette]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

... It is thinning so bad... wish I could find a cure for that... rubbing KT or SCOBY on the head is not an option! However, I have tried that & MK

Try using some slightly diluted plain kombucha as a last rinse- like a vinegar rinse. Do make sure you get to the roots with a slight massaging effect.

[Maid of Erin]

Originally Posted by iamfaithful

Hi Cindy! Glad to see you pop in! How did the SCOBY work for the horse's leg... was curious to find out....

& BTW... thanks for helping out the people in England get some goodies .... it was so nice of you to offer....

I plan on shipping the grains Monday. Didn't want them to go over the weekend.

We never tried the scoby on the horse because it started healing well on its own. We will try it sometime though. I tried a bit on my ugly toenail that has a bit of fungus. No real change but that is a long process and too awkward. I can't really walk around with a scoby toe.

[metqa]

Maid of Erin, that is a gorgeous Kitty in your avatar!

[Maid of Erin]

Originally Posted by metqa

Maid of Erin, that is a gorgeous Kitty in your avatar!

she is one of two calico sister we have. we have six barn cats. they catch the icky mice and in exchange they are grossly spoiled by us.

[iamfaithful]

Originally Posted by pepperette

Try using some slightly diluted plain kombucha as a last rinse- like a vinegar rinse. Do make sure you get to the roots with a slight massaging effect.

So glad to see you back... send me an email I would like to know how you are doing... or FB me....

Originally Posted by Maid of Erin

I plan on shipping the grains Monday. Didn't want them to go over the weekend.

Thank you so much for sending them... I will let Keleshe know they will be on the way shortly. You are a blessing to your part of the World!

We never tried the scoby on the horse because it started healing well on its own. We will try it sometime though. I tried a bit on my ugly toenail that has a bit of fungus. No real change but that is a long process and too awkward. I can't really walk around with a scoby toe.

Too funny! I can picture that!

Originally Posted by Maid of Erin

she is one of two calico sister we have. we have six barn cats. they catch the icky mice and in exchange they are grossly spoiled by us.

I had a kitty like that for 17+ years... good cat... miss her!

[terez]

My second batch of KT is a success. It's bottled and in the fridge. It's even fizzy. There's a lot of yeast that accumulated at the top of the jar. What do I do with it?

Should I put it in the next batch? I started another KT a couple of days ago.

[iamfaithful]

Throw it out! Anything you strain out you can pitch... Or use it to use to start sourdough starter.

BE SURE TO KEEP STARTER TEA FOR THHE NEXT BATCH FROM THE TOP OF THE JAR.

Hugs!