Recent content by jambafish

I'm a kombucha specialist, but every time I try to raise some jun I get the same results. I make plain jun and then transfer to secondary containers adding different herbs as flavoring. I close the to of the bottle to bring up carbonation. A day later and these are my results: Raging...

Rowdy Mermaid Kombucha manufacturing and taproom in Boulder, Colorado is searching for a professional kombucha brewer experienced with brewing large batches (50-200 gallons), alcohol control, yeast control and packaging. PM me. :)

Commercial high pressure steam sterilization equipment is expensive. Typically they're in the $4-8k range. I'm wondering if there is a ~$2k option that will do the same thing. Most of the options I've seen have low PSI output, but I need to clean 200 gallon tanks where we can't get inside and...

Thanks for the ideas. I'll research the thread cited. Space may be an issue, but we'll see.

I asked this question on ProBrewer and thought I'd post here as well. I'm pushing 200 gallons of hot liquid from my electric kettle to a variable capacity stainless wine tank. I need to cool that to 75 degrees overnight, but I can't afford glycol for this process. Any ideas? Obviously, using...

I need >.10 cent labels for a truckload of bottles. Anyone know of a way we can do our own pad printing, silkscreening, or clear label production on the cheap? Know of an inexpensive label printer for clear labels or a printing machine?

The kombucha forum is largely noobs without experience with yeast and brewing. I don't think this is a question they could answer.

I'm not actually sure, except that after 4 days in a sealed container the entire thing began reeking horribly of rotten trash. I opened the top and a blast of rotting alcohol smell almost knocked me over. I pulled out about a gallon of trube and the rest of the batch had turned a yeasty milky...

Kombucha is a ferment, and all ferments create alcohol. There are ways to reduce the alcohol content, but in my experience, it's very, very difficult to make an under-alcohol kombucha (<.5% ABV). The best way to do it is actually quite simple: pasteurize. Make your kombucha as per normal and...

Use the juice, but be careful. Lemon flavor is often amplified in kombucha. A little tends to go a long way. Same for lemongrass.

It's not cider, but you guys seem to know a lot so I'm reaching out from across the divide. The recipe: 14 gallons finished dry kombucha pH 3.1 3 packages EC-1118 made into a starter using 3/4 water + 5 teaspoons nutrient + 3 cups sucrose 1 gallon apple juice pasteurized 5 cups sugar...

I'm fermenting beverages and want to reduce the ethanol content by about a half of a percentage point. Will oxygen aeration help with the reduction of ethanol? Any other low tech wine industry solutions for lowering such a small percentage? As always, I appreciate the assistance.

I appreciate the feedback. If it is HS2 then I'll try injecting oxygen.

This is a kombucha issues, but I'm posting it here since more of you are familiar with brewing science. I am making kombucha using a tea high in methionine and cystine. From what I can tell, these amino acids are breaking down and giving me a sulfur odor. It hadn't occurred to me until now...

I've never heard "trim back" before, but I'd recommend every 2-3 times your brew. Personally, I clean my SCOBY and my vessel every single time. Pour some kt into a clean sanitized pot, wash your hands in it thoroughly for about 15 seconds, put your SCOBY in there, peel off the top layer, dump...