zing
Active Member
I've been brewing beer for about 7 years now, and drinking kombucha most of that time. I've been brewing it the past couple years and feel like there's a whole lot of bulls**t that people seem to hold to.
I'm a big fan of brewing and drinking sour beers, and have plenty of experience working with bacteria and wild yeasts of various sorts. As such I've approached kombucha as if it were just another sour beer (albeit in a relatively non-alcoholic, and usually non malt-based form).
I'd like to get some opinions of those of you that make both kombucha and beer (especially those of a scientific mind) about some of the lore surrounding kombucha.
Bacteria seem to be pretty hardy organisms, especially when they've set themselves up in a colony like a SCOBY. I've even dunked a SCOBY in StarSan just to see if it would still do anything, and it ended up making the best kombucha I've ever had...
There seems to be a lot more information out there about what not to do (half of which I can't make any sense of the science behind) than specifics of how to go about making great kombucha.
Anyway, just had these thoughts bouncing around in my head today while brewing a batch stirred with a metal spoon destined for the same true brew 6.5gal pail I've been using the past 3 batches and using some whole leaf Simcoe hops (that surely have to be harder on the SCOBY than a bit of bergamot oil)—all the same procedure that's resulted in phenomenal kombucha the past 3 times...
I'm a big fan of brewing and drinking sour beers, and have plenty of experience working with bacteria and wild yeasts of various sorts. As such I've approached kombucha as if it were just another sour beer (albeit in a relatively non-alcoholic, and usually non malt-based form).
I'd like to get some opinions of those of you that make both kombucha and beer (especially those of a scientific mind) about some of the lore surrounding kombucha.
- too many resources say that you should NEVER use a metal spoon, but then, two or three paragraphs later talk about the sweet sun tea jar they use for continuous brewing with a nice shiny stainless spiggot on it. Where does the problem lie? Would it be safe/feasible to ferment in a stainless tank? Have I been doing it all wrong kegging my kombucha the past few months?
- Same thing, but plastic. I understand that the acid could potentially be a problem, but if it can leach toxins out of my true-brew food grade bucket, why isn't your plastic spiggot (and gasket that may or may not be food grade) ruining your kombucha?
- I'd like to get some feedback about target OGs people shoot for, as well as measured FGs—I'm guilty of forgetting to check my finals, but I brewed a batch tonight and plan to be more diligent on this front.
- Essential oils in certain teas are problematic for fermentation—the oft cited example being Earl Grey for its bergamot oil—but part of why we drink this stuff is for the live bugs that're so great for us, and I've seen plenty of commercial kombucha with citrus. Moreover, I have a dark saison souring up with a beautiful lacto. and brett. pellicle on top of a bunch of kumquats. Am I missing the point and just assuming that bergamot is an issue because it's citrus, or are there other issues at play here? Does anyone have any ideas about specifics? Is it only problematic during the primary fermentation?
Bacteria seem to be pretty hardy organisms, especially when they've set themselves up in a colony like a SCOBY. I've even dunked a SCOBY in StarSan just to see if it would still do anything, and it ended up making the best kombucha I've ever had...
There seems to be a lot more information out there about what not to do (half of which I can't make any sense of the science behind) than specifics of how to go about making great kombucha.
Anyway, just had these thoughts bouncing around in my head today while brewing a batch stirred with a metal spoon destined for the same true brew 6.5gal pail I've been using the past 3 batches and using some whole leaf Simcoe hops (that surely have to be harder on the SCOBY than a bit of bergamot oil)—all the same procedure that's resulted in phenomenal kombucha the past 3 times...