milk kombucha?

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lafrisee

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Okay, so, don't worry, I'm not planning on throwing a scoby in some milk because that just sounds like the recipe for a disaster, but I have a question, and I'm wondering if I'm the only one who ever thought of this.

I kind of want to try milk kefir, but I don't feel like buying a culture since I just started kombucha (my first batch turned pretty good, by the way!). However, while looking through stuff online, I found a pretty interesting way to make 100% vegan milk kefir. Apparently, vegan milk with some water kefir (Not the grains) makes vegan milk kefir. So, I was wondering if I could replicate something similar by using kombucha as a starter. I've heard of people putting scobys in fruit juice to get a fizzy, fruity beverage, so I think milk could probably ferment? Has anyone ever dried it? I kind of want to grab some milk and stir in some kombucha.
 
lafrisee said:
Okay, so, don't worry, I'm not planning on throwing a scoby in some milk because that just sounds like the recipe for a disaster, but I have a question, and I'm wondering if I'm the only one who ever thought of this.

I kind of want to try milk kefir, but I don't feel like buying a culture since I just started kombucha (my first batch turned pretty good, by the way!). However, while looking through stuff online, I found a pretty interesting way to make 100% vegan milk kefir. Apparently, vegan milk with some water kefir (Not the grains) makes vegan milk kefir. So, I was wondering if I could replicate something similar by using kombucha as a starter. I've heard of people putting scobys in fruit juice to get a fizzy, fruity beverage, so I think milk could probably ferment? Has anyone ever dried it? I kind of want to grab some milk and stir in some kombucha.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure it will be very similar to kefir
 
I don't know if it would ferment at all as kombucha scobies, as well as water kefir, are used to simple sugars. I believe milk kefir breaks down lactose into other sugars, irrc.

Since soy, almonds, etc, don't have naturally occuring sugars, you'd have to add some into your mix. I think any of those cultures would ferment at that point, but I don't know that they would taste good.

I'm also unsure that these milk-alternatives would have much of a shelf life at fermentation temps, as the oils in nuts can go rancid once extracted into a liquid form.

All that said, feel free to experiment, just exercise caution and let us know how it goes!
 
theDREWery said:
I don't know if it would ferment at all as kombucha scobies, as well as water kefir, are used to simple sugars. I believe milk kefir breaks down lactose into other sugars, irrc.

Since soy, almonds, etc, don't have naturally occuring sugars, you'd have to add some into your mix. I think any of those cultures would ferment at that point, but I don't know that they would taste good.

I'm also unsure that these milk-alternatives would have much of a shelf life at fermentation temps, as the oils in nuts can go rancid once extracted into a liquid form.

All that said, feel free to experiment, just exercise caution and let us know how it goes!
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply! That's what I was thinking, I don't know if the bacteria and yeasts present in kombucha are able to break down lactose. Some people have really been able to make soy milk kefir with water kefir and soy milk, though. I've fermented soy milk before when I was doing vegan experiments (I'm not vegan or even vegetarian, I'm just curious), and I did get a yogurt-like result. But I'm not talking about vegan milk, I want to make a milk beverage with just cow milk.

I think I'll give it a try. I might also try with sugar added to the milk. It will probably ferment that way, and perhaps it would produce enough acid for the milk to coagulate?
 
I'm curious about the coagulation factor. Most milk ferments seem to have some sort of thickening action based on the culture, basically the microbes purposely coagulating the fats into a desirable matrix, think yogurts and cheeses. I've seen electron scanning microscope pictures of kefir cultures building strands around themselves, almost like a coral reef forming out of milk fat. I've been curious about experimenting with this stuff, but I'm lactose intolerant, so I'm sticking with kombucha and mead.
 
I had actually already made an experiment, with flavored bucha that had undergone second fermentation.
After 4 days, the milk turned thick and smelled sour, but I didn't taste it because 4 days was kind of long, so I was a bit scared... Especially since the bucha I used might have not been the most active. So, I started another experiment, with fresher bucha, and I also put some milk in a glass with nothing in it, to see if the milk thickens and sours thanks to fermentation, or because it went bad.
I guess I'll report back when something happens.
 
Red is milk + kombucha
Blue is plain milk.
I used uht milk.

The one with just milk has holes in it, and had a yogurt consistency and smells kind of weird, whereas the red one has is more like thicker milk (could be because of the added liquid) and still smells like milk. It also seems like there's some sort of skin on it.
Success? I don't know, but I think something happened.

1462725048693.jpeg
 
From what I've heard, kombucha thrives on tannins, while kefir is more reliant on sugars. So while the bacteria might do something, it's certainly not optimal. If you had milk or probably even water kefir grains for those vegan milks, they would do much better. Have you done any more experiments on this? I have scobies coming out of my ears at the moment, and would be willing to try it out too.
 

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