First-time Kombucha Brewer

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lhommedieu

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Please advise. This is four days in and I don't think it's mold. Formation is below the surface and it's not fuzzy. Fermenting at 77F and pH was 2.85 yesterday.

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This was a gallon batch.

Healthy scoby
2 Tbsp black tea
13 cups filtered water
1 cup white sugar
2 cups white vinegar

I boiled the water and let the tea steep for 1 hr. Added sugar to hot tea. Added vinegar. Let the tea cool to room temperature. Added scoby. Covered with clean paper coffee filter and rubber band.

Tools, containers, etc. were sanitized with boiling water.

It's been fermenting for four days at 77F in a cool room out of direct sunlight.


I think (and have been told) that what I'm seeing is the formation of Scoby. I just wasn't sure because this was my first time brewing Kombucha.
 
This was a gallon batch.

Healthy scoby
2 Tbsp black tea
13 cups filtered water
1 cup white sugar
2 cups white vinegar

I boiled the water and let the tea steep for 1 hr. Added sugar to hot tea. Added vinegar. Let the tea cool to room temperature. Added scoby. Covered with clean paper coffee filter and rubber band.

Tools, containers, etc. were sanitized with boiling water.

It's been fermenting for four days at 77F in a cool room out of direct sunlight.


I think (and have been told) that what I'm seeing is the formation of Scoby. I just wasn't sure because this was my first time brewing Kombucha.

I thought the same thing when I saw your post. Your white spots look like disconnected SCOBY islands, they will connect and grow into a thicker membrane eventually.

Keep in mind that SCOBY mushroom is byproduct, not the source of the yeast/bacteria - they are in solution (but SCOBY mushroom also contains some of those, and is the easiest way to transport it if you want to get the culture shipped).

The starter tea should contain all you need, you can periodically throw away the SCOBY mushroom and it will grow right back, I have done it many times.

I never added vinegar to my kombucha tea. Also make sure to keep it open to air (via filter/cloth of some sort)
 
Thanks for your responses.

The vinegar was added because this was my first batch and I did not have any starter tea. The books and websites that I have read all said that vinegar is an acceptable substitute for starter tea. For my next batch I'll just reserve two cups of the kombucha and repeat the recipe above. It will be interesting to note whether there is a difference in pH for the second batch after seven days.

Secondary fermentation will commence in three more days with 20% juice in a capped (Grolsh-like) bottle. I'll past the final product when it's done.
 
Just started secondary fermentation. The kombucha formed a clean scoby approximately 1/4" thick across the surface - so far so good. pH was 2.61. I bottled with fermented tea and 20% organic cranberry juice.

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Recipe looks good, except a little light on tea. Generally people use 8 black tea bags per gallon.

Next batch you can just add two cups starter tea instead of the vinegar.
 
Tastes great so far: I tried a sample with the same proportions of juice to tea and cut it with sparkling water to adjust for the sugar eaten up during the secondary fermentation and to simulate carbonation. Just a rough estimate though.

I agree that two cups of vinegar sounds excessive - but it wasn't excessively sour. I did start the next batch with two cups of starter tea and will use pH as an indicator of when to stop fermentation.

I used good gunpowder black tea and steeped for 2 hours this time. The tea is very dark so I think the flavor will be stronger this time around.

I'll post again when I pop the top off of a bottle and taste it.
 
2.61 is an incredibly low final pH, perhaps this is because you used vinegar. You should be closer to 3.2 - 3.6

Also, there's no need to steep your tea that long, I wouldn't do more than 15 minutes of steeping.

Are you getting any carbonation in the secondary bottles?
 
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