Kombucha cider???

[Pdid84]

I've been brewing kombucha continually now for two months, mine ends up with a very tart cider like flavor..... So I was wondering "what else can I do with this liquid from the gods". I came across several articles about making kombucha wine, but somehow my mind got stuck on kombucha cider. Here is what I did

Kombucha stock:
2lb raw cane sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
8 cups black tea
4 cups oolong tea
Tea was seeped over night( extra strong)
4 cups starter tea from last batch
Rest of glass jar was filled with water make around 4-5 gallons of tea.

Scoby was added and was left to ferment for 6 days- then bottled for second fermentation for 3 days.

Cider stock.
honey crisp 3 apples
Pink ladies 4 apples
Gala 4 apples
All were peeled and added to a blender with 16oz of kombucha stock
Apple sauce mixture was then bottled and set aside for 3 days while I waited for yeast to Arrive.

Kombucha cider

Cider mixture was strained and added to a gallon glass jug with one cup of sugar this was a little over a half gallon- remaining was filled with kombucha stock, red star Champagne yeast (2/3) was mixed with warm water and a pinch of yeast nutrient.

Instant fizz and bubbling looks like it is going great.... Smells damn good.

So has anyone tried this before?
What troubles might I run into?
Will I get tasteful paint thinner or a great tasting cider?

Cider noob here so I'm not sure on time frames how many racks...

Thoughts???

 

[Draagro]

i'm just doing my first batch of Kombucha, but have made lots of cider. this sounds like a solid recipe to me. I'will be following the thread. very interested to see how this turns out. I bet the fermentation is vigorous in this!! :rockin:

 

[Pdid84]

Day four since yeast was added, occasional fart smell from air lock but overall has a pleasant smell to it

 

[Hoptimistic]

rhino farts are normal. i want to try it badly

 

[Pdid84]

Hahahahahah thanks man,

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

I think if you added a scoby and a little starter tea the champagne yeast was probably unnecessary. Champagne yeast also has a way of overpowering other organisms and killing them, but maybe you'll produce some kind of super-scoby? Apple fermentations are always nasty smelling (same with pears) and I find most finished cider to be really tart, with the added tartness of kombu I wonder how this would taste, good pics and info makes it a reality! Keep on truckin'

 

[Pdid84]

-

 

[Pdid84]

Thanks, no I brewed the kombucha and after the second fermentation I added that to the cider stock, I was wondering about the tartness as well so with my cider stock I tried to use the sweeter apples instead of the tarter ones

 

[lolznrofls]

Looks like the one gallon hard cider batches I brew for experiments..also kinda looks like you may have over pitched the yeast.which means cloudy y easty brew

 

[Pdid84]

Will it clear up?

 

[lolznrofls]

Only time will tell..or may need a fining agent like isinglass

 

[Pdid84]

Thoughts on time in secondary? 3 weeks? Longer?

 

[lolznrofls]

Keep in the secondary atleast till gravity is stable id think..then maybe longer to bulk condition..its kind of a weird hybrid..I make lots of ciders myself..every now and then I like to add a bit of fresh brewed Earle grey to add some tannin to it..it usually takes a little longer to condition.but I think thats pretty much up to your taste

 

[Pdid84]

Thanks for the info

 

[justineaton]

I plan on trying this when the apples are in season. I will be following the thread to see how it turns out.

 

[Pdid84]

So i finally decided to share this with some friends, all were positive about it, has a wine taste at first but as it hit the back of your mouth you pick up the different apple in it. So seems to be a good first attempt, will play around with it and post on how the second batch goes

 

[justineaton]

Do you know the abv, or a close guess?. The way I plan to do it is make my 4 gallon batch of hard cider like normal and then add finished kombucha into a secondary ferment. I will probably do 4 gallons of unpasteurized cider with a cider yeast and no extra sugar (depends on apples but usually ends up around 5% abv for me) then after a week I will rack to secondary and add one gallon of strong finished kombucha. I'm not sure how long after that I should let it sit though, to bottle it I will need to give it a long time to make sure there is no more fermentation going. I may just treat it like wine only with an open top and rack it every two months for 6-9 months total and then bottle.

 

[Pdid84]

I didn't take any readings but would guess around 5%

 

[justineaton]

I mixed a couple glasses with homemade Apple wine and kombucha and it was really good, I might just make more Apple wine and then blend it with kombucha to taste in my bottling bucket before bottling it I will just need to make sure it is a strong kombucha with all the sugar fermented out of it before it gets bottled and builds pressure

 

[UncleRusty]

This does sound very interesting, but my first thought is wouldn't this end up tasting kind of like a weaker apple cider vinegar? I think blending may the way to go if you're trying to avoid that exact flavour profile.

 

[justineaton]

Blending in my cup has been working out great so I will probably just keep making them separate and doing that. I also experimented with blending it with a cheaper lambic beer and that was excellent. Just a small amount of a raspberry lambic gave a full glass of kombucha great flavor.