Just noticed I never got back here with results. I've got a nice continuous brew going. Thank you for the help!
My only issue is that while the Sansone fusti mostly behaves, one day every week or two I get a quart or more of drip-leak. So I leave a bucket under the spigot. (Not sure how to seal...
Hi, @rushpapers. Two quick, "silly questions":
Is this correct?: If planning to use the fusti tap, it should be installed before the brew. (That's what I did.)
While brewing, how should I assure adequate air-exchange? Loosen or remove the screw on the gasketed lid?
Thanks!
Hi, @rushpapers. Not the update I'd wish to make yet, but:
4 growlers of the syrupy kombucha thinned out and now tastes fine. I'm drinking it.
I finally have a fusti! Thank you much for that tip. Can't wait to brew in it this week.
Not sure if I should start in the fusti 1. with an older...
Once the booch is ready, I transfer it to half-gallon mason jars. But I do have between 2 and 4 inches of headspace in there. Maybe that's too much? Or, like IslandLizard suggested, I should swirl to keep the scoby wet...
Thanks, @IslandLizard: No, I don't swirl, but I'll start.
Also, I keep an elastic band around a cotton handkerchief that protects the otherwise open keg (keeps out little insects but lets in oxygen).
Any experience with mold like this?
1. Any idea why booch that looks and tastes good would be thick and smily/viscous? We're not drinking it as 1. we don't love the texture and 2. I'm not sure what accounts for the consistency. Might it be a surplus of bacteria? Too cold? Is it recoverable or healthy as-is?
2. Does the green mold...
This is a 5-gallon batch of booch.
Are those waxy-looking light flecks on the surface a sign of infection? How about the yellow?
The weather has shifted where I live, and with it the conditions in which the culture is growing. So not sure if this is just a sign of change - or of trouble...