Recent content by stout12

I second this. It looks very much like blackberries or raspberries. Now I’m curious... please confirm what the flavour is!

I have made a few batches of hopped Kombucha this year and it was delicious! The hop flavours and bitterness surprisly go well with the tartness of Kombucha. I have been quite busy so have not had a chance to make any recently though. I was adding the hop pellets straight into the bottles and...

Aluminium pouch doesn’t sound good with an acidic liquid like Kombucha. It will leach aluminium into the drink. You would be much better off with stainless steel. ... or perhaps the aluminium pouch is plastic lined to prevent this? Personally I would prefer stainless steel though (...or glass...

I also find green tea Kombucha takes much longer to ferment and sour than black tea. I won’t attempt making green tea kombucha again until the weather warms up. When brewing the green tea I steep at a lower temperature and for a much shorter time than black tea, but because I don’t have a...

Very nice! How does it taste from the oak barrel? What flavours did you do? Also what was the barrel previously used for? I would be keen to use a barrel but I might have to settle for oak chips instead. Anyone have any experience with using oak chips in Kombucha? Thanks!

I have no experience with brewing large batches. The largest I have done is 1 Gallon. The Big Books of Kombucha gives an approximate guide for brewing cycle based on batch size: 0.5 Gallon = 3-7 days 1 Gallon = 7-21 days 2.5 Gallon = 10-28 days 5 Gallon = 18-42 days From my understanding a pH...

1) In previous batches how long did you ferment for? 2) Also what are the temperatures like? Has it changed a lot? 3) Are you using any heating mat or device? If so where is it placed? (I.e. on bottom, side near bottom, side near top) According to the Big Book of Kombucha - approximate brew...

I do batch brewing rather than continuous. I reserve my starter liquid from the top without stirring to favour the bacteria and prevent the yeast sediment building up in future batches. Once I have done this I stir the remaining kombucha up so all the yeast sediment is evenly distributed in the...

I don’t have any experience with vegetable ferments so can’t answer your question, however a pellicle (scoby) can form in many different types of ferments and does not indicate that you have a Kombucha culture or strains. I have no idea if it is normal for a pellicle to form when fermenting...

But mold doesn’t grow below the surface of liquid. The second picture shows most of the growth is in the liquid. Also some example pictures of yeast growth: https://www.kombuchakamp.com/kombucha-brewing-pictures/normal-kombucha-yeast-liquid-under-scoby Dark Yeast growth...

Please let us know how it turned out.

I can’t be certain but it looks like yeast to me which is perfectly normal. Mold doesn’t grow below the surface of liquid. Also mold growth is dry and fuzzy. The OP is making Kombucha, not beer. It is suppose to have an acetic / vinegar aroma as the microbes are infact acetobacter creating...

I’m not sure but it looks like it could be bits of tea. Is this a possibility? I get bits of tea that are small enough to get through the tea strainer and into the brewing vessel. It doesn’t cause any problems for me. However I usually just do sweet tea in the first ferment and fruit in...

An update and good news! :) After reserving the starter liquid from the top of the vessel only and not stirring up the yeast & sediment the next batch tastes great again. Back to the normal clean, tart, apple cider taste. I tried a bottle of the problematic batch which was flavoured with...

Thanks! I will try dry hopping soon. It has been a long time since I have brewed beer but I do love hops and plan to get as much hop flavour and aroma as I can into my Kombucha. As for experimenting with malt that will be much later down the track maybe even start off with adding some crystal...