Hi there- new to the forums, and to any kind of home brewing. I am on my third round of Kombucha, having purchased a SCOBY online and jumped in with a one gallon brew.
The first gallon was perfect, achieving a PH of ~2.9 at 7 days. After secondary ferment for 3 days, along with various flavor experiments, the brew was top notch.
I transferred the SCOBY and its offspring to a 1.6 gallon bottle with 2 cups of starter liquid, and began the process again. As I had to travel, I bottled at 7 days, drawing off 96 fluid oz and leaving the remainder as starter. This was premature, I found, at a PH of ~3.4. I added back in the tea/sugar solution, maintaining the ratio of 1 cup of sugar to 1 gallon of tea. (Organic Oolong)
PH on the third batch was initially ~3.7. It has since dropped, fluctuating between 3.4 and 3.5, after 14 days of ferment. I have no sign of mold- I'm just not seeing the PH drop I expected after this duration.
Anyone have any suggestions? Should I add more sugar, tea, etc, or retrieve the SCOBY and its spawn, drop PH with apple cider vinegar, and use some of the fluid to make a new batch?
Below is a pic of my setup, which will be replaced with a 5 gallon pickling crock as soon as I have time to build a cabinet to support it. I maintain ~ 84F for the brew.
The first gallon was perfect, achieving a PH of ~2.9 at 7 days. After secondary ferment for 3 days, along with various flavor experiments, the brew was top notch.
I transferred the SCOBY and its offspring to a 1.6 gallon bottle with 2 cups of starter liquid, and began the process again. As I had to travel, I bottled at 7 days, drawing off 96 fluid oz and leaving the remainder as starter. This was premature, I found, at a PH of ~3.4. I added back in the tea/sugar solution, maintaining the ratio of 1 cup of sugar to 1 gallon of tea. (Organic Oolong)
PH on the third batch was initially ~3.7. It has since dropped, fluctuating between 3.4 and 3.5, after 14 days of ferment. I have no sign of mold- I'm just not seeing the PH drop I expected after this duration.
Anyone have any suggestions? Should I add more sugar, tea, etc, or retrieve the SCOBY and its spawn, drop PH with apple cider vinegar, and use some of the fluid to make a new batch?
Below is a pic of my setup, which will be replaced with a 5 gallon pickling crock as soon as I have time to build a cabinet to support it. I maintain ~ 84F for the brew.