Cider + kombucha for a sour cider?

[aellis]

I've had some really funky ciders lately (check out Isastegi, a Basque cider, if you get a chance, here's a writeup), and it got me wondering:

What if I added a little bit of kombucha (or just a chunk of SCOBY) to a cider in primary, maybe after it got fermenting actively? Would it turn sour? I don't think the acetobacter from the kombucha would eat the alcohol, as you're doing an anaerobic ferment.

I've tried just mixing kombucha and cider, and it's pretty good, but not quite what I'm looking for. I also have a second anaerobic kombucha fermentation going right now, to make some kombucha wine - we'll see how that turns out.

 

[pkrath84]

I would be worried about the whole lot turning to vinegar, but then again I've yet to experiment with sours. Would love to see where this goes

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[aellis]

That's just it - I don't think it would turn into vinegar because there's no air with the airlock on, and acetobacter only converts ethanol to acetic acid if there's air present. Of course, maybe this means it won't get sour too. i think I'll try it with a gallon batch and see what happens.

 

[roddog]

Keep us updated on this, I'm really interested in your test.

 

[aellis]

alright, a few days ago, i started come cider fermenting - about 3/4 a gallon of kirkland apple juice, some nutrient, and about 1g of EC-1118 yeast. it was bubbling along pretty well today, so i brewed 4 teabags in about 2 cups of water, added about a half cup of sugar, and put that, about 2 cups of kombucha, and a SCOBY into my fermenter. it's kind of going crazy now. hopefully the CO2 being released will fill up the headspace and keep the acetobacter dormant, and i'll see where it is in about a month.

 

[pkrath84]

Looking forward to seeing the results!

 

[aellis]

This... did not work out well. It fermented, but it has a really weird flavor and aroma to it. I don't even know how to describe it, but it tastes and smells off. I drank a little, and i swear I got a little high from it. I bottled it up just to see what happens in a few months, but I'm not hopeful.

At the same time, I did a second anaerobic ferment on a gallon of kombucha. It has the same aroma and flavor, only much stronger, as you'd expect with pure kombucha and not apple to cut it. Just bad. Also bottled it up, who knows, maybe it'll get better with age.

 

[justineaton]

I plan on experimenting with a kombucha cider when the apples are in season and I'm following a couple threads. My plan is to mix a strong black tea with equal parts of Apple cider and add one of my extra scobys. No extra yeast, just what is in the scoby and the cider, I have made 6% abv cider before just with the yeast and sugar from the apples so it should be fairly strong and the kombucha bacteria can work right at it right from the beginning and not get killed by the alcohol content in the beginning. Our at least that is my theory and planned experiment.