Hard Booch Headaches

[aatypical]

I've got a good handle (or so I think) on making regular kombucha, but am new to making hard booch so this post could be filled with basic idiocy...feel free to point out, poke fun at, whatever...

Problem: I've been trying to get high alcohol booch, but the added yeast ends up floating on the top instead of bubbling, and a new SCOBY forms, creating a gelatinous SCOBY with all the yeast inside.

Background: I've tried two batches of hard booch. Here's what happened:

First batch: Fermented 2 gallons of sweet tea into kombucha, then took these steps:

• Dissolved 2 cup sugar into 2 cup water and cooled to room temp
• Added one package Lalvin 71-B to sugar water and let stand for 15 minutes
• Poured with kombucha into 19-litre glass carboy, stopped with airlock and let sit at 22 degree C for 3 weeks.

SCOBY formed after 1 week with lots of yeast particles incorporated into it. Whole thing smelled like rotten eggs. No bubbles. Was very sweet tasting, making me think the sugars didn't get converted to alcohol. *Maybe too much oxygen in the carboy?*

Second batch: Fermented another 2 gallons of sweet tea in kombucha then,

• Dissolved 2 cup sugar into 2 cup water and cooled to room temp
• Added on package Safale S-04 to sugar water and let stand for 15 minutes
• Poured into a 2 gallon carboy with airlock and let sit at 22 degrees.

Am now 5 days in and there are no bubbles and a SCOBY is starting to form.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

[aatypical]

Some photos of the SCOBY in 2F from the second batch on day 4

 

[aatypical]

Found this post/set of instructions for adding yeast from RpH Guy in a previous thread. I'll try adding new yeast this way and see if it works better.

That is one of the worst possible ways to rehydrate yeast. I'm not surprise it isn't working very well. Just very bad instructions; you didn't do anything wrong.

Do you have a thermometer?

• Get some dry yeast of your choice.
• Make sure it's not expired.
• Heat a cup of chlorine-free water to 95°F. (Temperature is important)
• Sprinkle in the yeast.
• Gently break up any clumps. Avoid stirring.
• Let it sit 15 minutes. (Timing is important).
• Add about 2-3 ounces of your kombucha. Stir.
• Continue to add 3-4 ounces every 5 minutes until the yeast and kombucha are within 18°F of each other.
• Dump the yeast into the batch.

This method is more complicated, obviously, but it's a far better way to get your yeast off to a healthy start.

Welcome to HBT!

 

[RPh_Guy]

There's so much misinformation out there about kombucha that it's tiring responding to requests for help since it's usually an uphill battle trying to correct a dozen misconceptions. Sorry about that.

a new SCOBY forms,

The solid snot pancake is called a pellicle. The culture is called a SCOBY.

• Dissolved 2 cup sugar into 2 cup water and cooled to room temp

• Added one package Lalvin 71-B to sugar water and let stand for 15 minutes

That's definitely the problem. Terrible way to rehydrate yeast.

Whole thing smelled like rotten eggs.

That aroma is from hydrogen sulfide. A few of the wine yeast cells probably survived the bad rehydration just long enough to cause problems.

Was very sweet tasting, making me think the sugars didn't get converted to alcohol.

Exactly.

Maybe too much oxygen in the carboy?

No, there's no such thing as too much oxygen for kombucha.

Hope this helps.

 

[aatypical]

Thanks for the comments, RPh_Guy, and for all the knowledge sharing.
I think you'll have your work cut out for you correcting the SCOBY/pellicle/snot pancake label, but you've got my support. Pellicle from now on...

I've got a hydrometer to take some readings. Fingers crossed this next yeast addition will work.

 

[aatypical]

Photos from 5 days into the second fermentation and still the same issues:

• new pellicle is forming
• no bubbling activity

It has been sitting at 22 C wrapped in a towel.

I followed these steps:

• Added package of Safale S-04 to 1 cup 95 farenheit water and let sit for 15 mins
• Added two oz of kombucha, let sit for 5 mins
• Added 5 oz kombucha, let sit for 5 mins.
  
• Added room temperature booch and yeast/booch mixture to 2 gallon glass jar with air lock

I'll give it more time to see what happens, but would appreciate any thoughts from the pros on what's got to change.

Thanks!

 

[RPh_Guy]

Just to be clear, you added a bunch more sugar to the kombucha before adding the yeast? Do you know it's not already fermented (i.e. it tastes sugary)?

 

[aatypical]

In my original attempt to add yeast, I had put it into 2 cups sugar/2 cup water mixture. When that didn’t work, I strained the booch and then added yeast in the way you suggested.
At that time the booch was really sweet, so hadn’t fermented.
I haven’t tried it again since adding the yeast this last time, but there was no real bubble action, so I’d guess it has not yet fermented.

 

[RPh_Guy]

there was no real bubble action

Your photos look like they show bubbling.
Do you have a hydrometer?

 

[aatypical]

I bought a hydrometer and used it for the first time before adding the latest Safale S-04.

OG-1.044

I guess you're suggesting I take another reading now to see if it is fermented.

Two questions:

• will opening the lid to get some out for testing have any effect on the fermentation process?
• do you know if a pellicle forming during this process is ok?

Thanks, Rph_Guy!

 

[RPh_Guy]

Yes, a hydrometer reading is the best way to monitor fermentation progress in this circumstance.

Opening the lid won't be a problem.

Pellicle formation is expected. From my understanding, it's the Zygosaccharomyces yeast that actually forms the majority of the pellicle.

Cheers

 

[aatypical]

I've taken a gravity reading.

OG was 1.044
Current reading is 1.040

Google gave me this formula for calculating kombucha ABV: (OG-FG) x 132.715.

So that's only 0.5% ... which means I'd have to drink all of it and a bottle of gin to become a better dancer

It is still sweet and starting to have a slight sulfur smell.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Perhaps that particular yeast isn't tolerating whatever levels of acetic acid and lactic acid are in your brew. I typically use wine yeast for stuff like this (EC-1118 in particular since it's especially robust). Otherwise it sounds like you've done the process correctly, so I don't know what else the problem could be.

 

[aatypical]

Alright, next batch I'll try a different yeast.

I'll keep posting until I get it right.

Thanks for your help!

 

[aatypical]

After my last batch of hard booch didn't work as outlined in previous posts, I bottled it as regular booch, adding flavours and let it sit for a couple days to get fizzy. On day two, one of the 1-litre growlers sitting on top of the fridge exploded, raining booch and glass across the kitchen. Fun times! I opened the other bottles and there was some fizz, but nothing over the top, so I think the broken bottle must have been weak...(sigh)

Anyhow, I'm not deterred.

I have another batch in the 2F container with airlock, with added yeast ready to get all good and hard!

Here's what I did.

• Boiled 4 cups water, steeped 1 Tbsp loose black tea for 5 minutes.
• Dissolved 2 cups sugar, then cooled to room temp.
• Rehydrated half a package (2.5g) Lalvin EC-1118 by sprinkling on top of 1 cup 95f water, which I let sit for 15 minutes.
• Added 2oz 1F kombucha, let sit for 5 minutes. Did this twice.
• Added all together--sweet tea, 8 cups 1F kombucha, yeast mixture, plus an additional 3 cups of water.
  
• Stirred vigorously.
  
• Took hydrometer reading (OG 1.050) and put on lid with airlock.

Next day, stirred again vigorously. As you can see from the photos, some bubbles had already formed on surface.

Hopeful that this one is going to work.

 

[Mikeylikey619]

After my last batch of hard booch didn't work as outlined in previous posts, I bottled it as regular booch, adding flavours and let it sit for a couple days to get fizzy. On day two, one of the 1-litre growlers sitting on top of the fridge exploded, raining booch and glass across the kitchen. Fun times! I opened the other bottles and there was some fizz, but nothing over the top, so I think the broken bottle must have been weak...(sigh)

Anyhow, I'm not deterred.

I have another batch in the 2F container with airlock, with added yeast ready to get all good and hard!

Here's what I did.

• Boiled 4 cups water, steeped 1 Tbsp loose black tea for 5 minutes.
• Dissolved 2 cups sugar, then cooled to room temp.
• Rehydrated half a package (2.5g) Lalvin EC-1118 by sprinkling on top of 1 cup 95f water, which I let sit for 15 minutes.
• Added 2oz 1F kombucha, let sit for 5 minutes. Did this twice.
• Added all together--sweet tea, 8 cups 1F kombucha, yeast mixture, plus an additional 3 cups of water.
• Stirred vigorously.
• Took hydrometer reading (OG 1.050) and put on lid with airlock.

Next day, stirred again vigorously. As you can see from the photos, some bubbles had already formed on surface.

Hopeful that this one is going to work.

Any updates? I’m starting on my journey of making hard Booch this week. Waiting for my 2 gallons to be ready for the champagne yeast. Let me know how it went and any pointers you got! Thanks!!

 

[bracconiere]

i thought it was somewhat imposible to make a HARD kombucha? the alcohol will just get turned into a acetic ester? or some sorta ester?

 

[Boer]

I have made a Ceylon (Black tea) batch with 4% alcohol unintentionally.. lol

All I did was I let my primary ferment take place in a sealed container. That way the bacteria has no O2 to feed off and basically dies but the yeast can still flourish as it doesn't need oxygen. I use food grade plastic containers to brew my kombucha so if you're using glass I would reccomend burping it every few days.
It is is not possible to keep the bacteria and the probiotics- so the magic of kombucha is not present, as the bacteria will keep feeding of the ethanol and you'll sit with a batch that has quite high alcohol but believe me it'll be way too acidic to drink!
And just throw double the amount of SCOBY (starter liquid)

I have access to an alcolyzer unit so that's why I know it can ferment naturally without added yeast to the same ABV range as beer.

 

[aatypical]

Any updates? I’m starting on my journey of making hard Booch this week. Waiting for my 2 gallons to be ready for the champagne yeast. Let me know how it went and any pointers you got! Thanks!!

I let that batch sit 11 days before I bottled. The hydrometer reading had advanced from 1.050 to 1.040 and hadn't moved for a couple days, so I figured it was done. Then I guzzled a cup of it to see if I felt anything...nothing. Haha. So I figure that batch was a bust and I moved on to another.

This time I made a 2 Gallon batch and followed these steps:

• Sweet tea: added 5 cups sugar to 8 cups regular booch tea and cooled to room temp.
• Rehydrated 5g Lalvin EC-1118 by sprinkling on 1 cup 95f water, let sit for 20 mins
• Added 2oz kombucha, let sit for 5 mins (X4).
• Added all together, plus additional 6 cups water. Stirred vigorously. Took hydrometer reading, and put on airlock.

This time my OG was 1.066. For the next 40 days (yes, 40!) I stirred it vigorously every few days, took a hydrometer reading and tasted it, noticing it get drier and less sweet as time went on. Twice i removed newly formed pellicles, gave it a stir, then locked it back up.

Final gravity reading was 1.040, so I think it got a bit boozy. It's been bottled for a week--I just stuck it in the fridge today.
And it didn't smell or taste like rotten eggs. Unfortunately, before bottling I had already been into the beer, so I couldn't do the guzzle test to see if I'd get buzzed.

Anyway, 40 days is a long time to wait so I might just dump a bottle of gin into my next batch of booch to save some time...

Looking forward to hearing how yours turns out!