Thoughts on brewing with multiple infusions?

[dlgura]

I've been looking into buying some new teas for brewing and in my research I have come across quite a few references to multiple steepings of the same tea bag/ball to attain best flavor. Has anyone attempted to do this with their kombucha tea? I found some info related to diluted caffeine content with repeated steepings (http://elmwoodinn.com/about/caffeine.html) and would assume the levels of other components in the tea would change as well. Reusing tea leaves like this seems like a huge money saver if you're producing on a large scale, but not if it is detrimental to the SCOBY....thoughts anyone?

 

[zipper8650]

I steep the same tea 4 times for my brews, I want everything I'm entitled to . As long as your still getting tea out. I do let the tea cool down between steeping a to avoid overstepping and excessive tannins

 

[cernst151]

Kombucha mothers are very hungry little beasts. They eat more things than you might think. If you're going to put kombucha in your beer I would recommend letting it sit in secondary for a good long time to make sure the mother is done or else mix it in and drink it quickly. You could also heat pasteurize the kombucha before adding it to the beer.

 

[dlgura]

I steep the same tea 4 times for my brews, I want everything I'm entitled to . As long as your still getting tea out. I do let the tea cool down between steeping a to avoid overstepping and excessive tannins

I brew once every 7-9 days and only do 3 gallons at a time right now. Do you save your used tea leaves to reuse for later batches or do you steep 4 different batches on the same day? I'm curious how much you're brewing.