Hi all, new member here. So I've been bitten by the "Booch" bug and have a little drama. I've near perfected my recipe, however I'd like to make one more tweak. As I currently add my mashed ginger to the 2nd ferment. Therefore, when I then consume, I have to deal with the straining issue of lumpy product. I'd sure love to be able to add the ginger to the 1st ferment and simply use the 2nd ferment as an added sugar(only) stage. I'm going to try it next batch, what is likely to happen if i do this? Will it work or will it throw out the 1st ferment wildly??? Currently the 1st ferment is simply the SCOBY, sugar/tea/boiled water.
To Ginger or not to Ginger?
- Thread starter Hank Hill
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
When you do this you should make a scoby hotel so that if your experiment produces a scoby and tea that can't be repitched you have a back up. I use a black tea called summer peach with additives other then tea. After 2 years of repitching the scoby, it's always healthy. I get the most ginger flavor and bite with Penzy's China #1 crack freeze dried ginger in secondary. They tend to stay on the bottom when pored except when over carbed. I use flip top bottles and have a strainer above the sink just in case. Oh , 1/2 tps seems to be what I like, if I can get one to last 3-4 weeks in the fridge it's really strong.
Great, I've a few other issues I now need to deal with as well. Onward and upward.
I have a 3 gallon stainless fermenter. I ferment 3 gallons of kombucha for about 3 weeks. Then I remove the SCOBY and about 1/2 gallon of Kombucha into a separate airtight container. I then add fruit, ginger, spices or whatever my recipe calls for directly into the fermenter and let it sit for 5 days. Then I strain the kombucha into a keg or into bottles with a little sugar or juice to carbonate. That way you save your SCOBY but leave the fruit/ginger behind in the fermenter after it has infused into the kombucha.
Clever. Great idea. One question however, I note that you take out the SCOBY and some starter (obviously for your next batch)...But why into an airtight container? Does this retard the SCOBY growth and "maintain" it a neutral state? If its only to sit for 5 or 6 days until the next batch, surely it could handle a little fresh O2...or maybe not? Cheers! (BTW just received my 304 SS Brewtech brew kettle! 37Litres! 
There is no particular reason I use an airtight container other than I know it is not really fermenting much at that point and I don't want mold to grow (which should not happen anyway given the acidity of the kombucha. I don't see any reason not to put the SCOBY and starter in an open container with cloth over it.
I use an SS Brewtech mini-brew bucket for my Kombucha. I have the SS Brewtech open kombucha lid for fermenting and then use an airlock and the regular lid after I remove the SCOBY/starter tea and add the fruit and spices. Again, not sure why I need it to be airtight after adding fruit/spices, but that has just been my routine. Then, after I keg the strained kombucha, I usually purge the keg with CO2 and leave the keg at room temp. for about a week before putting it in my keezer on CO2 at 12 PSI. Kegging is the way to go if you have the equipment. There is nothing like a refreshing, sparkling kombucha in the afternoon.
I use an SS Brewtech mini-brew bucket for my Kombucha. I have the SS Brewtech open kombucha lid for fermenting and then use an airlock and the regular lid after I remove the SCOBY/starter tea and add the fruit and spices. Again, not sure why I need it to be airtight after adding fruit/spices, but that has just been my routine. Then, after I keg the strained kombucha, I usually purge the keg with CO2 and leave the keg at room temp. for about a week before putting it in my keezer on CO2 at 12 PSI. Kegging is the way to go if you have the equipment. There is nothing like a refreshing, sparkling kombucha in the afternoon.
