Used to brew beer, want to try booch

[snrusnak]

Hello,

I have been an infrequent home brewer of beer over the past few years, and sort of got sick of it. I can buy better craft beer, cheaper, and save my weekends for more productive work. I recently had some kombucha and loved it. Seeing as it looks much quicker, easier, and will actually save me money vs purchasing it, I'd like to start brewing it. I have a lot of questions though if anyone can guide me through:

1) I assume there's no issue using my existing beer equipment? Stainless pots, glass fermenters/carboys, copper cooling coils for cooling after the steep/boil, beer bottles and caps for bottling, etc. I also have a temperature controlled "fermenter" that we made out of an old chest freezer. Has cool and heat.

2) I understand the basic process, or at least the first half... Essentially make sweet tea (water, sugar, tea) and steep in heat, not necessarily boiling. After this, cool, add scoby, starter tea/vinegar, and cover but don't seal. I've seen people using green, black, and oolong tea, can anyone describe how these will effect the booch? What will the differences be between the different teas? Is it best to cool quickly like it is with beer (cold break)? What's the best way to start off as far as buying a scoby?

3) After the fermentation for 7-30 days depending on taste at ~room temperature, this is where I start to lose some comfort. I'd prefer to secondary ferment in the same size container as the initial (1 gal, or maybe eventually 5 gal). Can I do this and add whatever flavorings I'd like, and use an airlock to eliminate pressure buildup? Then after a few days and satisfied with taste, bottle with a small amount of sugar and then after a few days for carbonation build up cold crash via refrigerator?

Any start up tips are appreciated!

 

[carolinea]

Hi snrusnak,

Welcome to the world of Kombucha brewing!

For general resources, the internet of course has a ton of info. I also like "The big book of Kombucha" by Kombucha momma. But mostly it's good to read around different sites and pick up info from all over.

To answer your other questions.

1. Stainless steel (food grade only) and glass are all good, just make sure you don't use plastic as it can leach into the kombucha. A temperature controlled space is very useful, you want to ferment at about 75-85 degrees at all times.
2. For basic process, just make tea (4 cups of water and 8 teabags), let it steep for 20 minutes (just cooling, no need to keep it on heat), then add one cup of sugar, dissolve, and add 8-9 cups of water. Pour mixture into gallon jug, add 1 cup or more starter liquid (kombucha, don't use vinegar if you can avoid it) and Scoby. Black tea will get you the most active ferment, the tannins help the ferment along, but you can certainly also use green or white tea. Pu-erh is my favorite, it will give you the most robust ferment. Of course the tea will affect the final product somewhat, but the tea will lighten as it ferments and processes the tannins, so the difference is not as much as you might think. I recommend getting a Scoby from a reputable source, it will probably cost about $30, but they self reproduce, so you don't have to order any more after the first one. You can get cheaper ones, but they are less dependable. I got mine from Kombucha Brooklyn. It comes with starter liquid. I don't brew beer, so I'm not sure what you mean by cold break, but no need to specifically cool it, the room temperature water will cool it fine.
3. Fermentation generally takes 10-14 days, make sure to use a temperature strip and keep the temperature between 75 and 85 degrees. When it comes to secondary fermentation, don't use an airlock. You want the pressure to build up, it's what creates carbonation. The best containers are bottles with swing tops. You could use a gallon container, but it would be difficult to get a good seal to hold in carbonation. During secondary fermentation, you should burp the bottles (open them up and let gas out) every few days. Secondary fermentation should take about 7 days. Secondary fermentation is when you would add flavorings as well (which I highly recommend). Many people use fruit juice or whole fruit/spices. I personally use small muslin bag diffusers with fruit or spices which I remove at the end of the secondary process. This creates a diffusion flavoring which I prefer. You shouldn't really need to add sugar, unless you like your kombucha quite sweet (esp if you use fruit, which tends to sweeten it a lot), there will still be enough sugar to create carbonation once it's bottled. After the 7 day secondary fermentation, I remove the flavorings, leave the bottle at room temperature for another day, then place directly in the fridge. This will help maintain carbonation. No need to cold crash, that's just for beer. I do recommend using an auto siphon when bottling, this makes bottling so much easier, and it will prevent bottling the sediment at the bottom of the jar.

Good luck!

 

[snrusnak]

Thank you! So I brewed my first batch on 11/21. I bought a starter kit on amazon (poseymon). Don't know if that's good but it was cheap so worste case I'll start with a different starter.

I used 2 family sized black tea pouches and 3 small green tea pouches. I boiled 1 gal then after turning heat off steaped the tea for about 10-15 min. Then cooled in an ice bath (~15-20 min), added ~2-2.5 cups raw cane organic sugar, then added 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar. Then transferred to a glass 1 gal container/jar. Then added the ~1/2 cup starter tea and SCOBY and lightly agitated/stirred for about 30 seconds. Placed coffee filter and rubber band on it and it's probably been a little cold in the house, in the 60s maybe even a dip at night into the high 50s.

Will the cold hurt the fermentation? Next time I'll be doing this in my shop so can use the temp controlled environment.

Does it matter if you make the tea in a small quantity then add water like you describe vs what I did and steap the tea in the entire gal?

What's a temperature strip?

For the secondary fermentation, I don't understand, you say keep it sealed to build pressure, but burp the bottles? Can you elaborate? My intent is to bottle into beer bottles (with caps) being that I already have all that equipment and supplies. To avoid bottle bombs I was thinking I could just refrigerate the bottles after a certain time period to stop the pressure buildup. Does this make sense?

Thanks again!

 

[snrusnak]

I think the brew is doing well. The baby SCOBY is about 1/8" thick (been ~ 8 days but a little on the cold side). It is now more like 70 deg. I sipped the brew and it is still super sweet/sugary but tasted good just like tea. No signs of mold or black specs, etc.

 

[ericbw]

Sounds like you have the basic info down.

A temperature strip is a stick on thermometer where the numbers change color with the temp. They cost about $3 at a brewing store. It's a sticker. Very handy for most fermenters. I have them on everything!

As for the tea, I find that green tea is lighter and black tea is a little "sharper" in taste. My preference varies, but I always use at least 2 black tea bags in a gallon. However you make tea is fine, as long as you let it really steep. You know how iced tea at some restaurants tastes like brown water?

I have boiled the water, added tea bags and let it cool to room temp. OR remove after 10-15 minutes and cool to room temp. OR made sun tea all day and over night. However you normally make tea seems to work.

Secondary fermentation is tricky, which is why people say to burp them. I bottle them like a beer sometimes, but I think you get more baby SCOBY in each bottle than you really want. A quart size mason jar works great. Even if you burp it, it will still keep some carbonation.

I sometimes pour the booch into a jar (smaller than a gallon) and add fresh fruit, then strain it out and bottle it. Let it sit 1-3-7 days or as long as you are not afraid. Refrigerate. Or add juice to the bottle, wait a few days and refrigerate.

REMEMBER that refrigeration doesn't stop the fermentation, just slows it down. Drink it within a few weeks for sure.

The temperature of the fermentation has a couple of effects. I slows it down, and I think the yeast slow down first, so you can get an unbalanced culture going in there. Yeast eats sugar and makes alcohol; bacteria east the alcohol and makes acid. It's symbiotic - they need each other. So if the yeast goes too slow, I think it tastes funkier. 75-85 is ideal, but I think in the 60s is fine, too.

Keep checking it and see when it gets like you like it. I sometimes let it run all the way out for 3-4 weeks, then backsweeten and dilute it with fresh tea to get a sweet and tangy flavor. People who are not crazy about booch tend to like that. (I make a fresh batch of flavored tea with 1 cup sugar per gallon (scaled down), and the add it half and half with really sour booch or sometimes 75/25 booch to tea.

Remember when you bottle that sugar is in the tea, and it is hard to calculate how much. So be careful of bottle bombs. When in doubt, drink it faster.

 

[snrusnak]

Thanks for all the info. I just tasted it again and it is still pretty sweet, so I'm going to let it keep working. After I tasted it the SCOBY sunk, which I don't think is necessarily a bad sign from what I've read.

 

[Spaceman]

I highly recommend getting an accurate pH meter so you can put a number to your fermentation process vs. just tasting.

Also, don't skimp on starter tea, it will speed up the initial ferment and reduce chances of contamination.

 

[Dan65]

Keep checking it and see when it gets like you like it. I sometimes let it run all the way out for 3-4 weeks, then backsweeten and dilute it with fresh tea to get a sweet and tangy flavor. People who are not crazy about booch tend to like that. (I make a fresh batch of flavored tea with 1 cup sugar per gallon (scaled down), and the add it half and half with really sour booch or sometimes 75/25 booch to tea.

Remember when you bottle that sugar is in the tea, and it is hard to calculate how much. So be careful of bottle bombs. When in doubt, drink it faster.

A commerical kombucha that I really enjoyed and shared with others that have not heard of kombucha is Live http://drinklive.com/ and dreamy orange is the flavor I had.
They must of back sweetened with Stevia which would help reduce the bottle bomb issue and be healther. I am assuming that Stevia is unfermentable.

 

[ericbw]

A commerical kombucha that I really enjoyed and shared with others that have not heard of kombucha is Live http://drinklive.com/ and dreamy orange is the flavor I had.

They must of back sweetened with Stevia which would help reduce the bottle bomb issue and be healther. I am assuming that Stevia is unfermentable.

Yes I think that's true about stevia. I don't like stevia, though.