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annabel

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    Wales, UK

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  1. Too much sugar in the bottles? (Either from the fruit you added, or your original brew) Too warm where you're storing the bottles? I wouldn't think the amount of room left at the top would make a huge difference. I'd go with the temperature they're being stored at (as mine hasn't been exploding). Maybe put them in the fridge after day 2 next time?
  2. Vian-- Is there metal in the spout of your CB container? Metal isn't good for the scoby.
  3. Oops, I boiled my water for the 10-15 minutes when I first started the CB, but had forgotten about it since then and have just been using my kettle. And I haven't killed my scoby yet, which considering my track record with plants is impressive. I've just checked out water quality report and there's very little chlorine in our water (<.3 mg/L on average and .6 mg as the max). I've also been wondering whether we have hard or soft water (as the laundry detergent box specifies different amounts depending on the water) and the water report tells me that too Obviously, this is why I get nothing done around the house, I'm too easily distracted.
  4. Vian-- Do any of the pubs near you sell Grolsch? We've gotten crates of free bottles from the pub as they just go into the bin otherwise. (They did take a lot of cleaning as some were still half full of beer...) I'm loving my green & white tea combination, it tastes quite nice just as it is without any other flavours. Strawberry Mint was nice, but a bit on the sweet side (possibly I should have left the tea to brew for another day or two before drawing it off) and I've got a bottle of ginger and a bottle of lemon ginger in their 2nd fermentations. Need to investigate some other flavouring options when I make it to the big supermarket next. Cherry Ginger sounds lush.
  5. Maybe try adding some extra sugar (just a teaspoon) to the bottles when you bottle it? (That's what we do for our beer and cider, I haven't tried it with kombucha) Mine had a nice light fizz after 48 hours, but not quite what I was hoping for... but I was too impatient to wait any longer.
  6. People are more wary of plastic because of BPAS and chemicals leeching into your food. Both Derval and I are doing CB with plastic vessels. (I couldn't find any glass ones here and it was only a bit more to buy the scoby with the container than the scoby itself) Derval has been doing it for longer than I have, I'm just drinking my first batch right now. But the scoby has grown to fill the container and covered the whole surface area after about 12 days. But, you might find it really difficult to get the scoby out of that container when you wanted to clean it out or if you wanted to start a second batch. I took out 1 litre the first go and it's been 48 hours since then and I think I could take out another litre now. Going to give it another day though, as I'm still in the really early stages of learning how this all works.
  7. I've bottled my first batch-- Strawberry & Mint. Nearly had a bit of a kitchen disaster as I couldn't get the spigot to close again.
  8. No, it's not done yet. If I want to add vanilla when I bottle, what sort of vanilla would I add (extract or beans?)
  9. Today is Day 8 for my CB... Maybe I should go and have a taste, it has been hot here (Well, British hot... 24-26ish) How will I know if it's ready?
  10. I decided on a green & white tea combo... but now you two are making me wish I'd gone for just the white tea. I keep having a look at my kombucha every time I walk past it, even though it's not meant to be ready for 10-14 days, I just want to see if it's doing anything exciting.
  11. Derval, did you use vinegar to sterilize your brewing equipment? If so, what sort of vinegar did you use. I'm not sure I've ever seen white vinegar here.
  12. I can't decide what tea to use to start my kombucha... I have white tea, green tea and black tea. Maybe the black-green combination is the way to go. My kombucha kit is sitting at home... and I'm on sat here on a really dull course browsing the internet.
  13. Percypat, I'm not good at the patience thing, so I suppose this will be good for me I've bought a scoby along with the continuous brewing set up. (Both together were about two-thirds of what a bottle of kombucha would have cost me) And they're coming on Thursday I feel like I'm waiting for Christmas. Thanks for the link Nadia, that's totally the sort of stuff I was looking for. We have a few dozen Grolsch bottles already as we brew our own beer and cider. (Our pub throws out the empty bottles...) I'll let you all know how I get on.
  14. I was just looking at that one last night. Not that there are many options here. What else do I need besides the kit? Obviously tea and sugar, but anything else?
  15. I didn't get to try kombucha during my first W30, but happened across some in a health food shop here a few weeks ago and loved it. I can't afford the £5 train fare into town, let alone the cost of the kombucha, so I'm going to have to start brewing my own. I can't wait to try out everyone's exciting recipes. Any tips for someone new to kombucha brewing? My husband seems to think that all of the Grolsch bottles are his, but he'll just have to share Or go back to the pub and get another two crates of them. (We brew our own beer and cider) So that's bottling taken care of. Off to go check the UK threads to see where to buy my scoby from. And then, I suppose it's just a brewing container that I need (the 23 litre buckets are probably too big ).
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