Vian

I find that eggs as my sole protein source in a meal do not keep me full very long. If i add in some meat though, it keeps me full much longer. I am a 5'9" female, 250lbs, and i can hold 5-6 eggs in one hand (i have done it when i gather eggs from my chickens) but i have a hard time eating more than 3 eggs in a meal with fat and veggies, especially for breakfast.

I have 3 eggs and some cubed roasted sweet potato most mornings.

You can buy a bottle of GT's Original kombucha, the plain unflavored kind, and add that instead of more ACV.

NEVER put a scoby in the fridge!! A scoby hotel should be at room temp. All you need to do is leave the scoby in a jar somewhere dark and occasionally add some fresh sweet tea. It will stay dormant (but healthy) for months and months. http://www.kombuchakamp.com/2011/10/kombucha-brewing-problems-dehydrated-and-refrigerated-scobys.html

I made my last 2 batches of kombucha with loose leaf jasmine tea I got at the asian market. I just tasted it and HOLY COW is it good! And it got ULTRA fizzy! Is there any issue with using Jasmine tea every time I brew? Only ingredients are Green tea and Jasmine flowers.

*sigh* I just can't seem to get my booch right. I had a nice system going, where I pulled from my CB every sunday, put it in quart bottles with a little juice concentrate and let it sit 3 days for second ferment. But when I tasted it straight up right out of the CB, it was very bland, no tartness at all, too sweet, but not really sweet... So I decided to let it go a few more days last time and tasted it daily and after brewing 12 days it was perfect. I pulled it off, added my juice concentrate and let it second ferment for 3 days again and tasted it. It tasted great. So I drank 2 cups of it after it got cold in the fridge...and it was very alcoholic. I got the feeling I get whenever I have alcohol, which I don't like. So either my booch is non-alcoholic, but very weak and too sweet, or alcoholic and tasty. I don't know what to do to make it less alcoholic...

I've been having very good luck with my kombucha lately. I switched from fruit juice, to using straight up concentrate. I use 100% juice concentrate and my favorite flavors are berry or apple/berry mixtures (apple cherry, apple raspberry, grape, blueberry pomegranate). I make a total of 120 ounces of kombucha a week (3x 32 oz. bottles and 1x24oz bottle) I measure out 1/4 c. juice concentrate for the 24 oz. bottle, then divide the remaining concentrate (from a 12oz. can of frozen concentrate) evenly among the 3 larger bottles. I do CB still in a 1.8 gallon beverage dispenser, but I treat it more like a batch brew (I pull off all my booch at once). I boil a gallon of tap water, then add 1 cup organic sugar and dissolve it, then let it cool for about 30-40 minutes, then add 4 white tea bags and 4 green tea bags and steep them until I remember to take them out (usually an hour or so). Then I let the fresh tea cool to room temp. I pull off my booch from the CB container with my big 4 cup measuring cup and fill my bottles that already have the juice concentrate in them, close them up and turn them back and forth to make sure the juice mixes evenly and set them aside in a warm spot in the kitchen. I do my second ferment for 3 days. For the Cb container, I use my 4 cup measuring cup to pour the fresh tea into the container, but I use a plastic chopstick to wick the tea over to the side of the container and underneath my scoby. My container is hexagonal, so my scoby ends up shaped like a stop sign. I use the chop stick to push one corner down and then the tea follows the chopstick down into the container and ends up under the scoby, so that the scoby can stay floating on top. Currently I have 3 1/4" thick scobies (two are from times I wasn't able to keep them floating, so they sunk and a new one formed). Because it's winter and a bit colder, I keep my whole setup sitting on top of my hot water heater. I have a half-sized water heater that is in my kitchen and is inside a housing that makes up part of my kitchen counter. The top gets slightly warm to the touch from the 120+ degree water being held inside it, so my booch ferments pretty quickly. I was doing things almost the same, only I was using fresh fruit juice (blending fresh fruit and straining it) and my booch was ending up very, very acidic (burned my throat) and alcoholic (I can tell immediately if I've had alcohol). I let it sit for about 3 months just ignoring it, and when I finally got in there and cleaned it all up and got things going again, my booch has been tangy and pleasantly tart, but very drinkable and no more throat burning, as well as no more alcohol. I'm loving my booch again and enjoy having a couple cups of it every night with dinner instead of my old can of coke zero.

That's interesting. It says that gelatin and "anything Fermented" has processed free glutamic acid. I know MSG is naturally occurring in some foods, are these included in that category?

Yes, ascorbic acid and citric acid are fine. The only preservatives/additives you have to watch out for are Carageenan (often used to thicken things and give them a creamy texture like ice cream, almond, soy, and coconut milk, etc) MSG (used as a flavor booster in savory things) and Sulfites, along with any other non-compliant ingredients (dairy, sugar, grains, legumes) of course. Go for canned items that are minimally processed and have as short an ingredient list as possible.

Using the frozen juice concentrate works well, though it doesn't get as fizzy in the second ferment, it tastes better and is MUCH less acidic/throat-burn-y

I used about 1/4 cup concentrate to about 30 ounces of booch, hopefully it turns out good

I'm curious, would it be possible to use fruit juice concentrate (organic, NSA) to flavor the kombucha for the second ferment? That way you could use concentrated juice and just have the booch itself dilute it, rather than added water. Especially now that it's winter and fresh fruit is harder to come by.

My CB was acidic and harsh even before I neglected it. I haven't tasted it in almost 2 months, so I'm sure it's probably vinegar in there now. It burns my throat terribly if I drink it too fast. My CB container holds 1.8 gallons, but I have about 1.5 gallons of liquid. I brew 3 quarts of tea with a mixture of green and white tea bags and a cup of organic cane sugar. I drain off 3 quarts of booch and put it in bottles with juice, then add the cooled sweet tea to the CB container. I let the first fermentation in the CB go for 7 days, and the second ferment goes for 3 to get fizzy. I'll probably get in there this weekend and clean up my scoby, peel a few layers off the bottom, and drain off about 2/3 of the vinegar booch to start fresh.

I've been doing continuous brew, but I let my scoby go dormant in my Cb container because I couldn't keep up with it. I find my booch hard to drink sometimes because it is SO acidic. I have to water it down or mix it with juice or it burns my throat. Anyone else have a problem like this? I'm finally almost caught up on my booch, so I'll probably start brewing again this weekend, I just wish I could figure out how to make my booch smoother... I also find it's kind of alcoholic...I definately can tell I've had some alcohol after I drink it. I get a certain sensation in my body when I drink alcohol and i get it from the kombucha.

Strawberry chocolate mint is a success! I have a potted chocolate mint plant (like regular mint only with a hint of chocolatey flavor) and simmered the leaves in some strained strawberry puree. It's delicious and super refreshing!