megmac Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 The baby is beautiful...sniff sniff! Frank is an appetite suppressant! LOL! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percypat Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 That he is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb0426 Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 My booch instructions said to wait 8 days; since Nadia is already forming her first baby, should I be testing it earlier? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Lol Sophie. That Frank is a wild looking one. Kb, how long has it been? It probably wont be ready but it wont hurt to taste it. It will be good info for you to try the different stages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percypat Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Just tried fig booch. Possible new favourite. Thanks for the idea Susan! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 I have lots of bottling and flavoring to do tomorrow..must remember to go get figs tomorrow. :0) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 What about raisins? maybe it would taste like that yummy desert wine (that I can't rem the name of) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb0426 Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 It has only been 4 days. Clearly I am not patient! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percypat Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 KB, remember Nadia's dad decided after 5 days that he liked it and was having it like that. I waited one week, but it's your booch. Taste when you want! Big news: hubby actually got himself a glass of booch today. Just half a bottle of the raspberry, but he got of his own accord, with no offering from me. He liked it. I think it will take him awhile to get his head around the grossness of the SCOBYs but he hasn't completely lost his taste for it. We bottled again tonight and he helped me (still no touching the SCOBYs). 2nd piece of big news: strong tea fizz theory is looking good (though lots of sugar no doubt helped). This batch I just bottled was about 4.5 litres (about 1.2 gallons) and I used 12 tea bags and about 300g sugar. This stuff was fizzing like mad as we poured it into the bottles. Next batch is 10 tea bags and 1.5 cups sugar. Here is the fizz in the bigger bottle after it had a bit of time to settle (they all frothed over) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators LadyM Posted June 19, 2013 Moderators Share Posted June 19, 2013 Hey, y'all. Sorry I've been silent on this thread. It's hard to keep up with all the activity! Update: my homegrown SCOBY utterly failed. Guess I started with a bad bottle of GT. So I ordered one online and it's been going like gangbusters! I did my first bottling and second ferments over the weekend and drank my first bottle yesterday: strawberry vanilla lime. Mighty tasty but none too fizzy. It seems the sugar is the thing for fizz, right? Should I add a bit of sugar or honey to the second ferment or add more sugar to the first? Or bottle the second ferment sooner? Any of the above? Today I'll drink a blueberry ginger. Next bottling I'm trying apricot cardamom and cherry lime. We'll see what else I can come up with. I'm excited to taste my raspberry mint lime one, too. These suckers, especially once I figure out the fizz sitch, are better than cocktails! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
percypat Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 I wondered where you'd got to with yours LadyM! With my first batch I waited 7 days to bottle and then started opening them after 2 days of 2nd fermentation. They started producing proper fizz on day 4, and the mango was the fizziest and sugariest fruit too I think - others were ginger or berry based. I should think adding more sugar to 2nd ferment would work based on that. Or you can try and get your batch fizzier in general which I believe I've managed to do: bottled 2nd batch tonight and as I already mentioned it is way fizzier at this stage than the first: stronger tea, more sugar and more SCOBY working on it as well. Got the stronger tea idea from Nadia and Susan, and Derval's recipe had more sugar so I combined the two. Your flavours sound awesome! I've only got boysenberry, raspberry and one of each of those with vanilla. Hubby really liked raspberry so we're sticking with the berries (I'm hoping to draw him in a bit more!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia B Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 So exciting everyone! I don't see the correlation with sugar for fizz, I always used same amount or less. My guess is stronger tea. Sugary tea will take more time to be ready since the scoby has to eat it up (I am not too interested in drinking white sugar). Yes, Dad drank his after 5 days but it was in a crazy warm place. Now he holds for 7 days to get rid of sugar after my guilt trip talk. Raisins work fine, D! I added them to other fruits and by themselves. I have a box of fresh figs, do you think they will work? My news: White tea is my favorite, so light and fruity. Amazing even plain. Black/green batch turned out to be bleeeeh. I don't even thing that flavoring will rescue it. Very harsh taste. I've mixed most of it with different teas - roiboos, herbal Pina Colada, rosebuds/pomegranate and berry tisane. I got a bag of dried hibiscus. Recipe anyone? Same amount as if I was using black tea? It's bulky and hard to measure. Bottled raspberry mint, rhubarb/ginger and pomegranate. All white tea. Other suggestions for rhubarb? I guess apple and strawberry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Nadia the sugar has a lot to do with more fizz...I forget what the science is but its in my "how to get fizz like your favorite brand" email from KK. I'll find the email and paste the bullet points here. I've syarted adding a tiny amount of honey to my more savory 2nd ferments and thar she blows. My hibiscus makes a lot of fizz too. No clue why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Nadia, Robin (original booch guru along with MM) mixes her hibiscus with black tea for first ferment. I use straight hibiscus for second ferment. I just love the color and taste of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia B Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Merci, Susan. Any clue about figs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Oh..two things..I used 1/2 tsp (heaping) hibiscus per 16 oz bottle and I was shocked but it was plenty. I dont know if Hannah concentrates her hibiscus somehow but I doubt it. The figs..this will be my first fig flavor. I may peel them, mush them and shove them in. I feel like they are not the strongest tasting fruit so I may use 1.5 figs per 16 oz bottle? I am going to do fig and dried ginger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia B Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Mmm I was thinking adding vanilla, almond extract or pear. Maybe cinnamon. Interesting! I am also super curious how rhubarb will turn out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 I love the idea of vanilla and figs. I cant stand the price of the pods but I will use extract when my W30 is over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia B Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 I know right? I've seen the beetroot powder! Smells very beet like. I am wondering now... More questions about hibiscus. Is yours finely ground? I have the whole petals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 No my hibiscus is stemy and leafy but chopped up enough to measure but pieces stick out. Sort of like the stems in some bulk teas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derval Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 You're all fierce fancy! 2 more bottles put awat for 2nd ferment today Lables by Lily and this is the baby (being held by my baby) - looks pretty good, except for what's the mucky looking stuff on the underside? Should I be concerned? percypat, you'll have to tell your dh that he can't have a 6yr old girl being tougher than him 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Wait..beet root powder..as in beet sugar? Did you taste it? I procrastinated in bottling this batch. I hope I didn't wait too long. I wonder if adding honey to second ferment is okay on W30? The yeast eats away at it which is what produces the carbonation (I remember the science now). Think bread dough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Derval brown stuff is to be expected. The goo is the yeast and brown is tannin from the tea. Dont clean it off like I did. Love that Lily is so involved. Do they do Show and Tell at her school? Some kids bring turtles..Lily can bring a SCOBY. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia B Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Uahaha bring scoby to school! Your scoby is gigantic and perfectly normal, D! Wow. Soon you'll just have to order flavors with the pro like Lily. Alex is grossed out, eh? Beet root powder looked purple and smelled exactly like beets. It was on the shelf with herbs. I will go there and buy a little bit. I guess I'll have to mill my hibiscus. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan W Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Definitely going to search for beet powder. I forgot about the beet idea. I will buy a couple of beets too. Did you decide roasted beets works best or grated raw? Picture of my hibiscus and a hibiscus booch ice pop. So good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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