HealingWithin Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Hello all! I have had a continuous brew for a few weeks now and have two questions. 1. I am not sure how long to ferment. They say to keep tasting until you like it but I want to be sure that all the sugar is gone. My container holds about two gallons and I add in about 2 quarts of fresh tea/succanot each week. Then, doing a second ferment trying to get bubbles. It tastes super tart when I decant it for the second ferment and then after the second ferment as well. But, sometimes it taste like pure vinegar. So, just curious if any of you do continuous brew and what your method is. 2. At first, I was getting carbonation during my first ferment and now, I can't even get it with the second ferment in sealed containers. Any help here? Thank you!!c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny M Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 I'm literally on my second batch so my advice is not going to be much help but I think you can use PH testers to get your batch in the right range of sweet/acid with less guess work. And for your second ferment, if there's no sugar left in your brew it might not have enough food for the bacteria to continue the fermenting process. I have not tried this but have been told you can add some raisins or some pureed fruit to the bottle for the second ferment. The bacteria needs the sugar to produce the gas to make it bubbley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HealingWithin Posted November 30, 2012 Author Share Posted November 30, 2012 Thank you. Do you happen to know the correct PH that would indicate that the sugar is gone? I have been adding ginger and pure fruit juice in the second ferment but I have a feeling that you are correct that it still isn't enough to create fizz. I will keep playing with it and keep you guys posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny M Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 You might just want to google it. I'm actually not sure now if PH strips will tell you sugar content. These will though but they're expensive and i don't know how to use them http://www.accuvin.com/Products%20Residual%20Sugar.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HealingWithin Posted December 7, 2012 Author Share Posted December 7, 2012 Thank you. I did a little more research on the CBM and it looks like you are supposed to draw off the booch every couple of days. I was waiting a week. So far, doing it every three days has helped and it is now palatable. I think what I was getting before was vinegar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silk Posted December 7, 2012 Share Posted December 7, 2012 I'm not sure how you could control a continuous brew -- wouldn't the early stuff keep getting stronger as you added more? I'd love to hear more about that. I don't make more than a quart at a time, and when I think it's done I put it in the fridge to slow it down. But reading all the posts on the forum about kombucha, I'm thinking I'm kind of a punk about the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny M Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 I think what I do is technically a continuous brew system. When my jars are ready, I bottle about 80% of the brew but then add more tea/sugar to the jar. I don't ever fully empty them I just keep refilling and rebrewing. I'm finding the larger my scobys grow the faster the tea is ready. 7 days seems to be my current average. I have two jars going that I try to alternate so I always have some fresh brew ready to bottle or drink! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silk Posted December 9, 2012 Share Posted December 9, 2012 That's close to what I do, since you need about 1/2 cup kombucha with your mother for the next batch, but who needs exactitude? Once in a while I rinse out the jar, but maybe that's unnecessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyp Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 I have been making Kombucha for a little while now. Mine still seems a little sweet to me but I'm afraid to let it go much longer because I don't want it to have too much of a vinegar taste. I can't keep enough of it so I just started a second jar. I have seen so many recipes for basic Kombucha and they all vary a little bit. The one question I still have is about the water used. The first recipe I followed said to use distilled water. That is what I have been doing but this time I forgot to buy some and didn't have enough so I used tap water too. If I am boiling the water does it really matter if it comes from a bottle or the tap? thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silk Posted December 10, 2012 Share Posted December 10, 2012 Depends on your tap water, I suppose. I have a water filter and use filtered tap water for my kombucha. I've never used distilled water for kombucha. I think if you want to zap stuff in the water by boiling you need to boil it for some amount of time and not just bring it to a boil, but a quick internet search said you only need to boil it for a minute... If I were concerned, I'd check out a few websites and see what the recommended amount of time is from more than one site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyp Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Thank you Silk. I do have filtered water for my fridge. I will just get the water from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I have what I guess is a continuous brew system, in that I add about 3/4 new tea to 1/4 previous batch. I haven't noticed a difference in taste between the "older stuff" and the new stuff, because it all mixes together, but I have noticed that after my second batch it only takes 3-5 days to get my booch to the zing I like instead of 7-10 days. I do a gallon at a time and draw and bottle as necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HealingWithin Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Continous Brew Method is when you use a jar with a spigot and you actually only draw off about 20% every couple of days. This is why it ferments so much faster. Here is an excellent post that talks about it (at the bottom of the post). http://nourishedkitchen.com/kombucha-a-reintroduction-to-this-ancient-tonic/ Now that I am drawing off only a small amount every two to three days, the taste is tart but not the point of being unpalatable. Regarding distilled water - I have only been using filtered tap water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca30 Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I cannot get enough info about kombucha! I have been researching for days! I found away to grow your own scoby and many report success so I may try that. I do not know anyone who brews and they seem to be expensive to buy. I love that it is so sciency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladunn Posted December 27, 2012 Share Posted December 27, 2012 Ive been brewing my own kombucha since September. I started with my own home grown culture that I grew from a bottle of GT's. In the warmer months my tea sat for about 2 weeks and now that it's colder 3-4 weeks does the trick. I learned just last week that 5 weeks was too long! I do a gallon a week and have three 1 gallon containers going at once. I usually save about a cup to mix with the new batch. Generally if I bottle the tea and let it sit for a couple days on the counter it gets a good fizz. Although I just switched to green tea and I don't like the flavor as much as black and it doesn't get as fizzy. It it helps I use a cup of sugar for a gallon of tea. I have no idea what's left of the sugar but my tea isn't too sweet so I'm not too worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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