Kombucha and water kefir newbie questions

[momto5girls]

How do I know when my kombucha and water kefir are done? Will they both brew faster right now since it's warm?

My kombucha has been going for 5 days now and I just started the water kefir this morning. Everything I've read says to taste the kombucha after 6 days, but I don't know what it's supposed to taste like! I know that vinegar means it's gone too far, right?

How will I know if I've messed up my scoby? It has a dark area on top--not fuzzy like the pics on Dom's site, but it looks very different from the rest of the scoby.

Will I need to refrigerate both of these once they are done?

Thanks for any help. :

[bigknitwit]

I am new to both of these as well.

I find the water kefir needs about 1.5 days to ferment to our tastes. Much more than that and I end up with something unpleasant to drink (that was my grape juice that now tastes like a bad wine lol). It's been fairly warm here though - like 80ish most days, and last week it went above that a bit too.

I just finished brewing my first kombucha. It brewed for 6 days and I decided it was done because the culture on top was thick. Also, it had been really warm here for several of those 6 days (like upper 80s), so I opted for the shorter brew. I carefully removed the culture on top (the dark part your are seeing is probably the mother culture underneath the newly formed culture), and placed it with some of the brew in the fridge. Then I took the rest of the brew, strained it and placed it in an empty apple juice container (I had nothing else available). I read that for more fizziness, you should add a piece of ginger, or a raisin. So i did this - I'll see what happens with it - good luck - hope this helps

[momto5girls]

Originally Posted by bigknitwit

I am new to both of these as well.

I find the water kefir needs about 1.5 days to ferment to our tastes. Much more than that and I end up with something unpleasant to drink (that was my grape juice that now tastes like a bad wine lol). It's been fairly warm here though - like 80ish most days, and last week it went above that a bit too.

I just finished brewing my first kombucha. It brewed for 6 days and I decided it was done because the culture on top was thick. Also, it had been really warm here for several of those 6 days (like upper 80s), so I opted for the shorter brew. I carefully removed the culture on top (the dark part your are seeing is probably the mother culture underneath the newly formed culture), and placed it with some of the brew in the fridge. Then I took the rest of the brew, strained it and placed it in an empty apple juice container (I had nothing else available). I read that for more fizziness, you should add a piece of ginger, or a raisin. So i did this - I'll see what happens with it - good luck - hope this helps

The dark part seems to be on top and the culture that I'm seeing doesn't seem to be bigger than what I started with. It's somehow now what I expected to happen, so I'm afraid I've contaminated it somehow.

It smells kind of vinegar-y. I guess I should taste it tonight and see how it is?

[bigknitwit]

Well I'm definitely not a kombucha expert, but I would be looking for the new culture to form across the entire top of the brew to know that everything worked out how it was supposed to. Has it been warm where you are, or cooler? If it's been cooler maybe it just needs more time to fully culture. Also, I'm guessing you can tell how done it is by how sweet your brew tastes.

I need to figure out what to do with the new culture that grew across the top of mine - it's big! and I still have the mother culture. I suppose they are both alive and ready for more culturing...

[momto5girls]

Originally Posted by bigknitwit

Well I'm definitely not a kombucha expert, but I would be looking for the new culture to form across the entire top of the brew to know that everything worked out how it was supposed to. Has it been warm where you are, or cooler? If it's been cooler maybe it just needs more time to fully culture. Also, I'm guessing you can tell how done it is by how sweet your brew tastes.

I need to figure out what to do with the new culture that grew across the top of mine - it's big! and I still have the mother culture. I suppose they are both alive and ready for more culturing...

It's been pretty warm here. I live in the desert Southwest, and today it was about 95 outside (cooler inside, of course!). I have been swishing it all around at least twice a day to get the top of the culture wet (as per Dom's site). Would that keep it from growing all across the top? I think that my original culture was folded and it's still a bit folded and then there are wispies growing down around it--not a solid culture the circumference of my jar, like I envisioned...

I'll leave it til tomorrow morning and check again for sweetness. That's a good idea. Thanks for your input!

[erthe_mama]

What/where is Dom's site?
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