Growing My Own Kombucha Scoby - Page 5

[dawny]

Hi,

I am still making and drinking my kombucha tea. My third batch really was bland. I put frozen cherries and blueberries in it but I skipped the ginger. I think the ginger is really needed to give it that extra edge.

I got another jar and am working on my second scoby. It is going well and should be ready for tea in a week.

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by dawny

Hi,

I am still making and drinking my kombucha tea. My third batch really was bland. I put frozen cherries and blueberries in it but I skipped the ginger. I think the ginger is really needed to give it that extra edge.

I got another jar and am working on my second scoby. It is going well and should be ready for tea in a week.

Hi Dawny,

I agree about the ginger. I never knew I liked ginger so much, LOL, but I really LOVE it in the kombucha. So far my favorite is lemon-ginger, and orange-ginger. I think my kids' favorite so far is blueberry (frozen blueberries plus a bit of organic sugar added).

Iris

[cobluegirl]

cool this is what I did last time I needed a scoby.

[LionTigerBear]

Okay, I couldn't find a bottle of GT's that had a good-sized "growth" in it, so I finally started anyway, with a strawberry Synergy bottle that had no particularly large blobs. (Seemed like the best I could find.) So after I poured it in, I still don't see any particular blobs of anything floating on top. Do you think it will work? I covered it and placed it in one of my warmer cabinets.

We'll see . . . .

Of course if you all think it won't work at all, I might as well just drink it now. So let me know!

[cobluegirl]

That is how I did mine. It was a bottle of Synergy. Just add the bottle to new tea w/ sugar and it will grow.

[bigknitwit]

I apologize, I have not read the whole thread. However I have a quick question: I have a neglected scoby sitting in my fridge (in a corelle bowl, not plastic). It's been in there for several months. Is it dead? Could I retry with it? Would you drink the results lol?? I'm annoyed at myself for letting it go so long. I just didn't care for the taste of the final product, but I never tried with green tea. I want to try it!! Hmm, I also have some very old leftover homemade kombucha in my fridge - I wonder if I could culture it? Off to read the rest of the thread

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by cobluegirl

That is how I did mine. It was a bottle of Synergy. Just add the bottle to new tea w/ sugar and it will grow.

Uh oh, I don't have any tea ready. How much tea should I add?

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by LionTigerBear

Uh oh, I don't have any tea ready. How much tea should I add?

LTB, you don't have to add it to tea yet if you don't want to or don't have any tea on hand. IIRC, I think I poured my half-bottle of Kombucha into a glass cup and let it sit for 8 days, or something like that. Then, when it had formed a definite little Scoby pancake, I made a small batch of tea and transferred the Scoby (and tea) into a larger container, then let it grow bigger in there for a couple weeks.

You could look back at the beginning of this thread for more exact details, but that's what I recall offhand.

How long has it been since you started trying to grow the Scoby? I'm sure it will work if you give it time.

Iris

[LionTigerBear]

Originally Posted by WildIris

LTB, you don't have to add it to tea yet if you don't want to or don't have any tea on hand. IIRC, I think I poured my half-bottle of Kombucha into a glass cup and let it sit for 8 days, or something like that. Then, when it had formed a definite little Scoby pancake, I made a small batch of tea and transferred the Scoby (and tea) into a larger container, then let it grow bigger in there for a couple weeks.

You could look back at the beginning of this thread for more exact details, but that's what I recall offhand.

How long has it been since you started trying to grow the Scoby? I'm sure it will work if you give it time.

Iris

Thanks, WildIris. I did read the whole thread. I just poured the whole bottle into a glass pyrex container, just this morning, but the only reason I wonder if it will work is that there is no large floating blob already formed in this bottle as some have described starting out with.

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by LionTigerBear

Thanks, WildIris. I did read the whole thread. I just poured the whole bottle into a glass pyrex container, just this morning, but the only reason I wonder if it will work is that there is no large floating blob already formed in this bottle as some have described starting out with.

Ah, I see what you mean now. I still think it will work. Even if you don't have a "blob" in there, there should still be active cultures present and I bet that will be enough to start something growing. That's just my guess though.

Now you have me very curious. Be sure to keep us updated, okay?

Iris

[LionTigerBear]

So, day three of my kombucha experiment, and I can see what appears to be at least one scoby (is that what it's called?) forming on the top of the kombucha! Yippee! I'm excited now, I hadn't dared to expect anything before.

So I have rooibos (red) tea waiting in glass containers in the fridge-- when do I add the tea and sugar to the kombucha?

[JenInMpls]

gotta get in on the kombucha love here. btw hi Chrissy, I see you!

So the woman who hosts our farm order pick-up gave me a scoby and I started my kombucha yesterday. I had so many questions about it until she finally convinced me that kombucha is an art, not a science. I still want to know, though, where to keep my kombucha while it's brewing when our house is at 67 all day and our (old 1940s) stove doesn't have a pilot light in the oven that would keep it a cozy 80 or so. Right now I have it covered with a flour sack dishcloth and sitting on top of the stove, where there *is* a pilot under the surface which feels slightly warm. It's making a lovely kombucha smell, so I'm assuming things are going all right at the moment. But any thoughts you all have - pass them on!

Also, I wanted to tip you all off to an interesting page I found yesterday researching online about kombucha - http://www.kombuchaawareness.blogspot.com/. The guy who writes it seems to be EXTREMELY into his kombucha (as well as his kefir) and I found his instructions and writing style very easy to read. He did say, at one point, that kombucha wants caffeine and sugar, which cracked me up; I thought "oh, so it's a college student, huh!".

Glad to have found this thread. : jen

[crunchy_mama]

oh, I thought I had posted back- I had went to the hfs but they didn't have any kombucha, crazy huh? So, I ordered one from some lady on ebay- recommended from the kombucha thread. It was mailed Tuesday- so hopefully any day now I am craving it sooo very, very much!!!! I got the ginger ready here... might break down and just make some ginger beer while waiting...

[LionTigerBear]

Day five . . . .

The baby scoby "blobs" look about the same, from where I can see, (don't want to disturb it!) there's a nice fermenty smell coming frm the container, and a white-ish film seems to be growing on the top of the kombucha.

[dawny]

Originally Posted by LionTigerBear

Day five . . . .

The baby scoby "blobs" look about the same, from where I can see, (don't want to disturb it!) there's a nice fermenty smell coming frm the container, and a white-ish film seems to be growing on the top of the kombucha.

It's working!!

I have started a new batch. I bottled a batch last night and it is excellent! My previous batch did not have that much flavor and I think it was related to not enough sugar. When I made the tea, I boiled water in a small tea kettle. After it whistled, I put in 8 tea bags and some sugar and let it brew. I thought the sugar would just melt without any stirring, but it didn't. The kettle has some sugar left in the bottom when I went to use it again. So...lesson learned: make sure the sugar is melted.

Question about ginger: If you add ginger to your bottled kombucha do you grate it or slice it? I have some ginger leftover from supermarket sushi and I am tempted to put it in my kombucha.

[dawny]

Originally Posted by JenInMpls

I still want to know, though, where to keep my kombucha while it's brewing when our house is at 67 all day and our (old 1940s) stove doesn't have a pilot light in the oven that would keep it a cozy 80 or so. Right now I have it covered with a flour sack dishcloth and sitting on top of the stove, where there *is* a pilot under the surface which feels slightly warm.

We keep our house at 68 and my scobys (scobies??) seem to do fine. It is in the corner of my kitchen (pretty far from any heat) covered up with a dish towel. I never thought about heat affecting it. I might try moving one batch to the top of our freezer and see what happens; I have a lot of luck with bread rising on top of the freezer so it might make a difference.

Thanks for the link!!

[JenInMpls]

Originally Posted by dawny

I have some ginger leftover from supermarket sushi and I am tempted to put it in my kombucha.

Hm. That's pickled, and who knows with what they pickle it, you know? I'd just eat that and buy a ginger root and grate it.

[PrayzGod]

Kombucha Brewing, with Pictures

Hello, my name is Candy. I've lurked here at mothering.com on and off for quite a while now. I'm relaxing while my four kiddos are napping, and doing one of my favorite things - reading about Kombucha online.

This thread on growing a scoby is amazing, and I think I'll put up a link to it on my website, because many of my readers would love to learn about the info in this thread.

I've been brewing my own Kombucha for about 6 months now, from a scoby baby I got from a friend. I recently put up pictures of my most recent brewing. If you'd like to see my brewing pictures, they are at:
http://myblessedhome.blogspot.com/20...-kombucha.html

This evening I will start my next brew. Normall I do two brews a week, of 3 quarts per brew. Today I am going to do three brews, and next week I may up it to four. There are 8 of us living in my cozy home (myself, hubby, my mom, and my four children) and we all love Kombucha, and like to have it with dinner, and between meals. Hence, I need to brew a LOT of Kombucha.

Someone here mentioned that they use flour sack to cover their brewing container, I think?? Anyhow, that's a great idea. I use flour sack to cover my brewing container, and that stuff works great. It's thin enough to allow good air circulation, but thick enough so that you'll have no problem with fruit flies and other pests.

Anyhow, for any new brewers out there, who'd like some pictures, feel free to swing by my site, with the link I left, and leave me a note while you're there.

Be sure I'll be back to this thread later... Keep posting ladies, this thread is AmAzInG!

[LionTigerBear]

Hi Candy, welcome to MDC! I liked the step-by-step photo instructions on your blog!

So, where do I get flour sacks? I'm using a paper towel now, which works fine for the quart-sized container that I'm growing the scoby in, but I'll need to get some new equipment for when I go bigger.

[crunchy_mama]

Originally Posted by PrayzGod

Hello, my name is Candy. I've lurked here at mothering.com on and off for quite a while now. I'm relaxing while my four kiddos are napping, and doing one of my favorite things - reading about Kombucha online.

This thread on growing a scoby is amazing, and I think I'll put up a link to it on my website, because many of my readers would love to learn about the info in this thread.

I've been brewing my own Kombucha for about 6 months now, from a scoby baby I got from a friend. I recently put up pictures of my most recent brewing. If you'd like to see my brewing pictures, they are at:
http://myblessedhome.blogspot.com/20...-kombucha.html

This evening I will start my next brew. Normall I do two brews a week, of 3 quarts per brew. Today I am going to do three brews, and next week I may up it to four. There are 8 of us living in my cozy home (myself, hubby, my mom, and my four children) and we all love Kombucha, and like to have it with dinner, and between meals. Hence, I need to brew a LOT of Kombucha.

Someone here mentioned that they use flour sack to cover their brewing container, I think?? Anyhow, that's a great idea. I use flour sack to cover my brewing container, and that stuff works great. It's thin enough to allow good air circulation, but thick enough so that you'll have no problem with fruit flies and other pests.

Anyhow, for any new brewers out there, who'd like some pictures, feel free to swing by my site, with the link I left, and leave me a note while you're there.

Be sure I'll be back to this thread later... Keep posting ladies, this thread is AmAzInG!

nice site, good clear, concise instructions! I will definitley use it when my scoby arrives - hopefully on monday!