Kombucha Brewers

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If your yogurt comes out too thin, you can strain it. I did have to strain mine. Fairlife supposedly makes thicker yogurt but I can't find it here, use organic life instead.

I used to make my own yogurt for years but can't now because I can't tolerate dairy. It doesn't sound like yogurt to me. What would you be straining?
 
You put the yogurt in a large sieve lined with coffee filters so some of the liquid can drain off. It makes the yogurt thicker, its what they do to greek yogurt to get it thick.
I can't stand thin yogurt like yoplait so I strain mine.

Are you lactose intolerant? Fairlife is lactose free.
 
Yes I understand now. I hope you drink that good whey you strain off. I used to do that to make yogurt "cream cheese." I'm not sure what part of milk upsets me, I've tried lactose free yogurt and it doesn't help.
 
Well, I've just had my first round of mold on my Kombucha. It was a bit of an experiment so I'm not too upset about it. I don't think my starter liquid was quite strong enough (I have two jars of Scoby so I have plenty to experiment with) and the weather's been on the cool side. (and, yes, it's definitely mold)
 

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2 heaping tablespoons plain yogurt with live active cultures. Chobani and fage are commonly used.
I used to make my own yogurt in the crockpot. My exbf thought it was funny that I bought yogurt to make yogurt. (He was an idiot which is why he's an ex.) @Obsidian have you tried using the yogurt you make as culture for the next batch? I had always wanted to do it but never did, always bought new yogurt. I haven't tried this yet in my instant pot - hubby and the stepkids go through milk way too fast (I used to make yogurt to use up milk before it would spoil because my kids and I do not drink a lot of milk, but we love milk products).

@Misschief I had booch get mold last winter too - discovered that the brand of water I was using had floaties in it (not sure what they were, but they should not have been there), once I switched water brands it wasn't a problem again. What were you experimenting with? Curious cat that I am.
 
@amd I haven't used my homemade yogurt as a culture but I plan to once I start making it regularly. You can just freeze some in a ice cube tray.

Ends up I bought the wrong instant pot, mine doesn't have the yogurt setting so I have to borrow my daughters when I want to make some.

I'm going to get a 3 quart pot for yogurt, rice and other small side dishes.
 
@Misschief I had booch get mold last winter too - discovered that the brand of water I was using had floaties in it (not sure what they were, but they should not have been there), once I switched water brands it wasn't a problem again. What were you experimenting with? Curious cat that I am.

It wasn't anything dramatic, amd. I just used starter liquid in this batch, no scoby. I have a feeling my starter liquid was a little too weak, though. I should have added a little bit from one of my scoby hotels.
 
Eww. Definitely mold, misschief. I was pleased with my first 2 batches of booch until we took a two day trip and was drinking GT's on the road. How can we get it like GT's??
 
I think GT's has something to do with the kiwi juice they use when fermenting. I believe they use that in place of sugar. Their black tea to green tea ratio will also impact the taste.
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I noticed a huge difference in flavor between the commercial tea I get here in the US compared to the tea I got in China (China's tea was better kombucha flavor), so tea source is a factor I think. I have more tea coming from China in 2 weeks, so I'm holding off my brewing until then. I still have my last batch bottled and sitting in the fridge, untouched because it's disgusting. I made the mistake of flavoring with my mom's beet jelly... so not a good idea... I can't bring myself to dump it out though.
 
I think GT's has something to do with the kiwi juice they use when fermenting. I believe they use that in place of sugar. Their black tea to green tea ratio will also impact the taste.
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I noticed a huge difference in flavor between the commercial tea I get here in the US compared to the tea I got in China (China's tea was better kombucha flavor), so tea source is a factor I think. I have more tea coming from China in 2 weeks, so I'm holding off my brewing until then. I still have my last batch bottled and sitting in the fridge, untouched because it's disgusting. I made the mistake of flavoring with my mom's beet jelly... so not a good idea... I can't bring myself to dump it out though.

Yes I noticed too that kiwi juice is in all their different kinds in the culture and sugar is not listed.
I never like to buy edibles from China as their track record in the food industry scares me.
Eww. beet jelly. I flavour each bottle differently. Avocado is disgusting, neither will I do prune juice again.
 
I think you all convinced me to hop on the kombucha wagon. My first tasting of the store bought variety several years ago was not to my liking as it was very sour with a lot of carbonation.

Last week, I attended a kombucha class of a colleague who had learned to make soap from me. I tasted hers; it was mild and a little sweet, no carbonation. I wondered if it had actually gone through the fermentation process so I jumped on this forum topic and read from beginning to end.

My friend doesn’t take hers through a second fermentation or add extra flavoring. She uses an unrefined sugar (both of those factors contribute to little/no carbonation, if I understand correctly). After 10 days of the first fermentation, she has a lovely SCOBY and starts the process again or sticks hers in a hotel until she’s ready to make more.

I will be acquiring a SCOBY (and yes, I still really want to pronounce it Scooby), does everyone send theirs through a second fermentation (or only if they want carbonation)? Also, does the Mother always retire to a hotel and you only use the baby SCOBY for the next brewing batch? I also want to thank everyone for the book recommendation... I will order it before I proceed any farther.
 
Personally, I like to give it a bit of a second fermentation, just cuz I like a little fizz (I don't drink soft drinks) and I like the extra flavouring. That's the great thing about making it yourself; you can make it the way you want it.

As far as the Mother goes, in the beginning, I was pretty anal about the Scoby and I'd religiously put the mother in the hotel and use just the baby. Now, I'll often put both into the new batch. If your starter liquid is strong enough, technically, you don't even need a Scoby. However, if your starter isn't strong enough, you could be inviting mold (see up thread).

I've cut back quite a bit on my kombucha brewing lately because my grandkids aren't around any more (they both love it!) and I make way more than I can drink by myself. I also have two Scoby hotels that I need to refresh
 
I'm enjoying this adventure very much. Like you @AKelly75, when I tasted store booch I wasn't impressed. So I thought I'd get my probiotics somewhere else. Until this thread came up.

I created my own SCOBY using sweet tea and half a bottle of store booch. (organic, raw). From there I made my first batch. Since the first scoby was only as large around as a wide mouth quart jar it took a while to make 3/4 gallon of booch. But when I did the second and third batches I used all the scobys that were generated thus far. I will soon have to make a hotel. I'm only on my 3rd batch.

I do a second ferment so I can flavour each bottle differently and see what I like and also get a little fizz. I don't like to swallow air so I only like a little carbonation which gives it a pleasant tingle, not a burning that makes your eyes water! Mine also is a little sweeter than the bought. But there is always a way to remedy what you don't like. Before I could drink any of mine I used the bought and stirred out the carbonation I didn't want and added a touch of stevia. That was delicious.

The book is well worth the price.
 
Is there any specific kind of black tea that any of you prefer? I've been using darjeeling as per recommendations from The Big Book of Kombucha. They also list other types that are the best for booch. Orange Pekoe is not mentioned. I'm wondering why. I'm looking for a stronger flavour.
 
I still have to learn when to bottle it for my taste; I tend to let it go too long and I really don't like it when it's too sour. I also make water kefir and it's more popular around here than kombucha; even my husband likes it.

Waaah I keep killing my water kefir grains. I can NOT figure out what's wrong, but I finally had to stop making it as it was too depressing.
Kombucha, which I don't like near so much, I have no problem keeping alive....
 

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