Well, after a not-so-hot start (I put herbal tea instead of green or black tea! ), I finally got my kombucha on the right track. It's been about 12 days now and it's looking real good! Yay!
How do I know that it's ready for consumption, though?
Also, I'm not so clear as to what to do with the culture. Do I just start another batch right away?
I've made kombucha before and my good friend Jay drinks on average 16 oz of the stuff each day and has for the last 10 years. I've learned a lot from him about it. I made it for 4-5 months last year and then didn't stick with it, but one way to know if it is ready is to just taste it. Do you like the way it tastes? The effervescence will build up more later, so its really the flavor that you want to pay attention to. Is it too sour and vinegary or maybe too sweet...If it is too sweet, keep it going. If it is too tangy, maybe it went too long. Half the fun of kombucha is all the experimenting you get to do. I got carried away when I was doing it and at one point I had 4-5 batches of it going at the same time. My friend joked that I had a kombucha factory at my house. I did different things to each one. To build up the effervescence, bottle it and then leave it at room temperature. Experiment with different periods of time after it is bottled.
I've always started my next batch right away. Its not a must, I think you can leave it out for a day or two as long as it has a little of the tea juice to feed on. I don't claim to be an expert, but I believe that to maximize the health of your culture, it is best to make a habit of having your next batch of tea ready for the culture immediately after you harvest your last batch. But you can always play around with that too, of course!
Here is a little tip of my own: after you harvest, but before you bottle, add some concentrated fruit juice or herbal essence oil, like mint, to create different flavors!!! ENJOY!
Thanks for the info. It does taste a little vinegry so I probably had it fermenting too long... Ah well, it was a bit of a rocky start so that's alright. I guess we could add sweetener to it just before drinking.
Got my sweetened tea all brewed up and am about to start my second batch. I know thet say a second culture should grow on top of the first one. How are you supposed to separate them so that you can give one away? Anyways, can't really see it so it's hard for me to picture how to go about this.
Oh yeah, and one more question, what do I do with the thick whitish gelly-like layer that formed over the tea? Do I just compost it?
Thanks again!
Damzlfly,
Will do as soon as I can figure out how it works! I've heard that it can be dehydrated, as long as it's done at low temps... Sure would make it easier to ship!
Where I live it gets really hot in the summer, so anything more than a 7 day brew tastes really gross. Way too tangy. Sometimes I was harvesting my kombucha after 6 days. In the winter, I let it go for 7-8 days. How long you brew the kombucha for depends on so many different things. At the Whole Foods near me, there is something called GT's kombucha for sale and their label mentions something about 28 days. I was like, "28 DAYS"!!! Theirs is super effervescent. Almost painfully so. You can't gulp it, thats for sure. The homebrew I was making was much softer and milder, which is how i prefer it, though I like the stuff from the store, too.
But here is what it sounds like to me...if I were you, I would consider not drinking your first batch. There are several reasons for this. You mentioned your culture didn't make a healthy baby, just a thin one (thats what that top layer of slime was - I would throw it away). This happens occasionally if the conditions aren't perfect for a good brew. Secondly, in most of the literature that I have come across, the first brew is helping your culture to just get back on its feet. It was transfered to you from someone somehow and so it was probably not in its ideal environment for a while. So for the first, and maybe even the second and third batches, it may still be fixing itself up and getting back into shape, so to speak. This is pretty normal.
The second culture will grow on top of the first. It will be very easy to separate. The second culture (aka kombucha baby) is basically just layers and layers of more of the culture that grow into each other, if that makes any sense. Since your mother culture didn't produce but a wimpy version of this, things aren't quite right or "aligned" yet, if you will.
Also, make sure your kombucha culture can breathe well. Did you cover it with a thin cloth? I think it also likes the dark. Mine didn't like being on top of dehydrators. Put it in a special place because they say that your kombucha absorbs the essence of where you put it. I'm sure though, that if it is anywhere in your house, it is in an ideal loving atmosphere!
This has answered a lot of my questions! I think I'll go ahead and throw out that first batch. I can totally connect with the mushroom's need to recover from the trauma of transportation, etc.
I had already put some of the tea as a starter for my next batch so hopefully that won't harm it. I just put about a cup or so.
What about the white layer that covers the whole tea (mine was perhaps 1/4 " thick)? Is that part of the mushroom too? (although it doesn't look like it and is much bigger.) I'm attaching a photo I've gotten somewhere which shows what I'm talking about...
As far as covering it up goes, I put a cheesecloth and then a towel on top to make it darker. Oh, and it was sitting on the hot water boiler which isn't the ideal spot, I guess. But I think I know just the place to put it...
Hopefully my new little friend will start feeling better!
Damzlfly,
Will do as soon as I can figure out how it works! I've heard that it can be dehydrated, as long as it's done at low temps... Sure would make it easier to ship!
"I had already put some of the tea as a starter for my next batch so hopefully that won't harm it. I just put about a cup or so." ...should be fine...
The white layer is your baby mushroom. Each time you harvest a batch of Kbucha, you should get a brand new mushroom culture on top of the old one. You can give it to someone else, compost it, replace your old mushroom with the new one, or double your operation.
Try keeping the towel off and maybe doubling or tripling up on the cheesecloth, or using a layer of thin cotton material to cover it instead. This will let your tea and mushroom breathe better.
I took care of your angry face. I had a feeling as well that you didn't really mean it to be there in the first place...
OK, about quoting: just paste the quote as you've been doing. Then select it and click on the little 'quote/bubble' icon in the editing tools just above the message box (4th one from the right). That should do it!
Quote:
The white layer is your baby mushroom. Each time you harvest a batch of Kbucha, you should get a brand new mushroom culture on top of the old one. You can give it to someone else, compost it, replace your old mushroom with the new one, or double your operation.
Wow! I didn't realise! It's just so much bigger than the original one... I mean, in terms of circumference. I had left it out in a dish with a tiny bit of liquid, thinking I was gonna toast it anyways. Do you think it can be salvaged?
Wow! I didn't realise! It's just so much bigger than the original one... I mean, in terms of circumference. I had left it out in a dish with a tiny bit of liquid, thinking I was gonna toast it anyways. Do you think it can be salvaged?
(YESSS!! I think I got this quote thing licked )
Yes, the baby will assume the shape of the container you put it in. If the container has a large circumference, then so will the K-baby. If you continued to use the same container, that is the shape that your cultures will be from now on. Larger circumference is better anyway-->more ability to breathe. Your baby probably is salvagable. (that sounds a little funny, doesn't it?). Its up to you. Like I said, play around. Experiment. Give in to your Inner Kitchen Scientist whenever the urge strikes you! Also keep in mind that too much contact with air will encourage contamination of your cutlure, so its all about finding the Happy In Betweens
Is my Kombucha Tea ready?
), I finally got my kombucha on the right track. It's been about 12 days now and it's looking real good! Yay!
I just put about a cup or so.
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