Roman, your comment made me go to Al Gore's Information Superhighway to see what *are* the food sources of K2, anyway? (I take a daily D3/K2 supplement, but also get out in the sun) And lo and behold, they're animal and fermented foods, and it's not inherent in them, but created by the bacteria. For a physician with a life-long interest in food and nutrition, I am so, way, behind.
Roman, your comment made me go to Al Gore's Information Superhighway to see what *are* the food sources of K2, anyway? (I take a daily D3/K2 supplement, but also get out in the sun) And lo and behold, they're animal and fermented foods, and it's not inherent in them, but created by the bacteria. For a physician with a life-long interest in food and nutrition, I am so, way, behind.
I have a source for traditional sauerkraut and I use that. I don’t like kimchis. I used to make my own kombucha. But I killed the SCOBY and never tried again. I had quite the bottling factory going on in my kitchen. LOL. I make smoothies with milk kefir I can buy unflavored, but I need to check if it’s pasteurized. I would think that would kill the good bugs.
Hmmm, kombucha? I just started some again for the 3rd or 4th time. I’m limited on sources of good bacteria because cabbage doesn’t agree with me, nor does dairy. I thought kefir might be different but no. The thing about kombucha that I question is the sugar content. My homemade is much sweeter than the bottled products.
I don't know what recipe you use so can't say for sure what results you might get. Typically, a longer fermentation results in less sweet, more tart, the yeast continuing consume the sugar. Suggest experimenting. Maybe try 3-5 more days than the fermentation you've been using? Then taste test. Or go longer? Just a thought. As a basis for comparison, I use 1.25 c (organic cane) sugar/gallon AND add 1/4 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (yes, at the beginning of the ferment) for acidity, no vinegar. I also don't use a SCOBY; never have. Use a different fermentation setup. Don't know if lemon juice is practical w a SCOBY. -?
Thanks for your reply - interesting! I’ll bet you’re right about the longer fermentation to eat up the sugar. My recipe is 3 quarts filtered water, 1 cup organic cane sugar, boil sugar & water 5 min. remove from heat and add tea bags (I use 3 Newman’s organic black) steep 15 minutes then allow to cool completely. Pour into sterile gallon jar, add 1-2 cups of starter from previous batch and scoby.
I’ve heard of using vinegar instead of the starter but never of making it without a scoby, or with lemon juice- so interesting! I’ve always loved lemon in tea anyway so I think I’ll try your method next time. Does it form a scoby without adding one? And how many days do you typically allow it to ferment? My first batch was 14 days.
I use 10-12 teabags/gallon filtered water in a glass gallon jar (old pickle jar) and set it in the sun, covered (screw top) for several hours, all year long. No boiling. Sun tea. (Solar energy is a thing. Even cloudy days - it's only light out because my part of the earth is facing the ol' homestar which never quits - though bright sunlight is best.) Then flavor the tea with the required sugar, the not-required lemon juice though I learned way back that some acid is best for flavor balance not so much necessary for fermentation. This goes into a glass gallon jug (via funnel). Then, shy of filling to the neck, I inoculate with existing kombucha, which I've bottled from previous brews. There's millions of organisms in a 16 oz bottle, plenty to populate a new brew and reproduce. Then fill into the neck but not all the way to the lip. This gets capped with a stopper with a trap and release for the gas produced; some will escape to release pressure (otherwise the bottle would explode), some is trapped. No SCOBY forms. Usually 10 days fermenting. I used a balloon, just a regular rubber balloon, over the top of the jug when I first started. The balloon inflates as the ferment progresses producing gas. It traps the gas and just keeps expanding throughout the fermentation. If it doesn't expand, which happened a couple of times, don't know why, then there's no fermenting going on.
If you want to feel safe about it, you can get the procedure I've described from the guy who "invented" it. (I think he must have had a moment of inspiration or something. Like: Hey, wine ferments in bottles; there must be a way to do this kombucha thing in a narrow neck bottle. - I don't know. Just guessing.) I think you have to purchase his cultures to get access to this Easy Brew Method (I think that's what he calls it). His website: https://kombuchaamerica.com/ One thing's for sure: it's sure a he** of a lot cheaper to DIY compared to retail products. Not to mention, everyone I serve it to (even when flavored with berry juices or ginger juice or pick your flavor) comments it's better tasting than store-bought. Love the stuff.
Roman, your comment made me go to Al Gore's Information Superhighway to see what *are* the food sources of K2, anyway? (I take a daily D3/K2 supplement, but also get out in the sun) And lo and behold, they're animal and fermented foods, and it's not inherent in them, but created by the bacteria. For a physician with a life-long interest in food and nutrition, I am so, way, behind.
I have a source for traditional sauerkraut and I use that. I don’t like kimchis. I used to make my own kombucha. But I killed the SCOBY and never tried again. I had quite the bottling factory going on in my kitchen. LOL. I make smoothies with milk kefir I can buy unflavored, but I need to check if it’s pasteurized. I would think that would kill the good bugs.
Hmmm, kombucha? I just started some again for the 3rd or 4th time. I’m limited on sources of good bacteria because cabbage doesn’t agree with me, nor does dairy. I thought kefir might be different but no. The thing about kombucha that I question is the sugar content. My homemade is much sweeter than the bottled products.
I don't know what recipe you use so can't say for sure what results you might get. Typically, a longer fermentation results in less sweet, more tart, the yeast continuing consume the sugar. Suggest experimenting. Maybe try 3-5 more days than the fermentation you've been using? Then taste test. Or go longer? Just a thought. As a basis for comparison, I use 1.25 c (organic cane) sugar/gallon AND add 1/4 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (yes, at the beginning of the ferment) for acidity, no vinegar. I also don't use a SCOBY; never have. Use a different fermentation setup. Don't know if lemon juice is practical w a SCOBY. -?
Thanks for your reply - interesting! I’ll bet you’re right about the longer fermentation to eat up the sugar. My recipe is 3 quarts filtered water, 1 cup organic cane sugar, boil sugar & water 5 min. remove from heat and add tea bags (I use 3 Newman’s organic black) steep 15 minutes then allow to cool completely. Pour into sterile gallon jar, add 1-2 cups of starter from previous batch and scoby.
I’ve heard of using vinegar instead of the starter but never of making it without a scoby, or with lemon juice- so interesting! I’ve always loved lemon in tea anyway so I think I’ll try your method next time. Does it form a scoby without adding one? And how many days do you typically allow it to ferment? My first batch was 14 days.
I use 10-12 teabags/gallon filtered water in a glass gallon jar (old pickle jar) and set it in the sun, covered (screw top) for several hours, all year long. No boiling. Sun tea. (Solar energy is a thing. Even cloudy days - it's only light out because my part of the earth is facing the ol' homestar which never quits - though bright sunlight is best.) Then flavor the tea with the required sugar, the not-required lemon juice though I learned way back that some acid is best for flavor balance not so much necessary for fermentation. This goes into a glass gallon jug (via funnel). Then, shy of filling to the neck, I inoculate with existing kombucha, which I've bottled from previous brews. There's millions of organisms in a 16 oz bottle, plenty to populate a new brew and reproduce. Then fill into the neck but not all the way to the lip. This gets capped with a stopper with a trap and release for the gas produced; some will escape to release pressure (otherwise the bottle would explode), some is trapped. No SCOBY forms. Usually 10 days fermenting. I used a balloon, just a regular rubber balloon, over the top of the jug when I first started. The balloon inflates as the ferment progresses producing gas. It traps the gas and just keeps expanding throughout the fermentation. If it doesn't expand, which happened a couple of times, don't know why, then there's no fermenting going on.
If you want to feel safe about it, you can get the procedure I've described from the guy who "invented" it. (I think he must have had a moment of inspiration or something. Like: Hey, wine ferments in bottles; there must be a way to do this kombucha thing in a narrow neck bottle. - I don't know. Just guessing.) I think you have to purchase his cultures to get access to this Easy Brew Method (I think that's what he calls it). His website: https://kombuchaamerica.com/ One thing's for sure: it's sure a he** of a lot cheaper to DIY compared to retail products. Not to mention, everyone I serve it to (even when flavored with berry juices or ginger juice or pick your flavor) comments it's better tasting than store-bought. Love the stuff.
Thank you for this - love it!
Al Gore's Information Superhighway. 😂🤣
You are not alone!