kombucha
does anyone here brew kombucha? ive been at this for a few months and my scoby is a thin, breakable, haggard looking thing. however i started with a thick, healthy piece of scoby i got from a professional brewer. im using yunnan black tea, and surely enough sugar, and for long enough periods. any ideas?
I’ve been brewing kombucha for a few years. It seems to do well with sheng puerh. Try to find something organic & make sure to sterilise well.
Here in Malaysia there’s small fruit flies who try to squeeze their way under the covering. I’ve had a couple of occasions where they’ve laid eggs ontop of the scoby and I’ve had to discard batches where maggots have broken out.
In the UK where it was cooler, mould was the primary cause of failure. A heating tray solved that problem. It might also help with your thin scoby, giving a steady raised temperature.
Apart from that, it’s been great. I love kombucha – it feels very good for the body and a glass in the morning is a very nice way to start the day.
Sheng pu-erh, oolong, black tea or green tea will work well. Sheng mao cha is probably the most ideal option but Yunnan black tea makes a killer bucha too. What’s the tenperature looking like? Is your jar in the sun? It should be in a dark place with temps at least 70F (high 70s is ideal).
Here’s a little article I wrote on it. I’d recommend switching your tea to a different black tea or a sheng and seeing how it works from there :-) http://whisperingpinestea.com/kombucha
maybe ill try sheng next time. i keep my jars in a cupboard below the counter, no light gets in and the temp is a comfortable room temp.. i dont know the exact temperature tho. great guide, thanks. i use the single batch rotation method.
Hello fellow Vancouver Person. :) I’ve done it a couple times, and haven’t had any problems. I used green tea and organic cane sugar. Definitely make sure it’s being kept warm enough – I kept mine on top of my fridge, since that tends to be warmer. And then I discovered I don’t really like kombucha.
dont like kombucha?- you craze. looks like i may need to switch to organic cane sugar, and if that dosnt work- different tea type. btw how long do you think it takes to coldbrew sheng? cus i coldbrew my kombu sweet tea.
It’s possible that the actual issue is the coldbrewing. I’d assume that kombucha requires a hot water extraction. Give that a try and see if that fixes the issue :-)
i will have to try that. however coldbrewing was recommended by a brewmaster at the tea bar i got my scoby from. it may be that either indeed the hot water extraction is the only way to bring out enough of the teas properties for the buch, or i need to coldbrew longer than overnight. i’ll experiment.
Did you get it from O5? You could just try contacting them and asking how long they cold brew. And I know… don’t like kombucha. There’s one grapefruit one that’s OK, but I’d rather just have a cider.
I bought a couple bottles of GT’s Kombucha while I was out of town yesterday, and I liked it enough that I’m sitting here looking at the little bit of SCOBY in my jar going “I wonder if I could grow a proper SCOBY out of you and then make my own kombucha”. I don’t have any large glass jars though. Hmmmm…
Hello, I believe your concerns have been put to rest. I have been brewing Kombucha for a year now and have recently started my Jun Tea batches. If your SCOBY is not growing well, it could be a sign of temperature as pointed out already or it could also be the quality/quantity of tea.
I have written my Jun Tea experience in a company blog. I hope it helps.
https://www.vahdamteas.com/blogs/recipes/we-brewed-jun-tea-and-discovered-the-ultimate-recipe-to-brew-a-perfect-batch
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