Joanne McCartney

I think I just threw them in with some brown rice that I was preparing. It was several months ago.

Judith, I haven't fermented grains to eat, but I have sprouted and fermented buckwheat and quinoa (separately) to make Rejuvelac. You can read about it here: http://www.rawmazing.com/rejuvelac/ if you're unfamiliar. I used the rejuvelac to make a vegan cheese.

John Elliott wrote:

Joanne McCartney wrote: I don't suppose just washing it with clear water and starting over would help?

I don't think so. These yeasts we are talking about are not much bigger than white blood cells. They float through the air with the greatest of ease and can hide in really tiny places on your scoby. If they have decided this is a good place to set up camp and get into a commensal relationship with some Kombucha fungi, they are going to be very hard to evict.

But look on the bright side, you can be the first on your block with naturally carbonated Kombucha. Add some sugar to it, and they may even give it a bit of a kick.

I'm thinking I'll just keep it going. Actually the fizz is nice and the taste is good. It's still got a little sweetness to it. I drank some more tonight. I guess I'll see what happens. If you don't see me here again you'll know what advice to give the next person with fizzy kombucha on the first ferment. Come to think of it my tongue feels a little prickly. Probably just the power of suggestion. Or maybe it's because of the salt and vinegar potato chips I ate last night.

Thank you for your reply, John. I drank about 4 ounces of it that's been refrigerated overnight and it tastes fine. Just a nice light fizz, maybe just a little more than normal. I'll see if it has any effect on me. I didn't die from what I drank yesterday, also a small amount. I have a half galln container that is still brewing which seems very fizzy too. I may let it go another day or two and see what happens.

I used the scoby from the fizzy one to make another batch yesterday. I guess I should probably throw that out. But I hate to dump the scoby. I grew the scobies from part of a bottle of commercial stuff and it took over a month. The one I'm using now is the baby and grand baby of that one. It looks so nice and healthy that I would hate to start over. I don't suppose just washing it with clear water and starting over would help?

The cheesecloth I used for these two batches was a little thin. I wonder if that would have let in more undesirables?

John, is it still ok to drink? Will refrigerating it make a difference? I used the remainder to start a new batch, making some more tea, etc. Should I not have used it? Will the yeast affect the scoby? Sorry for all the questions. I'm new to this. It's only my 3rd batch.

I made some kombucha with mostly decaf and a couple caf green tea bags. On Day 8 it tastes sweet/tart tastes ok. The scoby looks good. But it is very fizzy, more so than even after bottling and letting former batches sit a couple days. It foams up when I pour it in a small pitcher in preparation for filling the bottles. Is this ok? Why is it so fizzy, anyone know? It tastes ok and don't think I taste alcohol. It's maybe a little lighter tasting than with the black tea.

Temps were about 75 - 88 F I think.

A jacket? Eeewwww! That sounds gross!

Amos Burkey wrote:

Joanne McCartney wrote:Scarlet, do you just store hem with the brown sugar and water or with tea as well? I would like to store mine and keep them as well. I did discard the first one because it wasn't very big and looked kind of lumpy.

You can store your SCOBY for 4-6 weeks at a time by placing it in a fresh sugar/tea solution. You can then replace about 80% of the liquid with new sugar/tea solution and go another 4-6 weeks.

If you have more than 2 extra SCOBY's, share with a friend or neighbor. Kombucha for everyone!

Most of my friends think both the scoby an I are very strange and they think I will die of botulism any day now.

Scarlet, do you just store hem with the brown sugar and water or with tea as well? I would like to store mine and keep them as well. I did discard the first one because it wasn't very big and looked kind of lumpy.

My first batch of kombucha was finished yesterday and I put it in bottles. It tastes wonderful, though maybe a little sweeter than the store bought stuff. I could probably have waited another day or two. And I have a nice new scoby. I threw the old one out because it wasn't as fully formed and as thick as this new one. I have another batch started now. I think it took a full week for this last batch to be ready. I'm so excited that it actually worked! Now I can keep making more.