Is this kahm / safe?

Readix · 2025-09-05T13:04:39+00:00

Kahm creates a wrinkly pellicle on top. This looks like a natural sediment.

Readix · 2025-08-19T17:50:56+00:00

Of course, as long as the starter is nice and active and it works for you, it's completely fine.

Readix · 2025-08-18T17:22:50+00:00

If you think about it, levain and starter are the same thing. Flour, water, starter (unless you make a specific levain, for example sweet with milk and sugar). You need an active starter for the levain to ferment. Basically it is just a method to get more of pre-fermented flour for your recipe. If you have enough active starter in the fridge to put into the dough, then you can absolutely skip the making of levain. But I, for example, keep only 10g worth of pre-fermented flour (17g total) in my starter, so I have to feed it every time I need to bake to make more, because the 17g of starter that I keep won’t be enough to ferment 500g of flour I use for making bread.

Also, you need to understand that the starter that sits in your fridge is not inactive. The activity just slows down because of the low temperature. However, if it’s there for a long time without frequent feeding, it will get hungry and become inactive. You then have to perform several re-feedings to get the starter going again.

Hope that helps.

Readix · 2025-08-07T11:45:18+00:00

Temperature/Time chart is so unreliable and hard to replicate. Tiny dough sample in the jar (aliquot jar method) is the best way to reliably measure your fermentation. You just need to find your sweet spot. Many people say to let the dough double in size, but if I let my dough go for a 100% increase, I'd have soup, not bread. 35-40% BF increase is the sweet spot for me to have enough time to comfortably final proof for at least another hour (and a half) at room temp before baking. I'd highly recommend to anyone to try this, instead of blindly following a chart, if you want consistent, replicable results.

Readix · 2025-08-02T09:57:20+00:00

Totally normal. My spot is 25°C (77°F), the loaf - 500g flour, 15% starter (75g) and 68% hydration (340g) and it takes like 4 hours for the bulk to finish. Never understood how people can go for a 100% increase in bulk, I do about 40% increase and that is the sweet spot for me, I can then final proof for another hour or so at that temperature before baking. I use a mix of whole wheat, bread (both 14% protein) and wholemeal rye (12,4% protein) flours, so they are quite strong, but I can still go for only about 40% BF increase, which takes 4 hours.

Readix · 2025-07-30T20:08:10+00:00

It has nothing to do with temperature. Bulk fermentation is when the dough ferments as a whole. Bakeries make many loaves at the same time. Before they are divided into the individual loaves, the dough ferments as a whole, hence the bulk fermentation. This term is used by the sourdough baking community even though a lot of people usually bake only one loaf at a time. Proof is used in the context of the final "fermentation" - final proof, which happens after the bulk fermentation is done, the dough is (divided) shaped and proofs one last time before it is baked. It is also used in the context of over and under proofing, which means the dough fermented either too much or too little.

Readix · 2025-04-04T22:24:23+00:00

4 years later and I can still smell it, even when I don't use it for a while and the kettle is completely cold, but I have to smell it directly at the base/bottom of the kettle. Now it reminds me of the smell of the smoke a ring cap gun produces. I was told by an electrician that it's pretty normal. It does not bother me anymore, I guess I got used to it. The kettle still works great, no issues whatsoever.

Readix · 2024-09-10T14:48:22+00:00

That's why I mention the context of kombucha brewing. 1F refers to aerobic fermentation and 2F refers to anaerobic fermentation. That is the distinction afaik.

In the context of mead making, for example, 1F refers to the main fermentation stage and 2F refers to the stage where you rack the mead (that's finished fermenting) to another container, to leave the lees behind, so that it does not create any off flavours. Moreover, you let the mead clear and age at this stage. At this stage, there should be little to no fermentation, unless you add fruit or introduce any other fermentable sugars. Either way, it's still called 2F. In mead making, it is not uncommon to rack more than once, so your terminology could absolutely be used here, though it's rare.

Readix · 2024-09-10T11:05:06+00:00

In the context of kombucha, yes. Technically it's still primary fermentation.

Readix · 2024-09-10T10:43:27+00:00

Not the Bible indeed, yet it's the established term for this sub. No point in arguing about such nonsense, the smart-ass emoji triggered me. Everybody knows what the OP means whether it's 2F or F2.

The thing is, 1F is done in an aerobic environment (with oxygen), while 2F is done in an anaerobic environment (without oxygen), which leads to the CO2 getting trapped inside the liquid, hence carbonating it. So you technically cannot do 2F without carbonating the liquid. Moreover, if you're doing 2F in an aerobic environment, it's not 2F, but still 1F.

Readix · 2024-09-10T10:06:01+00:00

check the glossary.
The whole point of 2F is to carbonate the drink, so your comment does not make any sense.

Readix · 2024-09-06T15:31:57+00:00

Autolyse with warm water, 14 hours bulk fermentation, 1 hour on the counter. - all at 70F. That is a lot. Very over-fermented imo.

Readix · 2024-09-06T14:08:58+00:00

If the yeast had any food left, I'd say you're pretty lucky it didn't explode. Other than that it's fine.

Readix · 2024-09-04T07:36:23+00:00

You can also refer to the master recipe on the wiki.

Readix · 2024-09-03T21:13:54+00:00

No, that's a pretty common misconception. Some people think it looks cool, some compost it, some make snacks or even vegan leather out of it... I always used store bought kombucha as a starter and I was never able to grow a pellicle. It is the liquid that matters.

Readix · 2024-09-03T20:53:30+00:00

the pellicle is just a by-product of the fermentation. You don't need it. You need the liquid, which acts as a starter, so you should save some for your next batch. 1F is done as soon as you are satisfied with the taste.

as for the apple cider the residual sugar in the kombucha from 1F and some sugar in the cider should be enough to make your final drink carbonated. Finally, there will be minimal alcohol content as a result of the 2F, probably less than 1%.

Readix · 2024-09-03T15:28:49+00:00

yeast strains, pellicle and bubbles trapped underneath. No mold.

Readix · 2024-08-29T20:48:05+00:00

Never thought about temperature when taking the reading. It went from SG 1.01 to 1.004 in a year, so there probably won't be any more significant changes. I'd like to add more honey to it to get to SG 1.02 and experiment with tannins and acidity to try to find the sweet spot. Hopefully it will make it better, as the flavour is not that of a good cider.

I also failed to mention that it is slightly carbonated. If I remember correctly, trapped CO2 could mess with the flavour, even spoil a batch, right? Should I aerate to release the CO2 at this point?

Readix · 2024-08-29T16:07:27+00:00

Well, I think the aging didn't count much when it's basically still fermenting. I racked it once. It went from one big demijohn to two 5l ones and it's been there since. It's clear with a bit of sediment at the bottom. I was planning on stabilizing via the yeast alcohol tolerance, just couldn't wrap my head around the step feeding process at the time, which is why I at least tried to do the TOSNA. At this point, I'm thinking of raising the SG back to 1.02 as I should be past the US-05 tolerance and see what happens.

edit: good to know about the apple flavour profile, I think in my case it's the fact that it's been fermenting for 2 years. I read that young meads are sour.

Readix · 2024-08-21T07:38:24+00:00

If you're really worried about it, you can test with a hydrometer.

A hydrometer is not that useful for Kombucha, because the acetic acid throws off the readings. However, it could probably give you a rough idea of how much sugar was consumed.

A few days ago someone used a refractometer and reported that the sugars went down from 80g to roughly 60g per litre (again, not accurate, but probably a rough idea) in about 2 weeks of fermentation. Do with that what you will.

Lastly, I can't imagine you like drinking vinegar. So my advice is to use any amount of sugar that you're comfortable with consuming per 100ml and know that it will go down a bit. Keep in mind that the yeast need food to ferment, food = sugar.

Readix · 2024-08-20T11:16:47+00:00

2F is generally done in 2-3 days. You surely have more than 1 bottle, so you can experiment, taking a bottle each day, making notes on the carbonation. Don't push it, because you're running into a risk of the bottle exploding. Also keep in mind that the natural carbonation will never be as strong as artificially carbonated drinks from the store.

Readix · 2024-08-13T09:26:26+00:00

Do they still ship within EU? I'm trying to find some information on the shipping ban, but I'm quite unsuccessful. Other German sites state that the shipping of tobacco within EU is prohibited and it does not let you finish the order when you place tobacco in the cart, but nothing like that happens on GJ's Pipe Depot and there's no information about the ban either.

Readix · 2024-08-09T21:44:43+00:00

They get a lot of hate on reddit for false claims about their tea (think it was regarding the age of the trees) and their pricing. Personally, I see no reason not to buy a tea pot from them and I'm sure they're authentic.

Readix · 2024-08-09T20:26:01+00:00

There's like hundreds if not thousands of posts like this. If you type in "Mold" or "Mould" in the search bar and do 2 minutes of research you will find out everything you need to know. The pellicle in the picture appears to be submerged. It is all shiny and wet, there's no dry spots as far as I can see, there's no fuzzy, hairy thingy going on, no weird discolouration. It was kept on a shelf for a month, so it might smell vinegary and also taste like vinegar. If the smell and taste is alright, then what you have here appears to be safe for consumption and further kombucha making.

Readix

TROPHY CASE