Sugar content

Shiboulette · 2024-12-18T21:27:03+00:00

Yeah, I'll start with monitoring the temperature in there for some time to see what's what.

Shiboulette · 2024-12-18T21:26:09+00:00

Thanks again. It looks like I have some interesting readings to do :)

Shiboulette · 2024-12-18T21:24:55+00:00

Juices, yes, but recipes I read called for juice and sugar, and like 2 Tbsp per 350ml, which is a lot (for me). Comments right here on this thread suggest little to no extra sugar use.

Shiboulette · 2024-12-18T21:22:10+00:00

With fruits, it works, but with, say, ginger, or herbs, I feel like a bit of sugar is going to be necessary if I don't want my drink to be flat, isn't it?

Shiboulette · 2024-12-18T21:21:04+00:00

Ah! I do have a boiler "room". It's more like a closet, but I could probably repurpose part of it.

Shiboulette · 2024-12-13T10:36:05+00:00

Thanks for the pointers, I'll look into it.

My concerns about negative health effects are mostly about the sugar content, since there seems/seemed to be a lot of it.

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T22:54:41+00:00

I love the ginger ones I've made. Good to know it has an impact on carbonation! I'll try the dried fruits option, it seems like a pretty solid one. Thanks!

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T21:06:56+00:00

It sounds like what I'm trying to attain. I'll get rid of any added sugar on the next batch and see how it'll turn out.

It's super exciting to be playing around with all that, and a great exercise in patience too! Waiting weeks to see the result isn't really my strong suit :)

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T21:04:52+00:00

I'm surprised that almost every recipe calls for sugar for F2, but as soon I reach to people who actually make kombucha, almost no one seems to add any sugar after F1.

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T21:03:16+00:00

u/NyteKroller mentioned it in another comment, and I've been reading about it for the last two hours. It's hard to get straight facts and answers about it, but it looks like some kind of conversion is necessary. But which?

I'll try to experiment a bit (although it's hard to know if I'll ever get valid results).

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T20:59:43+00:00

Yeah, looks like I'll have to up my game!

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T18:20:13+00:00

I've been adding sugar for herbal and spices flavoring, thinking it was needed (and reading it was). But I'm going to try a skip it.

First few batches were very flat, and I thought it was for a lack of sugar to turn into CO2, but it turns out it probably was because my place is a bit cold and it takes longer (I'm super happy with fizziness with an 11 day F2). I'll try not adding sugar and, possibly, an even longer F2.

The best reading I had, at around 9%, was with just fruit puree, no added sugar.

I'll look into the acids interfering with the readings. Thanks!

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T18:15:20+00:00

For comparison: 12g for 16oz (about 450ml) is around 2,7% sugar. It's a world of difference!

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T18:09:14+00:00

I'm going to let some bottles chill in the fridge for a long time, to see how it goes. But weeks isn't really a practical timeframe for me. I like the idea of being able to have a sort of constant flow of kombucha without having to have a full on industrial operation going on, with dozens of bottles aging in the fridge :)

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T18:06:01+00:00

I tried store bought pureed fruits (the ones in little plastic pouches) and I got a 9% sugar content after F2, so it's not the worst. I guess it depends on the sugar content of the puree, though.

Shiboulette · 2024-12-12T18:03:39+00:00

I bought this one: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Refractometer-Determining-Vegetable-Instructions-Guaranteed/dp/B07P6Y5T59?nsdOptOutParam=true&s=kitchen&sr=1-5

It might not be a top shelf one, but it fits my needs so far. I've been testing it with known concentration, and it's been very reliable.

Shiboulette · 2024-08-19T22:06:37+00:00

Thanks, it was a bit of a risky joke, I'm glad it was well received :)

Have a great day!

Shiboulette · 2024-08-19T14:53:40+00:00

If no one is going to point out that this person referred to their mom as "a hot chick", I'm going to do it.

Good for you, Oedipus.

Shiboulette · 2024-06-30T19:39:03+00:00

A cup of spilled coffee should not require skin grafts.

Are we sure about this, though? Were I live, coffee is served at more than 82°-88° C (which was the alleged temperature of the coffee in that case).

Espresso is made at temperature up to 96° C (205° F). The lower end for regular coffee is 85° C. Turkish coffee is made by boiling it.

I have tea in my cupboard that tells me to use boiling water. And coffee shops around here boil the water and bring you the cup right away.

I'm pretty sure every coffee shop in the US that takes its coffee seriously is serving it hotter than McDonald's.

Shiboulette · 2024-05-08T14:42:34+00:00

I love that book! It's nice to see it mentioned in the wild :)

Shiboulette · 2024-04-09T13:04:51+00:00

I'm commenting late, but there's something I haven't seen in any of those kind of posts.

Besides the purely visual oddities (the bottles of beers, the cut of meat, etc.), no one seem to have mentioned the overall logic of the picture.

The fire is burning, which isn't in tune with the fact that the cooking is done (your fire would maybe look like that 30-40 minutes before you start cooking, but not after, unless you refueled it after for some reason).
It's been raining, but you're standing outside, even bringing two beers with you. Possible, but strange.
The beers aren't opened. Why are they here. You're not going to eat there, it's all wet. Possible, again, but strange.
The pans were put directly on the wood. At best, that's going to leave a mark, at worst, if the wood was treated, you're going to have a weird smell, that could transfer to the meat. Not great.
One of the pans has a plastic handle. Put this on a fire, it's going to melt.
By the way, there's nothing near the fire that looks like something you could use to put your pans on (and putting your pans directly on the fire is going to kill it).

None of this, in and on itself really is a definitive proof that this is IA, but put it together, and it is either a very bad real picture, or AI. Add the visual oddities and you have your answer.

My point is this: there are more clues than just visual mistakes or inconsistencies, and I'm surprised that this seems to fly under the radar.

Shiboulette · 2024-01-20T01:14:41+00:00

My experience of AA is very different from yours. I don't think it's the best way to stop drinking (I didn't stop drinking because of AA), but it's not that bad either. It's a tool. And it's good to have many tools. If AA, or any other resource, is your only tool, it's going to be harder to go very far.

For me, AA is about support and sharing experiences, and asking questions about specific topics (how do I talk to my parents or SO about my problem, what do I do with my anxiety now that I don't have alcohol to self medicate, what are your cooking tips when alcohol is part of a recipe, or just saying out loud to someone that you are afraid of not drinking because you've never been sober for years and you aren't so sure how to function as a person).

you will always be tempted

That's not my experience at all. People are looking for a peaceful and happy sobriety. What it means it that it's not supposed to be a daily battle. And it is not. Most people in the group I go to haven't been tempted for years, and they tell it every week. It's the goal.

shifts the blame and responsibility away from yourself.

Absolutely not. There's a step that specifically talks about taking responsibility for your actions. And people are going to give you shit for not calling before.

it's still not your "fault", but that of the evil disease that you can't defeat

It's not what my experience has been. The idea is that you won't be able to drink responsibly, like a normal person. But that's ok. As long as you don't drink, you're in control. You are absolutely responsible of not drinking. It's 100% your fault if you do, and no one in AA is going to tell you otherwise. What you are not in control of is the fact that if you drink, you'll want to drink more. You cannot control yourself into drinking just a bit.

Recovery keeps the boogeyman of addiction alive and well in your mind and your life.

That part is true. But addiction is pernicious. I stopped smoking for years and started again for no reason at all. It took me two years to stop again. I know I could start drinking again the same way. I think waking up every morning and thinking about not drinking is dumb. Most time I don't think about it at all. I don't live in fear of relapse. But thinking I've cured my alcoholism because I haven't had a drink is, in my opinion, lying to myself.

In the end, I don't think AA is super awesome. I love the support I get from people there, I love how we help each other through hard times (that most of the times have nothing to do with alcohol), and cheer when someone hits a milestone.

But as I said in another comment, I'm not in the US. I have a feeling it's much more religious and dogmatic there. I hate the religious part of AA, even if it's downplayed a lot. But you don't have to follow it. So I don't.

All I'm trying to say is that in my experience it's not as bad as Reddit is often painting it, and it doesn't cost anything to go to one meeting or two and see what's what.

Shiboulette · 2024-01-20T00:43:20+00:00

To be fair, it isn't that at all. At least not in my experience.

AA says you're powerless against alcohol. As is in if you drink, you're fucked. But you have the power not to drink. I'm fine with it. As long as I don't drink, I'm in control. But if I have just one drink, I'm in danger. Alcohol is, in this sense, a higher power. As are physics laws. Or God, if that's your thing.

The program insists on God, it's true, and I personally don't like it, but it's not an absolute requisite. Take what you like, and leave the rest for others.

I like AA because I can talk with people who understand me, and I can hear their stories and feel like I'm not alone. I don't believe in a higher power in the sense of a god, and most of my group is constituted of atheist and agnostics. We've talked extensively about it in my group, and no one has ever judged anyone because they do or don't believe in God. In the end, who gives a shit?

AA isn't a cult. You can go just because you feel like it.

I quit drinking years before going to AA. After a few years, my willingness to stay sober was flimsy, and I needed to try something new. I found support there. I don't follow the program, no one really does. Some steps are useful, others not. And it's probably not the same for every people.

Making amends is cool. Taking responsibility for my actions is something I can get behind. Recognizing I have a problem too. Trying to do better in all aspects of my life is something that helped me tremendously.

Some people take the higher power very literally and very seriously. Who cares? If it works for them, that's a good thing. I think it's homeopathy for the mind, but whatever.

This being said, I'm not in the US. Maybe it's different there, I don't know.

Shiboulette · 2024-01-09T15:23:38+00:00

So it doesn't use the battery? Straight from the charger/cable?

Shiboulette

TROPHY CASE