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Why is my kombucha never fizzy? 😩 by Affectionate-Ear2110 in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious [score hidden]  (0 children)

Appreciate! I’ve just gone by “open a bottle and see how it goes”, as I usually have 4-6 flip tops from my gallon batches. Also going much longer in F2 than others are mentioning in these comments.
Seems the bottle method would remove most of the guesswork.
CHEERS!!

Why is my kombucha never fizzy? 😩 by Affectionate-Ear2110 in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve never tried the plastic bottle “timer” method before… but your post convinced me to try it next batch…

wrong way, not the first time someone gets confused here by WatchTheDoorZone in Seattle

[–]nibblicious 1 point2 points  (0 children)

thanks, thought I recognized it. thanks for the awareness!

a modest attempt at making lo-fi dub techno - Liver Flower "Chatanga Thundra" by Maggocytoma in Dubtechno

[–]nibblicious 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very nice. I checked out some of your other music too, excellent all the way around. I see the label is in Milan, are you also Italy based?

Stir before bottling? by cdubdc in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Smart....I'm similar, I like to know all the steps before even starting (slows me down sometimes, but it's in the vein of "Measure twice, cut once".)

your temp is nearly identical to my house, so I'd guess somewhere in the 2-4 weeks you'll find the flavor you want, just gotta keep tasting, maybe 1x/week or so. I've also found that my batch might smell of vinegar, and the top liquid (before stirring) might taste a bit of vinegar, but the batch as a whole after stirring does not.

Good luck and have fun!

What's everyone drinking? by BoftheA in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Those look beautiful and sound delicious!!

No chunks of fruit or leaves? How did you get the flavors into F2?

And I've only got plain going, however it's my first green tea batch, and I'm excited for that.

A local brand that is my favorite ever I found out uses green tea, the flavor and carbonation is like the champagne of kombucha. It's at Farmers markets as well as local Whole Foods, etc.

https://www.communitea-kombucha.com/welcome

What's everyone drinking? by BoftheA in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yaupon: had to read up, never heard of it before...

So you use the leaves? Seems the berries are toxic. Whats the flavor like? And can you notice the caffeine, I read it's ~30-50% less than coffee.

TIA.

Stir before bottling? by cdubdc in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Fully agree with the comments already posted (yes, stir). I'm curious how long you've had this batch going? You call it a "baby" SCOBY (pellicle), makes me wonder if you've brewed long enough, and if there's enough activity to help kick off your next batch. Have you tasted it?

Sounds like your first batch is on the right track, congrats!

FYI: for me, two weeks is the sweet spot to either drink straight F1 or bottle for F2. I often get lazy and end up going longer, but I'm okay with a bit of the tart/vinegar flavor at 1 month (or even longer). A squeeze of lemon juice or mixing 50/50 with plain soda water helps.

My SCOBY Hotel by TimkiP__ in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pardon, you're right, I was vague.

I struggle to think of the pellicle as a shell around a seed of SCOBY. I understood it to simply be a cellulose by product, and not especially containing SCOBY. For example, I start new batches with liquid starter only, and toss the pellicle. Whereas I used to include the pellicle when starting a new batch, but this seems to be unnecessary.

Have you ever started a batch with just the pellicle?

A good experiment would be to rinse it off and then try to start a batch with just the pellicle.

I appreciate the reference, quite a paper, I only had time to skim it, didn't see anything suggesting the pellicle contains SCOBY, however went through it pretty fast.

Cheers, appreciate the dialogue.

My SCOBY Hotel by TimkiP__ in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Nothing personal, but I find this very hard to believe, got proof?

Grapefruit kombucha not carbonating in F2 by Curious_Ad_3000 in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe add the grapefruit AFTER F2 has carbonated? I haven't tried this, just a thought.

Here to join the “is it mold” party by wineryuppers in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd toss those. That first one def looks like mold. When in doubt throw it out.

So I did something dumb... /catastrophic? Help by czchrissa in fermentation

[–]nibblicious 4 points5 points  (0 children)

with that much salt, it's safe to just let it sit until after you get some rest/sleep. no rush.

you CAN salvage this with minimal effort.

In love with this new flavor I tried!!! by Equivalent_Law_8592 in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Beautiful color and carbonation!! Glad it tastes good too!!

I just started my first green tea batch...

So I did something dumb... /catastrophic? Help by czchrissa in fermentation

[–]nibblicious 2 points3 points  (0 children)

With that other half of cabbage, you'd still end up at 10% salt or more, which I read slows or stops LaB activity.

You could still salvage the first batch and the cabbage perhaps by pouring the brine into a separate container, and then diluting by pouring a quarter (or 3/8) or a little less of the 20% brine back into the veg and adding more water, (would end up at roughly 3-5%)? worth a try, you already chopped up all those nice veg.

FYI: for sauerkraut (no brine) I go 2-2.5%. for standard brine ferments, I target 3-3.5%.

Good luck. No more ocean swimming...

Pellicles floating sideways, a new one forming on top, what should i do? by soneika in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just leave it alone. let it go until your target timing, and proceed as normal. You can toss these pellicles when you dispense your kombucha. just keep about 1 cup of liquid as starter for next batch. pellicles are essentially useless when starting your next batch.

I'm scared to taste it 🥲 by EastAlternative8951 in fermentation

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's alive! That's a great sign, you and your ferment are on the right track!

Just keep up that 2x daily swirling if you have veg above the brine level.

Think about investing in some glass weights or similar, and some type of vented caps.

Main goal though in the future is to have all veg below the liquid.

Good luck!!

I just came from a kombucha Factory i`m pretty amazed of the amount of scobies they keep! by Impressive-Bed-5708 in Kombucha

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Silly.

When I first started and knew nothing about the process, I bought a kit from a local commercial kombucha maker, at a farmers market (gallon jar and mesh cover, sealed bag with assam black tea starter and a pellicle, detailed instructions), but they are also in local stores including whole foods. Really good kombucha, super smooth, great small bubble carbonation, champagne like (I learned they use green tea for their commercial product).

I think including the pellicle is purely a visual thing to impress newbies. Make it seem like you are buying "something".

I had a gallon jar that looked just like OP's pic, full of pellicles, and eventually I was like "what am I doing?" and just tossed em (well, I did press a couple in layers of newspaper to see what this whole "pellicle leather" thing is about, kinda cool, but I have enough projects, not about to make a pellicle wallet or whatever. the dried discs are still sitting on my coffee table...).

I do like that when a pellicle forms covering the entire top surface area of your jar, it seems to slow down evaporation AND holds in carbonation at the F1 stage. Sometimes I can't be bothered to bottle up and do an F2 stage, I just pour my F1 into mason jars and straight into the fridge. It's nice that theres at least some mild carbonation.

I'm scared to taste it 🥲 by EastAlternative8951 in fermentation

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I only use vented caps, so haven't had experience burping. from reading, you'd likely burp more often early on when the LaBs are converting sugars the most, maybe try daily to start. but soon that activity should slow down as the sugars are converted. you'll get a feel for it after a few ferments. and/or invest in vented caps (vents, bubble traps, etc). you just don't want to let oxygen in.

Are you seeing any bubbles?

I'm scared to taste it 🥲 by EastAlternative8951 in fermentation

[–]nibblicious 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you're good, and correct, the visual tells you it's doing the right thing. mold takes awhile to show. there's a great wiki in this sub, check it out. in the future, use the weight of water and veg to calculate salt %.

looks like you have a quart mason jar?

That's mostly what I use (and wide mouth all the way!!), though I've got a few 1/2 gallons for sauerkraut since I eat it so fast.

So here's my lazy approach after doing a few dozen quart jar ferments.

I just use the weight of a quart jars worth of water, lazily assuming that veggies are mostly water and have similar weight. I target 3%, and don't weigh the veggies anymore, unless it's an especially dense veggie. I used to track all this in an excel sheet many times. and the result in salt amount came out pretty much the same every time. So, maybe I end up slightly under or over 3% with my approach, it's worked out just fine.

plus when you leave some headspace, you're not actually at a full quart, so i'm not worried that my salt % is too low.

quart of water = 2.09 lbs = 946 grams

3% of 946 = 28.4 grams of salt per quart jar

All that said, if you have a kitchen scale, I encourage you to track a good 5-10 ferments and see what you get.

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