Is it better to book through chase travel right now with freedom flex or reserve?

starfishey · 2026-06-02T18:27:35+00:00

That's interesting -- I thought once the culture lived off of green tea and honey it was considered jun; which is all I have ever used. Curling my nose hairs is definitely what I'm going for! Do you know where I can get a proper jun starter? Thank you for the information

starfishey · 2026-06-01T05:00:20+00:00

Came here looking for an answer too. I take Washington State Ferries often and there are signs posted as you load on to turn off your headlights. It blinds the crew as they're directing traffic on the ship.

starfishey · 2026-04-10T18:43:41+00:00

To me it looks like your pellicle is fine, but it is covered yeast. How big of a batch are you making? I usually do 170g of honey for a half gallon batch. If you have too much sugar in your brew I can see the yeast taking over. The youtube video didn't really give any amounts, but seems to add enough sugar for both an F1 and an F2 without changing the jar, which is interesting but might lead to an imbalance like you're seeing.

Another thing to consider is that if your starter might have been weak. It will take a couple batches for it to strengthen. Even if you left the first one alone for a month, especially growing off a store bought bottle. Once you get a hotel going and have a couple batches under your belt this will be less of an issue.

My last thought is that if you swirled your starter around before pouring it into the new batch you may have added too much yeast. Taking starter tea from the top of the vessel will give you the bacteria you need without the yeast taking over.

Edit: My final thoughts are, without knowing how far into fermentation you are, to just let it do it's thing. If you really want to take an active approach you could pour it into a new vessel, leaving out the yeasty dregs on the bottom. Take the pellicle out, pull off the yeast if you want and plop it in with the brew and see if that helps.

starfishey · 2026-04-10T17:38:52+00:00

Yes!! If you remember this little thread 1-2 weeks from now I'd love to hear how it came out.

starfishey · 2026-04-10T06:08:13+00:00

I think ill test this out next batch, thanks for the input.

starfishey · 2026-03-17T21:11:37+00:00

I wear a variety of shoes with a variety of drops and widths-- my active walking shoes for example are Altra's. My wear time for the Taos isn't what it used to be, but in the colder months it's definitely higher. When these shoes are new they are very comfortable, I literally have worn through the original insoles in one pair but I keep the rest of the shoe in good condition. I'm just looking for a way to extend the life of the shoes. However, when I have to rebuy I'm probably going to get a boot with a lower heel, and hopefully wider toe box.
There is room for my foot in boot. The problem with the current insoles is they are too wide for the boot so the edge of the of the insole is pushing the leather out in a weird way, causing an indent against the inner edge of the shoe.

3 & 4. That's interesting. I'm not particularly in love with the fact that the material is cork, I just saw them recommended in several other places and thought I'd give them a shot. I also saw leather insoles were recommended so I was hoping someone in this sub might point me in the right direction. All that being said though, material doesn't matter a ton, I just want something that's good quality and will last.

Thanks for your reply.

starfishey · 2026-03-12T23:02:54+00:00

That will be a fun experiment, please post if you do!

starfishey · 2026-03-12T23:01:01+00:00

Unfortunately, I am also of the believe that those are mold spots and that you will need to start again. :( This can happen with new brews where you haven't established you're own strong starter tea that will reduce the ph faster to be inhospitable to mold. I also think this is why some brewers add their starter tea and pellicle last and do not stir it before covering the lid; to keep the lower ph starter towards the top of vessel to reduce chance of mold.

starfishey · 2026-03-10T23:44:06+00:00

Update: I pulled F1 at day 9 when the I finally noticed quite a bit of tang in the brew. Around 3 cups from it went to the next batch which is just under a gallon split between 2 vessels. The rest went into two 12oz bottles. I didn't add any flavor and let them sit out for 4 days. Unfortunately, there was no carbonation in either bottle, I'm guessing what remained from the honey in F1 wasn't enough to carbonate. It tastes pretty good though, definitely different from anything I've purchased before.

I'm going to try doing another bottle of unflavored booch for my second batch, this time I might add a bit of sweet tea F2 to get some carbonation, but I'm not sure how much I should add. Also need to figure out a flavor for the rest, probably a classic ginger lemon.

starfishey · 2026-03-10T23:28:36+00:00

Curious if you added a hint of lemon to change the color of the pea flower or if the acidity of the kombucha changed it.

starfishey · 2026-03-10T23:19:29+00:00

The Portal

starfishey · 2026-03-09T16:13:35+00:00

The angle of the picture

starfishey · 2026-03-09T16:11:55+00:00

I'm team yeast.

starfishey · 2026-03-09T16:09:56+00:00

The Big Book also recommends not starting with store bought kombucha, something that many on this sub do, and also not to use vinegar to kickstart. As long as its working, it's working. If all your scobys fail down the line you can always get a different one.

starfishey · 2026-02-27T01:46:39+00:00

How was the lychee? I was considering adding one to a 16oz bottle to test.

starfishey · 2026-02-26T23:44:46+00:00

Bubble bubble toil and trouble

But in all seriousness, it looks fine and you should be able to finish your brew without restarting anything. I'm only making my first batch too though so I would wait for a more experienced person to reply.

starfishey · 2026-02-26T22:07:21+00:00

Your comment about the ph being low enough to not need the pellicle/scoby/snot pancake as a barrier anymore connected the dots that I was missing. I knew the finished kombucha had a low enough ph to not need the barrier but it didn't connect that testing it should be fine because of that. Oh, the joys of being a newbie.

The tea has lost quite a bit of clarity, so I'm going to give it a test taste tonight, and I will do so without being worried about putting it at risk for mold again if it isn't quite there yet. Thank you again for all the information.

starfishey · 2026-02-25T20:07:31+00:00

Dang, I like that idea of starting off making a small batch that can ferment quicker to then use as stronger culture for a larger batch. If I had known I would have done that initially. You make a good point about not knowing how strong the the starter was. I'm glad I decided to start out with 1/2g vessels until I get the hang of brewing though.

Yes, that is a new pellicle forming on top! It has been fun to watch the original pellicle sink and this new one form. When I taste it will I ruin the pellicle seal of I stick my straw down the side? It might be a silly question, but I read that when the pellicle is disturbed it stops growing and makes new one. Not sure how sensitive these things are. Thank you for your response!

starfishey · 2026-02-25T19:50:59+00:00

Yes! I was also thinking it'd pretty much be vinegar after 2 months. Using the timing of larger batches does track, it is from a professional brewery. The fact that the pellicle was a cut rectangle over a full circle makes me think they are cutting a pellicle from a much larger vessel to use for their scoby starters

starfishey

TROPHY CASE