mighty booch

The usual suspects (ginger, raspberries) and one new addition. Trying a bottle of basil raspberry and promising to be more creative in the future and not ginger 24/7. Next up: spiced apple, lemon lavender, and other exciting flavors. 

I’ve been using the same brew recipe for a few batches now and am really liking it, so I won’t be making a brew recipe post each cycle anymore unless I change something up.  

8/18 brew | bottled 8/27 | brew time: 9 days

Bottles getting ready for kombucha! I know some people juice or mash their fruit, but I just drop it in, chopping it into bits first if necessary. 

blackberry (glass) 
kiwi (glass) 
ginger (glass) 
ginger (plastic)

Comments: First time using blackberries and kiwis. Kiwi is from the store, blackberries are picked by lovely friend Teresa. Ginger as a back up in case new flavors are a disaster. 

4 cups tea (4tsp oolong, 2 bags green) brewed 6 min
a little over 1 cup sugar 
2 cups previous brew 
10 cups cold water
previous scobys

Comments: Added a little extra sugar, since my longer brew time last cycle made for slightly overactive yeast. 

This is Sven, who is now living with my friend Teresa. He is the first scoby to leave my apartment and seek his fortune, and Edith and I wish him the very best. 

8/7 brew | bottled 8/18 | brew time: 11 days

white currant (glass) 
white currant (glass) 
mint (glass) 
mint (plastic)

Comments: Forgot to take a photo post-bottling and I’ve drunk half the bottles already!

Mint kombucha

Bottled 8/18 | brew time: 11 days | second fermentation time: 3 days

Not very on top of it with the photo updates lately! Here are the leftovers from some mint kombucha I brought to work. I bottled the last batch without going to the store to stock up on fruit, so all I had on hand was white currant and mint leftovers from the previous batch. Both are very good, with a light and tangy taste.

Previous batch:

Bottled 8/7 | brew time: 10 days | second fermentation time: 3 days

Forgot to take photos of the last batch, which was white currant (x2), lemon mint and ginger. Ginger and white currant are two of my favorites and were great, but the lemon mint wasn’t quite right. I think it’s because I used a wedge of lemon with the rind still attached rather than squeezing out juice or grating some zest.

4 cups tea (4tsp oolong, 2 bags green) brewed 8 min — up from 6 min last batch
1 cup sugar 
a little over 2 cups previous brew
10 cups cold water
scobys from 6/18, 6/30, 7/6, 7/17, 7/28, 8/6

Comments: I’m posting this a few days after actually starting the brew, and I think the extra 2 mins of brew time upset the yeast/bacteria imbalance slightly. There is a LOT of carbonation already, and the scobies are bubbling up around the sides. The extra yeastiness could also be caused by the warm temperature the last week, but I’m thinking it’s the tea. Next time will go back to 6 min and possibly add some extra sugar to keep the yeast busy.

7/28 brew | bottled 8/7 | brew time: 10 days

white currant (plastic) 
white currant (glass) 
lemon mint (glass) 
ginger (glass)

Comments: Slowly trying to switch all my bottles to glass. First time using lemon.

4 cups tea (4tsp oolong, 2 bags green — trying more green and less oolong this time) brewed 6 min
1 cup sugar 
a little over 2 cups previous brew
10 cups cold water
scobys from 6/18, 6/30, 7/6, 7/17, 7/28

Ginger peach kombucha

Bottled 7/28 | brew time: 11 days | second fermentation time: 3 days

I had two bottles of ginger peach & one each of white currant and dried goji berry in this batch. Goji berry was a disaster. Not sure if it was because the berries were dried, but the secondary fermentation just didn’t seem to be working. Ended up tossing that bottle. Ginger peach was delicious. Better than ginger pineapple (too sweet) and white currant was amazing. Favorite combinations so far are probably: plain ginger, ginger mint, ginger peach, raspberry and white currant.