Brewing Scooby Update

 If you read my previous post, Brewing Up a Storm, you will know that I had started my very first batch of kombucha. During it's brew time, we experienced some colder weather, and our house was too cold for Scooby (the name of my brew) to maintain optimal brewing temperature. I ended up wrapping it in a heating pad, but it's temperature still fluctuated quite a bit, which is not the best for brewing kombucha. Or so I read.

On day 7 of Scooby's brewing, I brought it out of Jason's office (sometimes the warmest part of the house) for a test.

For those that are curious, you can kind of see the SCOBY floating in there, and the new baby is on top.

I don't want to gross anyone out with pictures of the SCOBY, or the baby, but some of my sisters are actually curious about it. This is the least gross looking photo of it, and it is the only direct photo I will post of my SCOBY and baby.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Shout-out to Jackie for my little sampler cup![/caption]

 I used my little pipette to get a small sample to taste, and tried to test the pH without disturbing the baby too much. The sample tasted really sweet, and not very tart at all, so I decided to let it brew a few more days. I also inspected the SCOBY and baby to make sure it hadn't started molding, or turning bad, with all the temperature fluctuations it had experienced.

After letting Scooby brew for a few more days, I did another taste test, and a pH test. It still tasted really sweet, but had a little tartness to it. And, the pH was right in the middle of where it was supposed to be. Since we were still experiencing a lot of temperature fluctuation, and I didn't want to risk my SCOBY and brew molding, I decided to go ahead and bottle my Scooby for the second ferment.

Since I don't have the cool, long-necked, glass bottles that are recommended to get the best carbonation during a second ferment, I just used my pint canning jars and lids. I had about 7.5 pints of brew total after removing a full pint in which my SCOBY and baby will reside for the next month. I did choose to flavor 4 of my pints with fruits. The flavors are, from right to left: fresh Apple, fresh Strawberry Banana, frozen Blackberry, and canned Pineapple. The plain Scooby is in the 4 jars on the left. After capping all the jars, I set them in the cupboard above the refrigerator to ferment for 4 days, and to hopefully carbonate. The instructions said they needed a warm, dark place, and that is the best I could do.

 Today was about 4.5 days since I set my bottled brew up for the second ferment and carbonation. I got it all down, and set it in the fridge to chill about an hour ago. The flavored ones definitely turned different colors depending on the fruits that were in them. I also noticed that some of the jars grew what I'm assuming is a baby SCOBY: a thin, clear-like membrane on top. But not every jar has that. I checked my brewing guide to see if that's normal, and I believe it is. The brew definitely fermented during this period, as the jar lids are puffed up, as opposed to being flat. Hopefully that also means it carbonated well; not that it has to carbonate, but it just adds a nice little fizz to the drink.

For the first taste of my own, home-brewed kombucha, I'm trying a jar of the plain brew. When I opened the lid, it made a nice "fwop" and "sssss" sound, or sigh, like you get when opening a bottle of soda. You could also see the carbonation bubbles sizzling up to the top, which was a good sign that it carbonated.

This plain jar smelled tart and a bit vinegar-like. I'm not sure that I've ever had plain kombucha before; I've always bought the flavored bottles, and when I tried some on-tap kombucha brew, I think it was also flavored. When I tasted it, it tasted like it smelled: tart and a bit vinegar-like. Although, if you're one of those apple cider vinegar drinkers, this tastes a lot nicer!! It definitely lost a lot of the sweetness that it had when I tasted it prior to bottling, but it's still not as harshly tart as actual vinegar. I think real vinegar makes you pucker, and I wouldn't say that my plain kombucha makes you pucker. It is definitely carbonated; that was apparent after I drank about half the jar.

I really want to try my flavored jars, but I also don't want to open all of them and then lose the carbonation as they sit in the fridge. So I haven't cracked any of them open yet. They do look really pretty, though, I think! I will probably open up the strawberry banana blend in a couple days after I finish off this plain jar.

When I was first introduced to kombucha, I was told that you shouldn't drink more than a cup a day ( I equate that to about 8 ounces). I haven't researched the validity of this claim yet, but that's the rule of thumb I've always used when drinking kombucha. I have figured out that if one brew batch makes about 8 pints, it will take me over 2 weeks to drink it all. Especially since I'll be the only one drinking it, unless Jason decides he likes one of my flavored pints. He had been a good sport and sampled Scooby every time that I have, but he wrinkles his nose and says it tastes like vinegar, which he doesn't like. He also told me that when he bought the kombucha kit for me, he had no idea that it used a SCOBY, or mother, to brew. And, that kind of grosses him out. If he had known about the process......he may not have gotten it for me!

Since I don't need to start another batch of brew right away, I have put the SCOBY and baby back into the jar with 2 cups of the original brew. It is supposed to be able to hang out in that for up to 4 weeks before I either need to brew again, or feed it. If I faithfully drink my Scooby every day, I'll probably start another batch this weekend. If I lived near friends, or family, that wanted to try kombucha, I would probably brew again right away and give it to them. But, alas, they all live too far away.

If you were to be a close-living friend or relative, what flavor of kombucha would you be willing to try? It doesn't have to be fruit-flavors; I could do cucumber, mint, lavender, ginger, cayenne, rose, and lots more, I'm sure! Give me some ideas to try that you might want to try yourself!