Kombucha anyone?

[Kassaundra]

Tried my first home made today. It is sweeter, tastes more like tea then the store bought, but I didn't flavor this first one. Mine didn't fizz though. I left it bottled and out of the refrigerator for 3 days. I was also thinking instead of flavoring it w/ frozen juice concentrate, maybe flavoring it w/ black cherry concentrate I already get from the health food store for my gout, it is already liquid and not frozen.

 

[canesisters]

Mind didn't have any fizz out of the brewer - but when I bottled it with a little bit of fruit, the sugar got it going and fizzed it up a little.
I've read that the scoby is most active if kept in the 75*-80* range. My house stays a bit cooler than that so I picked up a heating pad last night and stood it against the wall in the corner behind the brewing jar.

 

[valley ranch]

I use the heat mat ,the girls heated the frog tank with, to warm the jars I had it sitting on pencils so it won't get too warm.

I haven't experimented with flavoring.

 

[valley ranch]

I don't heat the brew any more, the house is warm enough, and I don't do a second fermentation.

 

[valley ranch]

By the way: We rinse after drinking or it will stain our teeth! The tannin in the tea.

 

[journey11]

I just bought a new kombucha SCOBY, so I'll be brewing along right with you guys. I did kombucha before and took a break, but must have left it in the fridge too long because I killed my SCOBY. I had given both my mom and sister a start, but they were no help. They never got into it since the SCOBY freaked them out and they worried about doing it wrong.

I just got some milk kefir grains too and they're just about fully activated now. Anyone else doing kefir? My house is so warm, it is already wearing me out, churning out a batch in less than 24 hours. You have to check it so many times a day, watching for it to get to that perfect consistency, but if you wander off, it separates into curds and whey. You can shake it back together, but it's not as good as if you catch it at the "buttermilk" stage. Kefir seems to be a little easier than kombucha and a lot faster. Good thing my kids like it. We're making lots of smoothies!

 

[so lucky]

I know kefir is supposed to be really healthy....a superfood, sort of, but I just don't like it. At least what I made at home.

 

[canesisters]

I don't know much of anything about keifer

 

[thistlebloom]

I've been reading this thread all along, and you all got me interested in trying
some kombucha. I bought a ginger flavored one....wow, I gotta tell ya, that is some nasty beverage. Do you all actually enjoy it, or mostly drink it for it's beneficial effects?

 

[journey11]

I've never tried store bought kombucha, only what I've made myself at home. Maybe some brands are better than others?

I've made it too strong before; forgot about it and left it too long where it got to be too vinegary. Yuck.

I brew it just until it starts to get fizzy and tart, then I put about a 1/4th cup of frozen mixed berries in each jar, seal tight and do a second ferment for about 5 days. Or ginger root and pineapple juice, that's good too. The fruit/juice adds more sugar into the mixture which makes it yummy. It comes out kinda like sparkling juice, but a little more tart, and it has a slight alcohol content, but not very much. It wouldn't give you a buzz or anything. I like the taste of it anyway. And DH loves it too, which is saying something. Sometimes I wish he didn't like it because he drinks it up quickly...nevermind it takes me about 12 days to make a batch!

It has taken several batches to get those kefir grains up to par. The milk wasn't very tart and yogurt-like at first. I didn't drink those first couple of batches because they were like clabbered milk. I added it to the chickens' feed instead. Today's batch was very good in our smoothie. I take it you'd always want to add some pureed fruit to it or something and we also put in stevia to make it sweeter. We've been buying it at the store upon occasion for a few years now and the store-bought stuff tastes just like flavored yogurt, but liquid. Sometimes it has some fizz to it, sometimes it doesn't...I guess if it's closer to its expiration date it loses it. I love it when it's fizzy. Maybe it's better for you then, I don't know.

Kefir is supposed to have the highest number of beneficial strains of bacteria in it of all the ferments. I definitely do notice a difference in my digestion when I am taking something fermented or at least eating yogurt regularly. We make our yogurt too. Much cheaper!