Back to scobin’ around

Since I never updated on how my Kombucha brewing turned out, I decided to start another batch! Especially now that I know what I’m doin a little bit better…

The very first thing I do when starting a new batch is STERILIZE MY JARS. This is SO important when you are working with fermenting as there is very much bacteria present.

To sterilize my jars, I leave them to soak in hot soapy water for a bit (food grade) and then give them a good scrub. I then rinse with hot water and wipe down the inside and outside with vinegar. You can never be TOO vlean, but keep in mind your kombucba will be injested so I’d avoid chemicals.

Make sure your work area is sterile as well.

Next, you want to start boiling some water to brew your tea. I don’t measure exactly, however, 1 gallon of water, 10 teabags, 4 tbsp of sugar is a common recipe. The idea is to brww strong, sweet tea. Some people use green tea, some use black so let’s try a blend this time. I basically just filled up a big pot with water, tossed in 5 orange pekoe bags and 5 green teabags and turned on the burner and walked away. I add the sugar after the burer cools down.

Once it is boiling, wait a few minutes, stirring occasionally and then turn it off and leave it (bags in).

Here is my pot of tea. It smells ah-mazing by the way!

When your sweet tea is cooled (ALL the way) you will want to add your scoby and fill your jar with tea. I leave an inch or 2 on top because a new scoby develops with each brew.

*see my blog post about obtaining a scoby*

Those are my scobys. I have 4, but with the size of my jars, I could use 1 for all three if I cut it. I just use the whole thing!

Lastly, cover your jar TIGHTLY with a tightly woven breathable fabric such as a thin dish towel. I use a dollar store fashion scarf and rubber bands, but it’s your call. If you do not wrap it tightly enough or use a loosely woven fabric, you WILL get fruit flies.

My tea is cooling currently so I don’t have a finished photo, but I will update when he next step comes about. Happy Tuesday y’all!

Am I the scoby master?

In a previous post I talked about a scoby, what it is, how to obtain one, and why I wanted one. Somewhere in there, I mentioned that I had done it all wrong, but was going to see what happened anyways.

Something happened!!! With immense self control and not going to look at my jars 5 times a day, I finally got through 2 weeks of ignoring it.(as best as I could) And guess what?! There are young scobys in both jars! Even the jar that I thought wouldn’t grow one!(I used ginger Kombucha in it)

The photos unfortunately aren’t the best because my hand isn’t big enough to grip the jars so the photos had to be taken quickly.

My boyfriend is hilariously grossed out by this by the way. It’s great, he won’t even look at them, but he did say that he would test out my brew when it’s all done! I kind of get it. The scoby is not at all appetizing and when I get a tiny floaty piece in my drink, I definitely freak out.

Believe it or not, you can totally eat the scoby. If you wanted to, you could take a bite right out of it. I have read that it has the consistency of squid legs so no thank you. I don’t like that texture deep fried and dipped in whatever you dip squid in and I am not going to like it as a bacteria yeast blob.

So why the heck would anyone want to try to eat their scoby?

Well for one, they multiply everytime you make a batch so you really have nothing to lose if you messed it up when cooking. Mainly, it would be eaten for its health properties. The scoby is made up mainly of cellulose and bacterial yeast and before I lose you with technical terms, I’ll make it short and simple!

The bacteria and yeast of a scoby is what gives the finished kombucha its probiotic properties which will regulate your digestion and bathroom visits.

The cellulose of a scoby is actually an interesting one because it makes up the blob structure of the scoby. It’s an insoluble fibre and if I took anything away from highschool cooking class, I know that that is not the fibre that gives you energy, but is actually a carb… but it’s a good carb. (Yes that is a thing all of you silly dieters!) It cleans out the bowels and the gut and is claimed that enough of this type of fibre will help avoid IBS, heart disease and cancer.

So am I a scoby master? No, I’m still learning. I’m more of a scoby apprentice.

Word of the day: scoby

About a month ago, I was taking Riley for a walk and stopped in to the drugstore for a drink. After a few minutes of staring at the (overwhelmingly) abundant options, I zeroed in on a bottle of Kombucha. I remembered someone telling me about this fermented drink and decided to give the mango flavour a try.

Instant obsession! But at 4 dollars a bottle, would have to remain a treat. Okay, fast forward to the present and I have been seriously addicted. Since starting to drink it, I can think clearer, I have more energy, and feel a lot less bloated! But still…. kind of an expensive addiction.

Maybe I could make my own… off to pinterest!! After some research, I find myself absolutely set on brewing my own booch!

First off, I need to aquire a scoby. A scoby is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. It looks like a slimey gelatinous blob and that magic little blob is what ferments your sweet tea into tastey, tangy kombucha. Where will I aquire this scoby you may ask? Well, a new scoby usually grows when one brews a batch of kombucha so you could get it from a friend’s batch. If you’re like me and don’t have any friends in the area, option 2 and 3 may be better. Option 2 is to buy one online and option 3 is to grow one.

I figured I’d try my hand at growing one! I went and bought my raw organic kombucha, brewed a cup of black tea, added some sugar to the mix and poured it in to 2 big glass jars covered with a tightly knit thin scarf from the dollar store.

I’ve come to realize this was wrong.

What I did wrong….

To GROW a SCOBY you literally only need to have the raw kombucha in the jar covered with a coffee filter.

Ahhhhhhhhh-ha!

My brew has an interesting film starting over the top though so I’m keeping those jars and ALSO starting a new one with just the raw kombucha.

Time to try again!