The waiting is "over"!
It took just short of 2 weeks for my kombucha to ferment to the perfect stage. Since I am making it in a 2.4 gallon glass beverage dispenser with a spigot, today I was able to easily draw off two 16 oz. bottles (mixed with pieces of crystalized ginger) to ferment another 2 days for flavoring and I had a lovely 12 oz. sparkling serving mixed with a little ginger juice in a frosted glass. It was about PERFECT.
I'm steeping some replacement sweet tea right now and when it cools, I'll refill the container... and I should be able to draw off another 3 bottles in about 3 days. I think I'm going to LOVE this continuous brewing method!
I do still want to start another gallon bottle - or maybe even two of them - to accommodate the other SCOBYs I have. This way I can get them active, enjoy or share some additional kombucha, and eventually send those SCOBYs and their children to new homes with my sisters! Will try to do that this weekend, maybe tomorrow!
Friday, August 3, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Well, today I started my continuous brew kombucha. I used the quick cool method with the lowered caffeine method and made first a gallon batch of sweet green tea, then a gallon batch of sweet black tea. Here are the steps I took:
Since it will undoubtedly be more than 80 degrees F most of the next 7 days, I will have to keep a close eye on this batch. Around day 5, I will first make some replacement sweetened tea and have it ready. Also on day 5, I will taste test to see how the brew is coming along. If it seems on schedule for a 7 day finish, I'll bottle 3 (or 4) bottles with ginger root or juice and/or dried fruits. I will replace the same amount of sweetened teas as I had taken out (then make more replacement tea for the next bottling).
I will then let the newly bottled kombucha sit through at least the remaining 2 days - then taste test again. If it's ready, I will refrigerate and subsequently drink it. If not, I'll leave it out for another 2 days and test again. And repeat until the kombucha is right. I will test the kombucha in the main continuous brew container again about 3-4 days after adding the new sweetened tea to see if it's ready again to be bottled. Once I get the timing down, all the articles say I should have a continuous source of kombucha.
I hope this is going to be as "easy" as all the articles say it is supposed to be.
In the meantime, I am thinking I will also create a one gallon standard brewed batch (not continuous brew). If the continuous brew method doesn't work, I sure don't want to be too far behind. Having another brew started will mean I can get back into the swing of things soon enough.
That's all for now. I'll keep writing. All you have to do is keep reading!
- Boiled a little over 6 cups of water.
- Poured 2 cups of boiling water into my 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, then put 6 organic green tea bags in and steeped for about a minute.
- While the tea was steeping, measured out 1 cup of sugar into the 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup, and poured in 4 cups of boiling water and stirred it gently until all the sugar was dissolved.
- After one minute of steeping the teabags in the 2 cup measuring cup, I carefully moved them to the sweetened water in the 4 cup measuring cup.
- Allowed to steep for about 1/2 hour.
- Poured the 2 cup measuring cup full of green tea into an ice-filled Rubbermaid drink bottle and enjoyed some unsweetened iced green tea.
- Rinsed the 2 cup measuring cup and then used it to pour 3 quarts of cool water into the continuous brew container (a 2.4 gallon behive shaped jar with a spigot, sitting on a black wire stand).
- After 1/2 hour, I removed the tea bags from the 4 cup measuring cup, squeezing all of the liquid out that I could without damaging the tea bags.
- I then poured the 4 cups of sweet green tea into the cool water in the continuous brew container.
- Repeated steps 1 - 5 with black tea.
- After the black tea was steeped for 1/2 hour, I removed the tea bags (the same as step 8 above).
- I poured the 4 cups of sweet black tea into the continuous brew container.
- Then I used the 4 cup measuring cup to add 3 more quarts of cool water to the continuous brew container.
- I added one large thick SCOBY that needed a little "pick me up" (from my last batch of kombucha last fall) and one brand new SCOBY I had purchased from NessAlla kombucha at http://store.nessalla.com about 2 weeks earlier. In addition, since the NessAlla SCOBY had produced a nice thick new SCOBY while it was sitting on my kitchen counter, I popped that one in there, too.
- I poured all the liquid from both the large SCOBY and from the NessAlla SCOBYs into the continuous brew container.
- Took one of the new,lint-free dish cloths I had purchased from the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago for this very purpose, and used it to cover the jar. Fastened the cover in place with a rubberband.
Since it will undoubtedly be more than 80 degrees F most of the next 7 days, I will have to keep a close eye on this batch. Around day 5, I will first make some replacement sweetened tea and have it ready. Also on day 5, I will taste test to see how the brew is coming along. If it seems on schedule for a 7 day finish, I'll bottle 3 (or 4) bottles with ginger root or juice and/or dried fruits. I will replace the same amount of sweetened teas as I had taken out (then make more replacement tea for the next bottling).
I will then let the newly bottled kombucha sit through at least the remaining 2 days - then taste test again. If it's ready, I will refrigerate and subsequently drink it. If not, I'll leave it out for another 2 days and test again. And repeat until the kombucha is right. I will test the kombucha in the main continuous brew container again about 3-4 days after adding the new sweetened tea to see if it's ready again to be bottled. Once I get the timing down, all the articles say I should have a continuous source of kombucha.
I hope this is going to be as "easy" as all the articles say it is supposed to be.
In the meantime, I am thinking I will also create a one gallon standard brewed batch (not continuous brew). If the continuous brew method doesn't work, I sure don't want to be too far behind. Having another brew started will mean I can get back into the swing of things soon enough.
That's all for now. I'll keep writing. All you have to do is keep reading!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Life, the Universe and Everything ...
This spring and summer has not been the greatest for our family.
As you know from this blog and my Facebook page, I cared for my terminally ill kitty Cinnamon from the time of her diagnosis with lung cancer in February until it was time to say good-bye to her on Mother's Day due to the fact that I didn't want her to suffer. This still makes me very sad, and I still miss her.
My sister Brenda and her family had to say good-bye to their dog Samson. He was an older, big dog, and had gotten to the point where he could no longer stand on his own ... so it was time.
As most everyone who would be reading this blog knows, this spring my sister's husband Jim was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He was sent to doctors at Brigham and Women's hospital for evaluation and treatment. During evaluation, it was determined that the cancer had not gotten into the lymph nodes, so they scheduled him for surgery. The plan was to remove the affected lung or the pleural sac around it. The expectation was that he would have the lung removed. The other part of the plan was "hot chemo bath" treatment before they closed him up after surgery.
June 21, 2012: He came through the surgery with flying colors. They didn't have to remove the lung, but warned that removal of the pleural sac would actually require a longer recovery period, likening it to "peeling" the lung. He was up and walking in no time, and about 2 weeks after the surgery (July 4, 2012), was released from the hospital to stay at the "Meso" house - and apartment building set up for mesothelioma patients and their adult family during their post-hospital stay recovery. The expectation was that he would be ready to go home within 2-3 weeks or so of his hospital release.
But things did not go as planned. He started feeling more and more tired, and within days of his release had gained 6 pounds of fluid and was feeling completely wiped out. The Friday following his release, my sister took him to the doctor and they were advised he should go back to the hospital. They admitted him. He had an elevated white blood cell count and a fever of 102 plus. This SCREAMED "infection" to me, but they seemed to hesitate to call it that. By Saturday, he had had to have 2 units of blood, his white count was still high, and his temperature was still elevated. His health deteriorated fairly quickly and eventually he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Just what kind of pneumonia had yet to be determined.
His condition became extremely critical by the following Monday, when my sister Brenda and I went out to Boston to spend time with Joie for emotiona support. They put him on a ventilator and chemically paralyzed him and lightly sedated him so he couldn't fight the tube. We were told he was critical, but not how "critical" he really was. They were treating him with several antibiotics and weren't seeing any improvement, so they changed them. They had not gotten the culture results back from the lab as yet, so weren't positive what bacteria and what strain they were dealing with. When they did get the word back, they would focus more tightly on drugs which would be effective on the specific infection he had.
MSSA. Same bacteria as MRSA - Staphylococcus aureus - only supposedly, MSSA isn't methicillin resistant (penicillin family), although it apparently is a virulent, aggressive bacteria. They changed the antibiotics, and were seeing some improvement through the rest of the week - but nothing improved enough to change his condition from critical.
This past Monday they planned to do a tracheostomy and also insert a feeding tube. They need to get him off the sedation, but the ventilator stresses him out so much that they need to find a way to get him off of that, too. The only solution is a tracheostomy, so they can give him air/oxygen if he needs it after they bring him out of sedation. He wouldn't be able to eat food yet, but they need to get nutrients into him that offer more than IV feeding. Apparently, however, he was still too sick for the procedures, as when they moved him to the operating table his oxygen saturation level went down and they couldn't get it back up. They scratched the idea of surgery that day and told my sister that he was sicker than they had thought he was. His heart was beating irregularly later on, and medication didn't help, so they shocked it and the normal rhythm came back. They've now changed his antibiotics again, and have indicated that he's made very tiny bits of progress again, that his kidneys and liver are fine and that he has started to lose some of the fluid that has collected in his body. The fluid thing is tricky, as losing too much of it too quickly can damage the kidneys, so they are being very careful with that.
They still hope to do the tracheostomy and feeding tube procedures as soon as he is capable of having the surgery. Once he has those done, he should start to improve more quickly, but getting him to the point of being able to tolerate the surgery is the hard part right now.
During all of this, our family has been kind of taking turns going out to be with Joie. Jim's mom, aunt and a couple of his cousins were there the other day, my parents and my sister Brenda before that... my other sister Donna has been there several time and is there now.
And life goes on. A month or more ago, one of Brenda's cats ate day lily leaves and had to have emergency vet care for about 3 days. He's fine now, but that was scary. And one of Brenda's dogs contracted Lyme disease this past weekend - she could barely walk. She's now on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and is doing much better.
Also during all of this, my oldest nephew wound up in the hospital with what was diagnosed as a gallbladder problem - at least one stone. They eventually did gallbladder removal and he was released and is doing well - but that was a little scary, too.
Me, I'm still dealing with grief and stress - and I do that by shutting down... but now I realize I need to get my life back on track. I need to organize my home and my life better. And I'll tell you more about how I'm attempting to do that later ...
As you know from this blog and my Facebook page, I cared for my terminally ill kitty Cinnamon from the time of her diagnosis with lung cancer in February until it was time to say good-bye to her on Mother's Day due to the fact that I didn't want her to suffer. This still makes me very sad, and I still miss her.
My sister Brenda and her family had to say good-bye to their dog Samson. He was an older, big dog, and had gotten to the point where he could no longer stand on his own ... so it was time.
As most everyone who would be reading this blog knows, this spring my sister's husband Jim was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He was sent to doctors at Brigham and Women's hospital for evaluation and treatment. During evaluation, it was determined that the cancer had not gotten into the lymph nodes, so they scheduled him for surgery. The plan was to remove the affected lung or the pleural sac around it. The expectation was that he would have the lung removed. The other part of the plan was "hot chemo bath" treatment before they closed him up after surgery.
June 21, 2012: He came through the surgery with flying colors. They didn't have to remove the lung, but warned that removal of the pleural sac would actually require a longer recovery period, likening it to "peeling" the lung. He was up and walking in no time, and about 2 weeks after the surgery (July 4, 2012), was released from the hospital to stay at the "Meso" house - and apartment building set up for mesothelioma patients and their adult family during their post-hospital stay recovery. The expectation was that he would be ready to go home within 2-3 weeks or so of his hospital release.
But things did not go as planned. He started feeling more and more tired, and within days of his release had gained 6 pounds of fluid and was feeling completely wiped out. The Friday following his release, my sister took him to the doctor and they were advised he should go back to the hospital. They admitted him. He had an elevated white blood cell count and a fever of 102 plus. This SCREAMED "infection" to me, but they seemed to hesitate to call it that. By Saturday, he had had to have 2 units of blood, his white count was still high, and his temperature was still elevated. His health deteriorated fairly quickly and eventually he was diagnosed with pneumonia. Just what kind of pneumonia had yet to be determined.
His condition became extremely critical by the following Monday, when my sister Brenda and I went out to Boston to spend time with Joie for emotiona support. They put him on a ventilator and chemically paralyzed him and lightly sedated him so he couldn't fight the tube. We were told he was critical, but not how "critical" he really was. They were treating him with several antibiotics and weren't seeing any improvement, so they changed them. They had not gotten the culture results back from the lab as yet, so weren't positive what bacteria and what strain they were dealing with. When they did get the word back, they would focus more tightly on drugs which would be effective on the specific infection he had.
MSSA. Same bacteria as MRSA - Staphylococcus aureus - only supposedly, MSSA isn't methicillin resistant (penicillin family), although it apparently is a virulent, aggressive bacteria. They changed the antibiotics, and were seeing some improvement through the rest of the week - but nothing improved enough to change his condition from critical.
This past Monday they planned to do a tracheostomy and also insert a feeding tube. They need to get him off the sedation, but the ventilator stresses him out so much that they need to find a way to get him off of that, too. The only solution is a tracheostomy, so they can give him air/oxygen if he needs it after they bring him out of sedation. He wouldn't be able to eat food yet, but they need to get nutrients into him that offer more than IV feeding. Apparently, however, he was still too sick for the procedures, as when they moved him to the operating table his oxygen saturation level went down and they couldn't get it back up. They scratched the idea of surgery that day and told my sister that he was sicker than they had thought he was. His heart was beating irregularly later on, and medication didn't help, so they shocked it and the normal rhythm came back. They've now changed his antibiotics again, and have indicated that he's made very tiny bits of progress again, that his kidneys and liver are fine and that he has started to lose some of the fluid that has collected in his body. The fluid thing is tricky, as losing too much of it too quickly can damage the kidneys, so they are being very careful with that.
They still hope to do the tracheostomy and feeding tube procedures as soon as he is capable of having the surgery. Once he has those done, he should start to improve more quickly, but getting him to the point of being able to tolerate the surgery is the hard part right now.
During all of this, our family has been kind of taking turns going out to be with Joie. Jim's mom, aunt and a couple of his cousins were there the other day, my parents and my sister Brenda before that... my other sister Donna has been there several time and is there now.
And life goes on. A month or more ago, one of Brenda's cats ate day lily leaves and had to have emergency vet care for about 3 days. He's fine now, but that was scary. And one of Brenda's dogs contracted Lyme disease this past weekend - she could barely walk. She's now on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories and is doing much better.
Also during all of this, my oldest nephew wound up in the hospital with what was diagnosed as a gallbladder problem - at least one stone. They eventually did gallbladder removal and he was released and is doing well - but that was a little scary, too.
Me, I'm still dealing with grief and stress - and I do that by shutting down... but now I realize I need to get my life back on track. I need to organize my home and my life better. And I'll tell you more about how I'm attempting to do that later ...
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Summer again ...
I guess, for some reason, I just post here in the summer time. :) Not sure why that is, other than the possible fact that I have more time in the summer.
I hope to be posting again about my latest venture into continuous brew kombucha - once I get it started. I am still slowly recovering from the illness and death of my cat, but I hope to get started on the next kombucha brew this weekend. I know, I don't have much time ... :)
I hope to be posting again about my latest venture into continuous brew kombucha - once I get it started. I am still slowly recovering from the illness and death of my cat, but I hope to get started on the next kombucha brew this weekend. I know, I don't have much time ... :)
Sad times
Anyone who follows me on Facebook knows that I recently had to say good bye to my 12 year old kitty Cinnamon. She had been diagnosed with secondary lung cancer in early February, and I made the decision on May 13th, 2012 - Mother's Day - to end her suffering. It was probably the hardest decision I have ever made, but I knew in my heart that it was the right one. I was fortunate enough to be able to afford having the vet come here, which made it so much less traumatic for both of us. I miss her lots, but I know that her pain is over and she is at rest.
Rest in peace, my Cinnamon girl. I love you.
Rest in peace, my Cinnamon girl. I love you.
Bottling Kombucha - the hardest part!
(This was originally written probably toward the end of August 2011)
Really, the bottling of the kombucha probably requires the most investment in time and effort.
What you need
If you are adding liquid such as ginger or fruit juice, place some into each bottle you wish to flavor, using the funnel if necessary. You will probably need to experiment with the amount, but I would err on the conservative side when starting out with this - better to not have as much fruit flaver as you want but have good kombucha than to ruin the kombucha with too much fruit juice. You can add your fruit or dried fruit at this stage as well. Or, you can add juice or fruit after adding the kombucha - just be sure to leave enough room when you fill the bottles.
Carefully remove whatever cover you have from your fermentation container. Pour the kombucha from the fermentation container into the pouring container (measuring cup or pitcher). Put the funnel into the mouth of the first bottle to fill. Pour the kombucha from the pouring container into the funnel. I carefully tip the bottle so that the kombucha streams down the glass inside the bottle in an attempt to produce less foam and lose less of the natural carbonation. Fill the bottle up to within about 1/2" from the top if you have already added any juices or fruit you wish to add - if not, be sure to leave enough room to add the extras. If you encounter a lot of foaming, fill it as much as you can without making a mess then top off later after the foam settles some. If your bottle is as full as you want it to be, and you are not adding any extras or have already added the extras, you may cap the bottles at this point.
If you haven't added any extras and you are not interested in increasing or maintaining the carbonation of your kombucha, put the sealed bottles into the refrigerator. If you are have added extras and want the flavoring to be stronger, and/or want to increase or maintain the carbonation, you can leave the bottles in a place similar to where you fermented your kombucha - right next to your fermentation container is fine. I've had the best results, so far, with leaving them out for 3-4 days after bottling. Some people advocate that you leave them for up to a month. You may want to experiment a little to see what works best for you. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that more fermentation occurs in the bottle - and carbonation will build up as a result. As carbonation builds, there becomes a chance that a bottle could explode, creating the possibility of some danger and definitely creating a mess. My 3-4 day second fermentation period, has, for me, given the kombucha enough carbonation to result in a champagne-like "pop" as the cap is removed (scaring my cats in the process!), with a champagne-like fine fizz to the kombucha itself - Mmmmmm!
Next time, I'll try to add some photos and maybe some about "continuous brewing" - which is the next thing I want to try!
Happy sipping!
Really, the bottling of the kombucha probably requires the most investment in time and effort.
What you need
- glass bottles with screw on or flip top (like Grolsch) caps (tops must fit securely)
- funnel that will fit into the tops of your bottles
- large measuring cup or pitcher (most recently I've used a one gallon pitcher in this process)
- kombucha
- flavorings such as ginger juice, sliced ginger, raisins, fruit juice, fruit pieces, etc. THIS IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL but some kind of fruit or dried fruit additions may help maintain or increase natural carbonation.
If you are adding liquid such as ginger or fruit juice, place some into each bottle you wish to flavor, using the funnel if necessary. You will probably need to experiment with the amount, but I would err on the conservative side when starting out with this - better to not have as much fruit flaver as you want but have good kombucha than to ruin the kombucha with too much fruit juice. You can add your fruit or dried fruit at this stage as well. Or, you can add juice or fruit after adding the kombucha - just be sure to leave enough room when you fill the bottles.
Carefully remove whatever cover you have from your fermentation container. Pour the kombucha from the fermentation container into the pouring container (measuring cup or pitcher). Put the funnel into the mouth of the first bottle to fill. Pour the kombucha from the pouring container into the funnel. I carefully tip the bottle so that the kombucha streams down the glass inside the bottle in an attempt to produce less foam and lose less of the natural carbonation. Fill the bottle up to within about 1/2" from the top if you have already added any juices or fruit you wish to add - if not, be sure to leave enough room to add the extras. If you encounter a lot of foaming, fill it as much as you can without making a mess then top off later after the foam settles some. If your bottle is as full as you want it to be, and you are not adding any extras or have already added the extras, you may cap the bottles at this point.
If you haven't added any extras and you are not interested in increasing or maintaining the carbonation of your kombucha, put the sealed bottles into the refrigerator. If you are have added extras and want the flavoring to be stronger, and/or want to increase or maintain the carbonation, you can leave the bottles in a place similar to where you fermented your kombucha - right next to your fermentation container is fine. I've had the best results, so far, with leaving them out for 3-4 days after bottling. Some people advocate that you leave them for up to a month. You may want to experiment a little to see what works best for you. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that more fermentation occurs in the bottle - and carbonation will build up as a result. As carbonation builds, there becomes a chance that a bottle could explode, creating the possibility of some danger and definitely creating a mess. My 3-4 day second fermentation period, has, for me, given the kombucha enough carbonation to result in a champagne-like "pop" as the cap is removed (scaring my cats in the process!), with a champagne-like fine fizz to the kombucha itself - Mmmmmm!
Next time, I'll try to add some photos and maybe some about "continuous brewing" - which is the next thing I want to try!
Happy sipping!
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