Kombucha

[Janne]

I used to flavor my vodka, the traditional Swedish way.
Herbs, spices, stuff like that.
The only fruit we used to use was Black Pepper.
I gave up 99% of the alcohol I consumed a couple of years ago though.

 

[Woody girl]

I made apple pie vodka last year. It was cracking!

 

[Janne]

Apple, cinnamon?
A scrape of Vanilla pod?

I miss the British Bramleys.

 

[Woody girl]

Yup. That's it. Before you all get the idea I'm an old soak, I only have a half bottle of southern on my birthday bike rally weekend. And most of what I make gets given away tho all this talk of home brews has reminded me of some 2yr old cherry brandy that I havnt tested yet. Just had a bit and I think my tongue has dissolved.

 

[Janne]

W. Girl, how is your Kombucha doing?

When you started your initial scoby, did you get a whitish layer on top of the liquid?

Looks like mold to my eyes?

I started one 2 weeks ago from locally made K. but am unsure ....

 

[Woody girl]

Yes it starts off like a white mould. A couple more weeks and it becomes more jelly like. Mines at that stage now but quite thin. Don't know how long to leave it. May make some more green tea and sugar solution and transfer it to that see if it grows some more. This is my first time so I'm not too sure what to do next myself. That's why I did this post in case anyone else had done it and knew what to do. Total experiment in my case.

 

[beachlover]

Yes it starts off like a white mould. A couple more weeks and it becomes more jelly like. Mines at that stage now but quite thin. Don't know how long to leave it. May make some more green tea and sugar solution and transfer it to that see if it grows some more. This is my first time so I'm not too sure what to do next myself. That's why I did this post in case anyone else had done it and knew what to do. Total experiment in my case.

I’m just on my third batch and only now has my scoby started to look like it’s growing, but the first brew was after ten days in a room ticking over at about 15 -18c. I use a gallon Kilner jar with a tap and put all but an inch of the initial brew into bottles, each with half a teaspoon of sugar and a couple of slices of ginger, leaving it for a week and it was excellent.
I then topped up the remaining brew with fresh tea and sugar and it worked much more enthusiastically the second time. I bottled that yesterday and started my third brew.
If yours has gone for ten days or so, I’d say get it bottled, top up the leftovers and see what the bottled stuff is like next week.

 

[Woody girl]

Just checked it. The scoby is about a centimetre thick but it has developed a black spot about an inch wide. Has it gone wrong? What do I do? Can it be saved?

 

[beachlover]

Just checked it. The scoby is about a centimetre thick but it has developed a black spot about an inch wide. Has it gone wrong? What do I do? Can it be saved?

They reckon the black spot isn’t a good sign.

 

[Woody girl]

Oh dear .....bummer.... it's so hard to get the stuff round here to start again. Well it was an experiment and sometimes they don't work. Maybe I'll throw it away give up and just brew my wild vodkas. I can do them no problems.

 

[beachlover]

Oh dear .....bummer.... it's so hard to get the stuff round here to start again. Well it was an experiment and sometimes they don't work. Maybe I'll throw it away give up and just brew my wild vodkas. I can do them no problems.

I’m happy to send you half of mine if I can find a suitable container for it and some of the liquid if you feel like giving it another go?

 

[Janne]

Could you take a piece away from the black spot and try?
Maybe it is ok.

I have a free floating see through ‘jellyfish’ under the whitish/ greyish layer.

What is a Wild Vodka.
A vodka that makes you wild?

 

[Woody girl]

Wild vodkas is vodka flavoured with wild edibles my favourite is beech leaf noyaux. Made much like damson gin. Potent! I also use wild fruits and another favourite is apple pie vodka using cinnamon sticks and apples. Then there is lemoncello anything you can think of realy. .....doesn't go wrong either ! Makes for a realy good barter item or present as I rarely drink myself . You can use gin or brandy too. Wild cherry brandy is not available in the shops.

 

[Woody girl]

I’m happy to send you half of mine if I can find a suitable container for it and some of the liquid if you feel like giving it another go?

Thanks for the offer but at present I will forget it. Maybe try again another time. Yes I've got the hump! Sorry ! Just disopointed . Fed up. And longing for warmer weather. My arthritis is bugging me a lot this week. Makes me a grumpy old woman.

 

[Janne]

Aha!
Flavouring vodka is an ancient Swedish and Finnish ( and Polish, Russian) custom.
I am happy people in UK do it too. As you can buy ready flavoured vidka these days in Sweden, the art is slowly getting lost.

 

[beachlover]

Thanks for the offer but at present I will forget it. Maybe try again another time. Yes I've got the hump! Sorry ! Just disopointed . Fed up. And longing for warmer weather. My arthritis is bugging me a lot this week. Makes me a grumpy old woman.

No worries. As an equally old and grumpy bloke with bashed up joints, I fully understand the feeling.

 

[Woody girl]

Yes my head says wahoo! When I see the snow. My bones say oh no! I can only over ride the bones for so long. Then it gets too much. Today it's too much. Spoilt kombucha is the last straw. Chocolate time I think.