Guest guest Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 My kombucha has started to taste lemony, almost bad, and definitely not normal. I have been brewing successfully for about a month and a half. The culture looks odd also, but not moldy. It is floating at the top of the liquid (it's always done this, is that normal?) and the babies aren't separating, which it has never done either. Some of the culture floats up out of the liquid and parts of it are seeming to sort of " bubble, " like a blister almost. There are also thick, brown clusters of slimey stuff floating around, they don't look like the normal stuff you would see. What can I do? The lemony taste is definitely bad. Is my culture ruined? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 In message <dc1fda+93p9eGroups> you wrote: > My kombucha has started to taste lemony, almost bad, and definitely not > normal. I have been brewing successfully for about a month and a half. > Some of the > look like the normal stuff you would see. > What can I do? The lemony taste is definitely bad. Is my culture ruined? Ahaaaaaaa, it's trouble shooting time ;-) When you say 'lemony', do you mean strongly acidic? Is there a strong and unpleasant 'beery' taste/smell? My hunch is, that with the hotter weather (?) your yeast side of the culture has gone on the rampage accelerating the fermentation and spoiling the taste of the brew, though not necessarily its efficaciousness. If that is the case all is not lost. On pouring your brew from the fermenting container, be careful not to disturb the yeast sediment too much and discard this sediment afterwards. By doing this you can swing back the balance towards the bacteria side eventually. It may take a few brewing cycles. > The culture looks odd also, but not moldy. > It is floating at the top of the liquid (it's always done this, > is that normal?) and the babies aren't separating, which it has never > done either. Yes, that's normal. If you are keen to have a separate baby on the top you could weigh the culture down with a cleaned glass weight or crystal. It doesn't awfully matter where the culture/baby is in your brew. Your whole brewing liquid consists of bacteria/yeast culture, the scoby (often on top) is only the cellular by-product of the brewing process. > culture floats up out of the liquid and parts of it are seeming to sort of > " bubble, " like a blister almost. Again, this is normal, maybe the sign of an over-active brew (yeast) which would account for the bubble. You can burst it if it annoys you :-) > There are also thick, brown clusters of slimey stuff floating around .... Quite normal, completely harmless dead yeast cells. Again a sign of maybe overactive yeast activity. You have to tame the yeast-beast, I'd say then you'd be well away to a nice-tasting brew, till then the old one will do. An afterthought: Do you use tea with a lemon flavouring? If so, I should go back to normal tea without any additives/oils as these can be detrimental to the Kombucha culture. Final answer to your last question, I don't think you have ruined your brew, but you will need patience to balance your brew - quite a normal thing brewers have to do now and again. All the best, kombuchaly, Margret:-) -- +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Minstrel@... <)))<>< www.therpc.f9.co.uk <)))<>< +---------------------------------------------------------------+ The greatest female financier in the Bible was Pharaoh's daughter: She went to the bank of the Nile and drew out a prophet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 I am new to kombucha also but nothing seems wrong with your brew! As for the taste, it changes a bit with time. Your kombucha mushroom is probably gettng more active. If you havent been seperating the babies from the mother then your brewing would be more tangy for sure. You have more than one mushroom working if this is the situation. The kombucha is always on top floating for mine and so far so good. I have noticed that if you strain and keep in a seperate jar, after a few days, new textures are formed in our kombucha liquid and this is normal. Before you drink it, just strain it again Last time I drank my cup of kombucha, I split it in half, cutting it with mineral water to make it easier to drink. the weather was so hot outside that I needed a refreshing drink. I continued with water for the rest of the day. If this helps! Denyse --- piscesaryssa <piscesaryssa@...> wrote: --------------------------------- My kombucha has started to taste lemony, almost bad, and definitely not normal. I have been brewing successfully for about a month and a half. The culture looks odd also, but not moldy. It is floating at the top of the liquid (it's always done this, is that normal?) and the babies aren't separating, which it has never done either. Some of the culture floats up out of the liquid and parts of it are seeming to sort of " bubble, " like a blister almost. There are also thick, brown clusters of slimey stuff floating around, they don't look like the normal stuff you would see. What can I do? The lemony taste is definitely bad. Is my culture ruined? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Hi, Greenspider. I lost a batch to mold a while back, so I know what a discouraging surprise it is to see that ugly stuff growing. I think in that case, the starter I added to my batch that time wasn't acidic enough. That may be what happened to you. So now, if my starter seems at all sweet, I still add about 1/2 cup of vinegar to boost the initial acidity. I also sanitize everything with 5-star acid sanitizer, including the turkey baster that I use to get taste samples. (I rinse the baster again in water to avoid getting sanitizer in the brew) Most people just use vinegar or very hot water to sanitize. But whatever you use, you have to be sure that anything that touches the brew is completely clean. Don't worry about your mishap. I'll contact you via email to send you another scoby. > > Oh bummer. > My second brew deffinitely has mold growing on the top. > I don't know what I did wrong, I tried to replicate my first brew. > I made a jug of tea, poured my scobies and a cup of starter into the new tea/jug. > > Is there any chance I can pull the scobies out and try them in a new batch of tea? > Is it too late to salvage anything here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Hi, Greenspider. I lost a batch to mold a while back, so I know what a discouraging surprise it is to see that ugly stuff growing. I think in that case, the starter I added to my batch that time wasn't acidic enough. That may be what happened to you. So now, if my starter seems at all sweet, I still add about 1/2 cup of vinegar to boost the initial acidity. I also sanitize everything with 5-star acid sanitizer, including the turkey baster that I use to get taste samples. (I rinse the baster again in water to avoid getting sanitizer in the brew) Most people just use vinegar or very hot water to sanitize. But whatever you use, you have to be sure that anything that touches the brew is completely clean. Don't worry about your mishap. I'll contact you via email to send you another scoby. > > Oh bummer. > My second brew deffinitely has mold growing on the top. > I don't know what I did wrong, I tried to replicate my first brew. > I made a jug of tea, poured my scobies and a cup of starter into the new tea/jug. > > Is there any chance I can pull the scobies out and try them in a new batch of tea? > Is it too late to salvage anything here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Hi, Greenspider. I lost a batch to mold a while back, so I know what a discouraging surprise it is to see that ugly stuff growing. I think in that case, the starter I added to my batch that time wasn't acidic enough. That may be what happened to you. So now, if my starter seems at all sweet, I still add about 1/2 cup of vinegar to boost the initial acidity. I also sanitize everything with 5-star acid sanitizer, including the turkey baster that I use to get taste samples. (I rinse the baster again in water to avoid getting sanitizer in the brew) Most people just use vinegar or very hot water to sanitize. But whatever you use, you have to be sure that anything that touches the brew is completely clean. Don't worry about your mishap. I'll contact you via email to send you another scoby. > > Oh bummer. > My second brew deffinitely has mold growing on the top. > I don't know what I did wrong, I tried to replicate my first brew. > I made a jug of tea, poured my scobies and a cup of starter into the new tea/jug. > > Is there any chance I can pull the scobies out and try them in a new batch of tea? > Is it too late to salvage anything here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Thank you Irene. I definitely have to be more proactive in my cleaning and sanitizing. I think that it was, as you say, not acidic enough. I'll incorporate some vinegar into my regimen too. What vinegar to use? " The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. " Plato > Oh bummer. > My second brew deffinitely has mold growing on the top. > I don't know what I did wrong, I tried to replicate my first brew. > I made a jug of tea, poured my scobies and a cup of starter into the new tea/jug. > > Is there any chance I can pull the scobies out and try them in a new batch of tea? > Is it too late to salvage anything here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Thank you Irene. I definitely have to be more proactive in my cleaning and sanitizing. I think that it was, as you say, not acidic enough. I'll incorporate some vinegar into my regimen too. What vinegar to use? " The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. " Plato > Oh bummer. > My second brew deffinitely has mold growing on the top. > I don't know what I did wrong, I tried to replicate my first brew. > I made a jug of tea, poured my scobies and a cup of starter into the new tea/jug. > > Is there any chance I can pull the scobies out and try them in a new batch of tea? > Is it too late to salvage anything here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 20, 2011 Report Share Posted June 20, 2011 Thank you Irene. I definitely have to be more proactive in my cleaning and sanitizing. I think that it was, as you say, not acidic enough. I'll incorporate some vinegar into my regimen too. What vinegar to use? " The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. " Plato > Oh bummer. > My second brew deffinitely has mold growing on the top. > I don't know what I did wrong, I tried to replicate my first brew. > I made a jug of tea, poured my scobies and a cup of starter into the new tea/jug. > > Is there any chance I can pull the scobies out and try them in a new batch of tea? > Is it too late to salvage anything here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 I use distilled white vinegar. But many people prefer apple cider vinegar or Braggs raw cider vinegar. Cider vinegar has the potential to grow it's own " mother of vinegar " which can compete with your SCOBY. So you should heat the vinegar to kill any living bacteria in it. Then let it cool down to room temp before you add it to your KT. > > Thank you Irene. > I definitely have to be more proactive in my cleaning and sanitizing. > I think that it was, as you say, not acidic enough. > I'll incorporate some vinegar into my regimen too. > > What vinegar to use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 I use distilled white vinegar. But many people prefer apple cider vinegar or Braggs raw cider vinegar. Cider vinegar has the potential to grow it's own " mother of vinegar " which can compete with your SCOBY. So you should heat the vinegar to kill any living bacteria in it. Then let it cool down to room temp before you add it to your KT. > > Thank you Irene. > I definitely have to be more proactive in my cleaning and sanitizing. > I think that it was, as you say, not acidic enough. > I'll incorporate some vinegar into my regimen too. > > What vinegar to use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted June 21, 2011 Report Share Posted June 21, 2011 I use distilled white vinegar. But many people prefer apple cider vinegar or Braggs raw cider vinegar. Cider vinegar has the potential to grow it's own " mother of vinegar " which can compete with your SCOBY. So you should heat the vinegar to kill any living bacteria in it. Then let it cool down to room temp before you add it to your KT. > > Thank you Irene. > I definitely have to be more proactive in my cleaning and sanitizing. > I think that it was, as you say, not acidic enough. > I'll incorporate some vinegar into my regimen too. > > What vinegar to use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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