kombucha and alcohol

[Guest guest]

I'd left some kombucha at room temp for over a month that had been previously

harvested, which I do to maintain its effervescence.

I tried it and it was very good, but it tasted distinctively alcoholic. In

fact it tasted like some kind of red wine. There isn't very much question in

my mind that it was at least as alcoholic as beer.

On the other hand, I'd kept forgetting about the kombucha I was *fermenting*

until I let it go about two months-- in the summer, no less. I harvested it a

few days ago, and it is very strong, but mixed half and half with water isn't

so bad. Interestingly enough, it doesn't taste alcoholic at all.

So I'm guess what happened is that the absence of large quantities of the

kombucha scoby in the form of the removed zoogleal mat allowed other yeasts in

the environment to produce alcohol, or perhaps yeasts indigenous to the kefir

but for some reason uninhibited by lactic acid bacteria that would otherwise be

present in greater quantities. Either way, the presence of the zogleal (sp?)

mat appears to inhibit alcohol production in significant quantities in

comparison with equal times without the zoogleal mat.

Chris