Re: Re: Ferments that Sour Quickly and Produce No or a Thin Mushroom

[Guest guest]

Don't green tea and/or sugar on the high side produce fatter SCOBYs?

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_____________________________________________

" Prepare your proof before you argue " - Jewish Proverb

On 6/8/07, Happy Herbalist <eddy@...> wrote:

>

> There has been some discussions on this list of the importance of the

> SCOBY

> (mushroom) to Kombucha Tea. I would like to hear opinions of a ferment

> that

> sours but produces no mushroom or a mushroom that is very thin.

> Does (size) matter?

>

> Ed Kasper LAc. & family

> www.HappyHerbalist.com

>

>

[Guest guest]

Don't green tea and/or sugar on the high side produce fatter SCOBYs?

--

_____________________________________________

" Prepare your proof before you argue " - Jewish Proverb

On 6/8/07, Happy Herbalist <eddy@...> wrote:

>

> There has been some discussions on this list of the importance of the

> SCOBY

> (mushroom) to Kombucha Tea. I would like to hear opinions of a ferment

> that

> sours but produces no mushroom or a mushroom that is very thin.

> Does (size) matter?

>

> Ed Kasper LAc. & family

> www.HappyHerbalist.com

>

>

[Guest guest]

So far my fat scobys have come from combos that contain hibiscus or Pu-erh

tea.

On 6/8/07, VanTassel <victoria.vantassel@...> wrote:

>

> Don't green tea and/or sugar on the high side produce fatter SCOBYs?

> --

>

>

--

Live and Love Well,

Sandy (Jennings, FL; zone 8b)

[Guest guest]

So far my fat scobys have come from combos that contain hibiscus or Pu-erh

tea.

On 6/8/07, VanTassel <victoria.vantassel@...> wrote:

>

> Don't green tea and/or sugar on the high side produce fatter SCOBYs?

> --

>

>

--

Live and Love Well,

Sandy (Jennings, FL; zone 8b)

[Guest guest]

Yes, they are marvelous aren't they. JFYI I never separate the baby from the

mother.

If I need an extra scoby I cut the entire thing in half or quarters, whatever

is appropriate at the time.

The new baby will be the full size of the container no matter what size the

mother is.

Huggs

zoe

> Hi Ed...I recently got a lovely SCOBY from you that is making a

> brilliant brew for me....

> The first brew, however, was during a cold snap, and early on I had to

> move the brew vessel to get it warm enough...that messed up the baby's

> development.

> That first poor baby was only about a millimeters thick and full of

> holes...separating it from the mother produced an additional two inch

> diameter hole...it was UGLY!!! But the brew was great!

> The next brew I put the ugly baby in with it's mother and it produced a

> beautiful brew and nice new baby...of course, I didn't need to move

> anything or jostle things, either.

> So...underdevelopment of that baby didn't matter in either the first or

> the second brews....it is now a very thin mother...but the brews and

> babies it is producing in seven days are great!

> Gayle

>

[Guest guest]

Hi

I have done both, sometimes it is very easy to separate the " mother " from the

baby, sometimes not. It all depends and I have come to take Kombucha for a

forever ongoing experiment. The Baby is at times bigger and fatter than the

mother sometimes not. In my experience, sometimes the " mom " sinks... The baby

always forms on the surface. It is thin at times, fatter some others. I have

noticed however that in time even with the same original " mom " and the same

recipes, the “babies’ grow fatter… These babies when used in a brew tend to

produce fatter babies than thier mom in her beginings...

By far the fattest baby producer is Hibiscus KT… very interesting, it grows a

consistently fat SCOBY…

I have also as an experiment used the HKT SCOBY for a WOG, came out very

good… slightly different but the SCOBY was a regular, whitish/browninsh one.

Frantz

imgayleim <gsmarks@...> wrote:

>

>

> Yes, they are marvelous aren't they. JFYI I never separate the

baby from the mother.

> If I need an extra scoby I cut the entire thing in half or

quarters, whatever is appropriate at the time.

>

> The new baby will be the full size of the container no matter what

size the mother is.

>

> Huggs

> zoe

>

Zoe...thanks for the idea about cutting them in half vs

separating...sounds like the thing to do.

Gayle

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[Guest guest]

In message <IGEFIGPCJBIMGAAFFJHACEFAHBAA.eddy@...> you wrote:

> ...................................

> When a otherwise good ferment does not produce a new baby and/or creates a

> really sour ferment very quickly.

> What are opinions on why /how this happens.

>

Hi Ed, My take on this is that such a brew is strong, possibly too strong

on the yeast side of the culture.

As we know, too much yeast eats the sugar very quickly and produces a

superabundance of acetic acid in just a few days.

This won't give the bacteria enough time to build the scoby; there may

also be some chemical reasons, that a strong acetic acid environment

inhibits the formation of the cellular fibrous hat-mat (I theorise). -

With your superior knowledge of the detailed happenings in the Kombucha

brew I expect you could answer that question well!

On the whole, my personal experience is that a stronger bacterial brew

which can go longer before becoming outright vinegar often forms a more

substantial scoby (time!).

Generally speaking, my black only tea brews don't have as good and solid

scobys as green or mixture brews, but take longer to ferment. Anything to do

with the tannin content?

Do you really think that the thickness or thinness of a scoby is an

important reflection on the health of a brew and its culture?

Personally, I would not have thought so, but I am prepared to be

corrected.

With greetings most kombuchaly,

a soul-motivated voice speaking out of the 'bacteriazoid',

Margret;-)

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[Guest guest]

Hello imgayleim,

By cutting them you are assured of getting a bit of ALL the goodies. Ive

heard that they like to hide in different layers. so when you separate them

you will only be getting some but not all of them. At least thats what I was

told.

Huggs

zoe

Sunday, June 10, 2007, 7:02:42 AM, you wrote:

>

>> Yes, they are marvelous aren't they. JFYI I never separate the

> baby from the mother.

>> If I need an extra scoby I cut the entire thing in half or

> quarters, whatever is appropriate at the time.

>> The new baby will be the full size of the container no matter what

> size the mother is.

>> Huggs

>> zoe

> Zoe...thanks for the idea about cutting them in half vs

> separating...sounds like the thing to do.

> Gayle

>