my hibiscus brewing and bottling

[Guest guest]

It is 10:00 p.m and I just spent the past two hours setting up my new

batch of brews. I can't believe I spent that long. It's not like I

don't have a lot of other things to do. But all that can wait. I

don't want to make a couple gallons of apple cider vinegar again.

That's what happened the last time, since I kept postponing the

bottling because of construction work in our house. Yikes. The brew

was so sour that I could hardly drink it. Hubby still gulped it away.

Tonight I made 5 one gallon jars of kombucha. Two of them I made with

hibiscus. Those two look so gorgeous already. I love the pinkish tone

of the brew. Thank you Pangie for your recipe! I can't wait to see

the results in about a week.

I was able to bottle 3 1/2 gallons since the half gallon was used for

starter for the 5 jars. All brewed for 7 days. All made with

different looking scobies. Some a little thicker, some paper thin,

some broken in two, some with holes and some with bumps. They all

turned out pretty well. How lovely to see my pantry full of ready to

drink KT again. Hubby kissed me several times to thank me for the new

batch. He's gonna have a good supply this time around.

Are we the only couple going through 4 to 5 gallons a week? Do

others drink that much here in this group? I can hardly believe we

drink that much. I just drink 2 cups at the most a day, and the kids

a sip or two, so hubby must be sneaking some when I am not looking.

That is his cookie jar I guess :-) He loves opening the pantry to

check on what's brewing and what's available. I make milk kefir and

water kefir so there's quite a selection in there. He had to make do

with lots of ginger water kefir the past week since my KT supply was

dwindling. I gave him the last jug today since I knew I was going to

bottle tonight.

My goodness, how can it take 2 hours to bottle and brew new batches?!

My hubby felt for me and told me to find a 5 gallon glass jar right

away. That's not so easy since I don't have a source for a

replacement plastic spigot yet :-(. Lets see where the 2 hour time

goes. Steeping the tea twice takes time. Then decanting and straining

the finished brew takes time as well. Then mixing all the concoctions

takes some more time. Then arranging them in the pantry and cleaning

up takes time. I used glass mineral soda bottles (Peregrino) and

glass lemonade bottles, and a gallon apple juice glass jug, all

courtesy of the recycling bins around our complex. I have been

scrounging those bins everyday in search of those handsome glass

bottles. My favorite is the blue mineral soda bottles. I soak the

bottles to remove the labels so they look really nice. I use blue

plastic caps from water bottles for the glass ones. They are a

perfect fit.

So many things to learn on this kombucha journey. I have yet to find

a faster way of making brews and bottling.

off to clean the kitchen...

all brewed out but with a smile of relief and gratitude ,

Idy