Guest guest Posted July 31, 2010 Report Share Posted July 31, 2010 Hello everyone, I am new to brewing kombucha and need some advice From what I've read, if you want to add any sort of flavoring to the tea, it must be during a secondary fermentation. My question is the process of secondary fermentation and an idea on how to calculate the amount of dried hibiscus flowers I need to add to a 3 quart batch. I'm not looking for a overpowering flavor of hibiscus, just a nice touch. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2010 Report Share Posted July 31, 2010 Hi there!! I actually bottle my kombucha into 16 oz. bottles for the second ferment and add just enough dried hibiscus flowers to cover the bottom of each bottle. 5 or 6 flowers each. I don't know how that translates for a 3 quart jar, but I usually get 4-6 bottles per 3 quart batch. Hope that helps!! Lydia On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 1:21 PM, hutsutraw <hutsutraw@...> wrote: > > > Hello everyone, > > I am new to brewing kombucha and need some advice From what I've read, > if you want to add any sort of flavoring to the tea, it must be during a > secondary fermentation. My question is the process of secondary fermentation > and an idea on how to calculate the amount of dried hibiscus flowers I need > to add to a 3 quart batch. I'm not looking for a overpowering flavor of > hibiscus, just a nice touch. > > Thank you > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 WARNING!!! Secondary Fermentation: the process of keeping sealed bottles of Kombucha Tea at room temperatue is a process that some list members have used to add flavors and carbonation to their finished KT. It is not necessary, as there are other means of doing both. Secondary fermentation usually means that sealed bottles of finished Kombucha Tea are left at room temperature, for several days, either on the counter or in a container such as a plastic tub. While this may add carbonation it also increases the likelihood of an explosion with glass shards flying everywhere. KT in a sealed glass bottle can, and sometimes does, explode with great force. Therefore this process is not recommended. It is dangerous! How To Increase the Carbonation in KT: Lots of people like their Kombucha to be carbonated or fizzy. My Kombucha is very carbonated when I first decant it without any further processing. It is so carbonated that there is a " cold draft,' like you might get from beer, when pouring it from the brewing jar. Here are some techniques that I believe make a brew with more fizz. * Leave lots of Kombucha Colonies (SCOBY) in your fermenting jar. *Use at least 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar for each gallon ( if you don't like your KT sweet let it ferment a few days longer). *Take the " starter tea " for your next batch ( at least 10% of the volume) from the _bottom_ of your brewing jar. If following these guidelines for a month or so does not give you fizzy KT then try to get some starter KT from a friend who has fizzy KT to introduce more yeasts into your brew. I've been making KT since 1994 and all of my brews using this method have been both delicious and fizzy! Peace, Love and Harmony, Bev > > Yes, I let it ferment for at least 2 more days. I actually leave my bottles > in the cupboard until I know I will be drinking them and then refrigerate, > but I go through them so quickly they usually don't sit out for more than a > week. Many people recommend refrigerating them after the second ferment of 2 > to 3 days to avoid any kind of explosion, but I have never had one, the most > I have had was upon opening a bottle it fizzed over a bit. Anyway, hope that > helps!! > > > > > Lydia, > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 Also--- please note-- burping your bottles daily will help to reduce the likelihood of explosion. I 'burp' my bottles daily...so what if it causes some of the carbonation to be released..better safe than sorries! =X Thanks Bev for that reminder! On Sun, Aug 1, 2010 at 5:02 PM, yoganandaom <OM@...> wrote: > > > WARNING!!! > > Secondary Fermentation: the process of keeping sealed bottles of Kombucha > Tea at room temperatue is a process that some list members have used to add > flavors and carbonation to their finished KT. It is not necessary, as there > are other means of doing both. > > . > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 1, 2010 Report Share Posted August 1, 2010 There are several successful (to my taste, at least!) ways of adding the flavor of hibicus flowers to a KT secondary ferment, and there may be others I have not experimented with yet. One, is adding the dried flowers to each bottle, just a few will do. The other, is to make suntea (add a handful of flowers to 2 quarts of water and put out in the sun for several hours, then strain) or boiled water tea of the flowers, and add this tea to your KT. This amount would depend on your taste. I love the taste of my tart KT, so I add hibicus tea for the delightful color and for the abundant Vit C, so I do not add much more than a l/2 cup of flower tea to a large bottle of KT. But this is all a matter of experimention, which is always a fun part of this process, and taking some notes so you can remember what & how you made your best ones. Happy fermenting, Norma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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