continuous brew tips

[Guest guest]

I'm about to start a continuous brew. When I add my starter kombucha to the

sweetened tea, to acidify it, should I mix it, or not? Then I'll be placing the

scoby into the container to get it going.

I have the same question when I take some of the ready-to-drink kombucha and

then add an equal amount of sweetened tea back, should that be mixed, or does it

just migrate on it's own?

I'm especially wondering about this because I'm going to be using a 4.7 gallon

container - pretty big.

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I’ve seen all the discussion on temperature for the kombucha, and various

methods of doing continuous brew. Here is what I do…and get wonderful

kombucha:

I use a 2 ½ gallon porcelain crock with plastic spigot. Once a week I make

sweet tea. After I drain amount of mature kombucha from the spigot for that

day’s use into my glass bottles, I pour sweet tea at the top of the crock to

bring the level of liquid back up to where it was before draining the mature

kombucha. The scoby rests on top of the liquid, and I do not stir.

My house during the winter ranges from between upper 50’s to 70’s depending

on whether we have the woodstove going or not. I do not use a heater for

the kombucha, and my sweet tea I add is usually straight out of the

refrigerator. The temperature difference does not seem to hurt the kombucha

at all…and I love the kombucha I am making! J

Deb Casey

Edgewood, NM

bji4u wrote:

“I'm about to start a continuous brew. When I add my starter kombucha to the

sweetened tea, to acidify it, should I mix it, or not? I have the same

question when I take some of the ready-to-drink kombucha and then add an

equal amount of sweetened tea back, should that be mixed, or does it just

migrate on it's own?”

[Guest guest]

Thanks for sharing Deb, i've got a 2.5 gallon CB vessel started. It's about 2/3

full so far and i expect to be tapping within a couple weeks.  Can hardly wait!

I'm basically following the method on the Weston A Price Foundation website.

They have 2 schedules, one is 3 times per week and the other is daily. I'm going

for the 3 times per week, figuring a couple days between taps will give the

kombucha more time to process the new sugar (i don't like it sweet). I've

considered once per week, but then i'd have to tap a lot more each time to get

the same yield. I've heard that a large sugar load can shock the yeast and

bacterias and cause them to temporarily shut down. I'm gonna start another CB

soon so i can experiment, but any wisdom folks on the list wanna contribute is

welcome. - Woody

[Guest guest]

I poured my starter on the bottoms of the dispensers at start up. Then I poured

in the sweetened tea, and lastly the SCOBY. I've never mixed mine and I've had

several wonderful CB batches over the past 6-weeks.

I'm already considering getting a 4.7 gal dispenser....this stuff is addicting

and getting harder to keep 4 people happy with " only " 8-gallons brewing at

various stages!

>

> I'm about to start a continuous brew. When I add my starter kombucha to the

sweetened tea, to acidify it, should I mix it, or not? Then I'll be placing the

scoby into the container to get it going.

>

> I have the same question when I take some of the ready-to-drink kombucha and

then add an equal amount of sweetened tea back, should that be mixed, or does it

just migrate on it's own?

>

> I'm especially wondering about this because I'm going to be using a 4.7 gallon

container - pretty big.

>