Guest guest Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Hello, I am new to the group and very new to brewing Kombucha. After reading about the benefits of drinking kombucha I wanted to try brewing my own. I know several people who follow Nourishing Traditions and asked around for a culture and to sample someone's brew for the taste. It was drinkable though I didn't really " like " the taste and quite disliked the smell. She spoke of it having a fizz though I didn't think it did. She brews for 7 days in this time of year and only with black tea. I thought I'd give it a try and could do my own experimentation with flavours. A culture was provided for me squeezed into a tiny jar with some brew and I just poured that into my tea without taking it out and having a look. My tea was half green tea, half black tea with an added cup of organic cranberry juice (after hearing about someone else who flavoured with cranberry). Today is day 7. The culture started off pretty much at the bottom of the jar and was not in a pancake form but kind of a free flowing thing with wings and loose parts flowing, hard to describe. It has risen somewhat closer to the top and now I am getting the new one forming on the top but it is very thin. Do I need to keep brewing until it becomes 1/2 " thick or so? I don't think this is going to come out looking like a pancake disk like I see in the photos. I had a taste by inserting a straw past the culture. Is this disturbing to my brew? It tasted quite good and has a fizz. But I probably like it because there is still sweetness. I don't know at what point this is ready. I certainly want to get the most health benefits from it. Does all the sweetness have to be gone for this to happen? I am thinking about tasting every few days up to two weeks to try to find the most optimum. I realize I may end up wasting this brew by doing that if it goes beyond what I find drinkable. Having said that I really can't wait to be drinking it regularly. I feel a little bit lost with all this and would appreciate any advice. Oh, one more question about the water. I have RO water and have read conflicting things on the internet about water. I've read that using regular tap water is better than RO because it needs the minerals. I'd rather not be buying distilled all the time because of then accumulating plastic bottles. What water should I use? Kare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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