Guest guest Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Hi Nick, I drink KT brewed with a scoby trapped for 15 years in a bottle (its name is Lazarus) and KT brewed with a scoby let in a fridge for more than 18 months (its name is Hibernatus) and I have no health problem. But those two batches took a long time to full recovery. They were slow to ferment the tea. I began with Hibernatus at Easter 2005 and with Lazarus the 01/08 this year. What leads to their recovery are the high temperatures (30 to 35° Celsius) in past july, I think the yeast was boosted and now Hibernatus and Lazarus brew the tea in the same amount of time that my two other " normal " scoby's. Good luck! (in Belgium) 2006/8/31, Nick : > I've had a few ounces of K tea stored in a corked bottle in my fridge > for probably 2 years...I decided to use it to try to grow a pancake > (since the one I received in the mail is of questionable > origin)...Basically I added the very acidic starter tea to a sweetened > green/black tea mix...I'm wondering...IF the pancake does grow...will > it be a true Kombucha culture and will it be safe to drink the > resulting tea??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 31, 2006 Report Share Posted August 31, 2006 Thanks ... I didn't realize the scobies could achieve stasis once the symbiotic balance was lost...That's kind of amazing... > > Hi Nick, > > I drink KT brewed with a scoby trapped for 15 years in a bottle (its > name is Lazarus) and KT brewed with a scoby let in a fridge for more > than 18 months (its name is Hibernatus) and I have no health problem. > But those two batches took a long time to full recovery. They were > slow to ferment the tea. I began with Hibernatus at Easter 2005 and > with Lazarus the 01/08 this year. What leads to their recovery are the > high temperatures (30 to 35° Celsius) in past july, I think the yeast > was boosted and now Hibernatus and Lazarus brew the tea in the same > amount of time that my two other " normal " scoby's. > > Good luck! > (in Belgium) > > 2006/8/31, Nick : > > I've had a few ounces of K tea stored in a corked bottle in my fridge > > for probably 2 years...I decided to use it to try to grow a pancake > > (since the one I received in the mail is of questionable > > origin)...Basically I added the very acidic starter tea to a sweetened > > green/black tea mix...I'm wondering...IF the pancake does grow...will > > it be a true Kombucha culture and will it be safe to drink the > > resulting tea??? > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 >I didn't realize the scobies could achieve stasis once the symbiotic >balance was lost...That's kind of amazing... I'm not sure what this means " symbiotic balance was lost " ... but it is totally amazing about 's 15yo bottled-up SCOBY regenerating-- I never fail to experience amazement when I'm reminded of it. Whoever was asking about the refrigerated SCOBY-- the only problem can be that a SCOBY may refuse or be reluctant to ferment again if it's been stored in the fridge. Since they don't require refrigeration and this is a risk, we advise storing them on the counter when not actively brewing. Store in a jar, floating in sweetened tea or KT. --V ~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~ --A.J. Muste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 > > > >I didn't realize the scobies could achieve stasis once the symbiotic > >balance was lost...That's kind of amazing... > > I'm not sure what this means " symbiotic balance was lost " ... but it is > totally amazing about 's 15yo bottled-up SCOBY regenerating-- I > never fail to experience amazement when I'm reminded of it. Whoever was > asking about the refrigerated SCOBY-- the only problem can be that a SCOBY > may refuse or be reluctant to ferment again if it's been stored in the > fridge. Since they don't require refrigeration and this is a risk, we > advise storing them on the counter when not actively brewing. Store in a > jar, floating in sweetened tea or KT. > > --V > > > > ~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~ > --A.J. Muste > What I meant by " symbiotic balance " was the balance between yeast and bacteria...Basically, I didn't realize that if one aspect of the colony became wounded, that it would return to it's balanced state eventually...I thought the scoby would die or just produce an altered KT... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 >What I meant by " symbiotic balance " was the balance between yeast >and bacteria...Basically, I didn't realize that if one aspect of the >colony became wounded, that it would return to it's balanced state >eventually...I thought the scoby would die or just produce an >altered KT... I think the lesson in 's case with the bottled SCOBY is that in fact the culture wasn't wounded by storage. What aspect are you thinking is/was wounded? --V ~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~ --A.J. Muste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 1, 2006 Report Share Posted September 1, 2006 One thing I tried, is on August 15, I tossed a clean piece of paper towel in a well fermented drink of K tea. Then I took it out and hung it to dry, then stuck it in a zip loc. This morning I took it out, put the paper in a new batch of sweetened tea, no Kombucha at all except for, hopefully, the K spores that were imbedded in the paper towel. So, now it is sitting in my kitchen, with a new label on it, waiting to see if it will form a new baby Scoby. If so, this would be a neat way to save a start of it, and a good way to move between countries and still take your beloved K tea with you. I'll let all know how this comes out, should see something in 3 or 4 days with the current heat around here. Pat in CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 2, 2006 Report Share Posted September 2, 2006 Pat, Most paper towels are bleached to make the paper white and the bleach would most likely kill the Kombucha or if not, the bleach would not be good for you anyway....so if you used bleached paper towels I wouldn't drink it anyway....it will be interesting to see if it worked though and their are unbleached paper towels.... It is a good experiment let us know what you learn:-)) Peace, Love and Harmony, Bev > > One thing I tried, is on August 15, I tossed a clean piece > of paper towel in a well fermented drink of K tea. Then I > took it out and hung it to dry, then stuck it in a zip loc. > This morning I took it out, put the paper in a new batch > of sweetened tea, no Kombucha at all except for, hopefully, > the K spores that were imbedded in the paper towel. > So, now it is sitting in my kitchen, with a new label on it, > waiting to see if it will form a new baby Scoby. If so, this > would be a neat way to save a start of it, and a good way > to move between countries and still take your beloved K tea > with you. > I'll let all know how this comes out, should see something in > 3 or 4 days with the current heat around here. > > Pat in CA > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2006 Report Share Posted September 3, 2006 I think that I will try another one, this time with an old, clean white towel that has been around the house for many years. I'll soak it in vinegar after washing it again, then dry in the hot dryer and then soak pieces of it in Kombucha Tea. Then we'll see how it goes. The first one was kinda slimy when I took the paper towel out of it, might have been a start of a new K. Scoby. Time will tell. Pat in CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2006 Report Share Posted September 3, 2006 Hi Pat and everyone: Yes, this should be an interesting experiment, but I agree with Bev that I'd be leery of the chemicals that might be in paper towels. I do have to say, though, that I once received a sourdough start from someone through this method, so maybe this is commonly done with other fermented foods. It was a scrap of paper towel or paper napkin soaked in sourdough starter, dried (and maybe frozen, too), and sent to me by mail. I had to put the whole thing in flour/water and fish out the scrap once it had soaked for a while. Yes, I got working sourdough, but since sourdough can also be made by inoculating flour/water w/ just the local airborne yeasts, I would have no way of telling if this was the sourdough from the specific strain that was originally on the napkin, or if it was populated by my own local organisms. You can't get kombucha from local airborne organisms, though, so it will be interesting to see how your brew does. Best wishes, Nori Bev wrote: > Most paper towels are bleached to make the paper white and the bleach would most likely kill the Kombucha Pat wrote: > > One thing I tried, is on August 15, I tossed a clean piece > > of paper towel in a well fermented drink of K tea. Then I > > took it out and hung it to dry, then stuck it in a zip loc. > > This morning I took it out, put the paper in a new batch > > of sweetened tea, no Kombucha at all except for, hopefully, > > the K spores that were imbedded in the paper towel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2006 Report Share Posted September 3, 2006 Hi Pat, I would worry about what the paper towel is made of!? I hope it is an organic made one, ubleached..etc. Audrey <snippet> > One thing I tried, is on August 15, I tossed a clean piece > of paper towel in a well fermented drink of K tea. Then I > took it out and hung it to dry, then stuck it in a zip loc. > This morning I took it out, put the paper in a new batch > of sweetened tea, no Kombucha at all except for, hopefully, > the K spores that were imbedded in the paper towel. > So, now it is sitting in my kitchen, with a new label on it, > waiting to see if it will form a new baby Scoby. If so, this > would be a neat way to save a start of it, and a good way > to move between countries and still take your beloved K tea > with you. > I'll let all know how this comes out, should see something in > 3 or 4 days with the current heat around here. > > Pat in CA > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2006 Report Share Posted September 3, 2006 It's a neat idea but the cell count that you'll end up with will be relatively small. You may be able to start a tiny tiny batch and step it up until you have enough starter for a full size batch though. BTW cotton would definitely be better, you can clean it first and cotton is 95% cellulose from the start whereas wood is only 50% cellulose and requires more processing.. If you're looking for a compact way to store KT cultures you might consider pouring finished KT into shot glasses and growing nice thick little silver dollar scobies. Dry them on a rack in your cold oven to keep flies away, then tuck them away in glass jars. When you look at a thick scoby from the edge it is made up of very thin consecutive layers. The scoby grows on the surface until it becomes heavy enough to drop just a millimeter or two below the surface of the liquid, then the process repeats over and over. Yeast reproduces in the presence of oxygen and so there is a good bit of yeast growth on the surface before submersion..This creates a bacteria/yeast mega-decker sandwich. At the heart of this mass, all is cozy and protected, semi-moist and happy.. Beau Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.