Re: Is this the continuous brew container your talking about?

[Guest guest]

>Hmm....the original instructions I was given with my scoby included the

>addition of ginger in the brewing tea which I then strain out before

>adding the scoby. I *love* ginger so I never thought about it. So far

>I've had no trouble with my brews. But now I'm hearing that ginger is

>bad for the scoby? What to do? I wonder how one would safely get the

>ginger flavor into the tea later. Would it be safe to add grated ginger

>at the point of bottling? Thanks for any thoughts.

It's absolutely safe at the point of bottling. It's a longterm effect, not

short term. All the commercial brands put in ginger juice at bottling, is

how they do it. How long have you been brewing this way?

If it were true that it there is no longterm effect of brewing with ginger,

I'm open to that fact, but I've seen enough to know that there are

conditions that will affect the bacteria over the long term. It just makes

sense on every level, to me, that antibacterial substances should not be in

the ferment (the transformational stage in the vessel). We worry a lot

about detergent residues, and I know for sure that the hydrogen

peroxide/vinegar sanitizing protocol kills the culture's bacteria. Then

there is the argument, which is only theoretical but is plausible, that

some of the culture's bacteria species might be more susceptible to

antibacterials than other species, in which case brewing with

antibacterials would tend to favor one species of bacteria over another,

which is (imo) an inappropriate intervention by humans, and definitely

shorting oneself of the goodies the bacteria make. So the SCOBY could look

fine but in fact be less diverse.

If someone had information about KT brewing traditions of hundreds of years

using ginger in the ferment, I would love to see it. I don't know much

about Asian practices with KT, but I do know the Tibetans only use green or

white tea, and they are very strict about what is put into it.

If this recipe to include ginger is that person's invention, I would tend

toward the " irresponsible " word on the subject. I just really wish we had

true real knowledge about Asian traditional practices.

On a separate but related subject, one thing I am positive about is that

historically, the Chinese used barley malt syrup and rice syrup to brew KT

with. Because, they invented those sweeteners, and they have a long

tradition with KT. These sweeteners are much easier to come by, especially

for farming peoples, than honey or even tree saps.

--V

~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~

--A.J. Muste

[Guest guest]

>I watched part of the video caught where he said not to use Earl Gray

This mailing list is such a treasure. Because of the history we have here,

the longterm participation of master brewers (of which I am not one), and

the careful order with which the FAQs and Files sections have been built,

we really do have the cutting edge information here.

As we do know, both Earl Grey and Pu-erh are perfectly fine to use.

--V

~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~

--A.J. Muste

[Guest guest]

>I watched part of the video caught where he said not to use Earl Gray

This mailing list is such a treasure. Because of the history we have here,

the longterm participation of master brewers (of which I am not one), and

the careful order with which the FAQs and Files sections have been built,

we really do have the cutting edge information here.

As we do know, both Earl Grey and Pu-erh are perfectly fine to use.

--V

~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~

--A.J. Muste

[Guest guest]

>I really think you have to consider the size of the tea leaf your

>dealing with If you examine a Lipton tea bag you will see that the

>tea is very fine. Now compair this to a Harney & Sons tea bag. It

>looks like the Harney & Sons contain much more tea. Actually the

>size of the tea is much larger than the Lipton. The same holds for bulk teas

>

>I agree that the teaspoon is just a guide. You'll get a lot more tea

>with a teaspoon of gunpowder green than you will with a whole leaf

>grade of green teas. Non camellia sinensis teas like Rooibus or Yerba

>Mate may call for less than teaspoon. I use a whole leaf white tea

>that I have to use closer to almost 3 teaspoons per quart to get a robust KT.

>

>For the type and grade of bulk tea your using 4 teaspoons are

>great. For another type and grade it may not. I like your volume

>comparison but does it take into account the surface area available

>for brewing? My gut feeling is that I could find a single tea leaf

>roughly equal to the volume of the wet tea in a tea bag. I'm not sure

>that the teas brewed would be of equivalent strengths.

Yes, the finely chopped or ground tea leaves in tea bags are part of why

there is less, but my black teas are dense as well as my green tea. My

white tea, yes, the spoon amount I use is overflowing. And of course, when

we make herbal preparations, we often macerate (grind or chop) the herbs

finely in order to increase surface area.

I still think teabags and teaspoons are often enough not a 1-to-1

correspondence that it's kind of misleading to state it as a reliable

equivalent.

Here's another thing about teabags as opposed to loose tea. Because the

tea is already finely chopped, it is almost never as fresh as whole-leaf or

less broken-down tea-- the increased exposure to air on the greater surface

area makes it oxidize faster. Teabags are notoriously not fresh.

And of course, loose tea is far cheaper per serving than teabags.

I agree with you about that Earl Grey you found, it was no doubt cheap

flavoring, and possibly the teabags were really old also.

--V

~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~

--A.J. Muste