Re: My first real brew is started!

[Guest guest]

>1) I brewed my tea a la the Guenther method; I brought the

>water to boil, poured it over the tea bags in a ceramic container to

>brew, removed the tea bags and added the sugar. I noticed that many

>of the recipes that are 'out there' call for boiling the water,

>adding the sugar, adding the tea, and continuing to boil as the tea

>brews. This was counter-intuitive to me as a regular tea drinker so

>I followed Guenther s method. Anyone know the reasoning behind

>adding sugar before the tea and boiling it for so long while it

>brews?

The idea was that somehow this was more sanitary. Most now agree this

belief is outdated. However, you also don't need to boil all of your

water, you can just boil part of it to dissolve the sugar and steep the

tea, then add that to the rest of the water and you've got instant, cooled

sweet tea, ready for the SCOBY and starter.

>2) When I poured the sweet tea from the ceramic pitcher into the

>brewing jug I discovered that one of my tea bags must have torn as

>there was loose tea in the bottom of the pitcher. I was able to

>remove most of it but I'm sure that I missed a few flakes, will this

>hurt my brew?

Not at all. Stray tea leaves get into the kombucha all the time.

>3) My new SCOBY isn't as pretty as some that I've seen. It's edges

>are rather brown and it's on the thin side. I'm pretty sure it was

>folded up in a small (12 oz) pickle jar for some time before it came

>to me. Will it pretty up some now that it is in sweet tea again?

Probably not. But the new SCOBY that forms will probably look better, and

the longer you brew, in general, the better your SCOBYs will be. But,

looks don't really matter with KT. The raggediest, most pathetic looking

ScOBYs will brew delicious KT.

>4) There are some ooglies and floaties in the brew that aren't to

>pretty either but I figured I can strain them out after this batch

>is done. Does that sound like a good plan? It occurred to me after

>I had poured it in that I could have strained the starter tea first

>but it's too late now.

There's no point in straining the starter tea because the strands will just

regenerate. They are totally normal and without them you don't really have

KT. Part of the process. My partner has always strained his out as he

pours from the bottle; recently I had a pitcher of KT in the fridge that

was so fresh it had no strands. He commented that it sure was nice not to

have to mess around with the straining before he could drink it, that it

saved a lot of time, and that he could see why I'd just gotten used to them

and just drink them.

enjoy

--V

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

--A.J. Muste