on kombucha and worms

big kombucha mother

I know I posted a while back about my Kombucha culture. Since then it has just beensitting and growing. And growing and growing. Today I decided it was time to start a new batch. I had sacrificed the previous batch to just growing the culture. If I took the towel off of the jar I could smell how sour it was. This time I'm going to use black tea (just because) and refined cane sugar (because the Rapadura didn't cut it). We'll see how it goes.

I am also hatching a plot to start a worm bin. I have had a copy of Worms Eat My Garbage for a while but didn't know what to do with the castings. This past weekend there was a fair of sorts at the Elephant Pharm and there was a representative of the county's master composter program there. The county has classes on how to compost, including with a worm bin. What really convinced me was the worm bin they had. It was a small rubbermaid tote with a few inches of dirt and worms and then a few inches of shredded newspaper bedding on top. So simple! It turns out that Anabel has worms to spare so I need to designate a tote and get to it! I'm sure we make enough garbage to keep some worms fat and happy.

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Kombucha: Day 7

Kombucha: Day 7

I am feeling pretty good about the state of my Kombucha these days. My local Kombucha expert assured me that the shiny top is a good sign that a mother scoby is growing. She also said that Rapadura isn't ideal for growing Kombucha because the sugar is eaten up very quickly and it goes sour sooner. I've decided that this batch is sacrificial. Or maybe I should say that this is my starter. I'm going to leave it until I have a good sized layer of scoby on top and then I'll start again, this time with white sugar. I might even go out and buy regular old white sugar instead of using cane juice. I don't think the cane juice is anything but sweet but I don't want to mess it up.

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kombucha: day 5

In theory, I should be tasting the Kombucha today. I haven't yet though. It doesn't look right to me. Isn't the culture supposed to be a big flat disc on the top? I feel so clueless!

Kombucha: day 5

If you're experienced in the art of culturing this stuff, please weigh in.

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growing kombucha

I started a culture of Kombucha two days ago. I brewed up about a gallon of white tea, added 1 cup of Rapadura (raw sugar) and let it cool to room temperature. Then I added a half a bottle of store-bought Kombucha from the fridge. When I was done with all that, it looked like a big jar of brown.

Kombucha: Day 1

Today Anabel gave me a baby Kombucha culture that she had been saving for me. I told her that I didn't think my brew was doing anything yet but when I came home from knitting and lifted the paper towel to add the baby I saw a little spot of white growing on the top of the liquid and there was the distinct smell of Kombucha already. I dumped in her baby and a couple of hours later I wanted to take another picture and noticed many more spots!

Kombucha: Day 3

It looks like I'm making progress already. I better start saving plastic water bottles to put it in when it's ready to drink.

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