One of the first posts I ever shared on Food Renegade was a method of brewing flavored kombucha called the double fermentation method. It was the only method I’d ever really known about. Eventually, I heard about alternative brewing methods, including the continuous brew method. So, I asked Hannah Crum of Kombucha Kamp to tell us all about it. What follows is an interview with Hannah.
What is Kombucha?
Fermented foods are no stranger to readers of this site, but Kombucha is a ferment that is gaining notice these days, not only as a bottled beverage but also has a home brew. Simply put, Kombucha is fermented sweet tea. Like yogurt, kefir, and sourdough, some of the mother culture and starter liquid are used to make the next batch. It is important to start brewing with a full-sized, fresh (never dehydrated or refrigerated) Kombucha culture and at least 1 cup of strong starter liquid to ensure success. Once the brewing process is complete, usually 5 to 8 days later, Kombucha is best consumed in small amounts as a tonic, 4-8 ounces at a time, 1-3 times a day.
Having experienced periods of relative popularity since the 60’s, Kombucha has exploded into the collective consciousness over the past decade as young people, families and anyone concerned with their health have begun to understand the benefits of replacing soda, coffee, energy drinks and more with natural beverages. While the origins of Kombucha remain shrouded in mystery, it has been in use for at least the last 200 years (if not 2000 years!).
Of course our readers are familiar with the benefits of consuming fermented foods, what are the benefits unique to Kombucha?
First let me say that I DO NOT rely on Kombucha for all my fermented food or probiotic needs! I love it but I’m not crazy! We all need a variety of ferments, bacteria and yeasts in our diets for a truly balanced gut.
That said, as a tea based beverage, Kombucha starts with an advantage over many other ferments. Tea is the most popular prepared beverage in the world and numerous studies have linked benefits with its consumption. Once fermented with a Kombucha culture, the polyphenols, catechins and anti-oxidants found within tea and credited for those benefits become more bio-available and therefore easier for your body to use. So to start, Kombucha has even made the tea healthier.
It’s also true that a host of trace vitamins and acids are produced via the Kombucha culture, including a variety of B vitamins. However, many believe that the real kicker is gluconic acid, a powerful detoxifier and chelator that has been shown to bind to heavy metals, convert into glucuronic acid and remove them from the body. Acting specifically as a liver detox, Kombucha helps balance the mood, and may help repair the damaging effects of alcohol and prescription drugs. However keep in mind that Kombucha is not a cure all and not everyone will experience the same benefits from consumption.
Some people find the taste of Kombucha too intense, is it for everyone?
No, Kombucha is not for everyone. That is why our motto at Kombucha Kamp is “Trust YOUR Gut!” Only you can tell if Kombucha is right for you. Many people experience immediate benefits such as a mood or energy boost. For others, benefits are felt over time.
Even if your first sip of Kombucha was an intense experience (read as sour), several regular drinkers have commented that “something” impelled them to try it again and over time they found that they had acquired the taste. With home-brewing, much more control over the flavor of the KT is possible. Those who prefer it on the sweeter side will have a shorter brewing cycle than those who prefer it on the sour side.
If you are wanting to introduce Kombucha to a newbie and suspect that they may find the acetic (vinegar) flavor to be off putting, then try diluting it in juice, water or even soda pop. Over time, as their taste for KT develops, then gradually dial back the amount of mixer. You can also add sweetener to your Kombucha just as you would to a glass of iced tea. Here are some other tips for introducing it to newbies.
How is Continuous Brew different from Batch Brew?
Batch brew is a great starting point for some Kombucha newbie’s, especially if they are not sure that homemade Kombucha is for them or if they are only wanting a few glasses of Kombucha a week.
I’ve even created a handy, easy-to-follow, print-friendly tutorial for how to make your own flavored kombucha at home using the batch method.
To make your own kombucha, you’ll also need a kombucha starter culture.
Click here to buy kombucha starter cultures.
But foor those who really enjoy having the homebrewed booch around or have already hooked their family, Continuous Brewing streamlines the process, allowing the brewer to make a lot more Kombucha a lot more easily. Ironically, Continuous Brew is the method most akin to the ancient way of brewing Kombucha and offers several benefits to our modern way of living:
- Reduced Mold Risk – When employing the Batch Brew method, the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) moves from batch to batch of sweet tea. The CB method eliminates almost all handling of the SCOBY culture except for the occasional cleaning of the vessel, resulting in much lower contamination risk.
- Less Mess – One of my least favorite things about making Kombucha is lifting heavy jars to pour them into bottles, dealing with funnels and filters and spilled drops of Kombucha everywhere. Bottling directly from the CB container makes it is so much easier by just using the spigot to drain the perfectly brewed Kombucha into my bottles, already filled with flavoring. I will say it again: LESS MESS IS BEST! 🙂
- Deeper, Richer Brew – Though unbottled Kombucha will tend to grow more tart by taste, Kombucha works in cycles. The first cycle completes at roughly the 15 day mark. As the Kombucha continues to ferment, other healthy acids are then expressed at the 30 day mark. In a batch brew method, waiting 30 days may yield a Kombucha too tart to drink. With CB, you have all stages of the fermentation process present but the flavor is tempered by the addition of the sweet tea.
Those who are only drinking small amounts of Kombucha may prefer the batch brew method. Or if you are like me, you might do both! However, even if you are not drinking your KT so fast, the CB is a great way to store your culture until you are ready to make more.
You can always let the Kombucha in your CB turn to vinegar – there are some great uses for KT vinegar. Then, when you are ready to start again, remove some of the vinegar and add fresh sweet tea – you will have lots of delicious Kombucha in just a couple of days.
Since the vessel only needs to be cleaned every 2-4 months, CB greatly streamlines the process of brewing Kombucha making it a more desirable method for busy households.
What has been your personal experience since incorporating Kombucha into your diet over 8 years ago? Have you noticed any differences?
When I first started drinking Kombucha nearly a decade ago, I didn’t have a specific health concern. In fact, it was quite by accident that I ever heard about it. An old friend from college showed me their mysterious jars and I was instantly intrigued. From the first sip, I knew I had to make my own! Being the one who always got yelled at for drinking right out of the pickle jar, it’s not much of a surprise that I loved the tart, mouth puckering punch.
Over time, I’ve noticed improved digestion, decreased appetite, decreased tolerance for sugar and a much stronger immune system. I hardly ever get sick and when I do, it barely develops and I’m always able to get rid of it before it blows up. I’ve also lost weight and my appetite for sweets and alcohol has diminished. And I’m not the only one who has benefited!
My husband thought I was a bit crazy when I started brewing KT at home, but over the years, it grew on him and he has since lost 40lbs! It was a gradual process and he swears by his tall, icy glass of KT followed by a glass of raw milk. This combo has transformed him!
At the Kombucha Kamp facebook group & page, people often post how KT has helped them. Laura, who has struggled with Lyme disease said, “About a year and a half ago, one of the lymph node in my neck swelled (size of a very large marble) and no doctor could explain why. This as you can imagine has been rather painful. I had ultrsound done and they said it was just enlarged and might stay that way forever. I think not…three weeks on Kombucha (lots of water after) it is almost gone and I feel GREAT! I will begin brewing my own tea as soon as your continuous brew kit comes in the mail.”
Miltra offered this, “I use Ginger Kombucha as a toner-works wonders. Grab it cold from the fridge pour it on a cotton ball then a bit of moisturizer” I also use it topically and find that my skin and hair are incredibly soft and supple. While I’ve made other changes to my diet, I do think that the Kombucha has been the main contributor to this transformation.
It has also led me to include more fermented foods into my diet. I’m now making my own milk kefir, sauerkraut and beet kvass.
Thanks, Hannah, for the interview! Be sure to check out Kombucha Kamp for even more kombucha resources. And, if you have any other questions for Hannah, be sure to ask them in the comments!
If you’re interested in learning more about exactly how to make a continuous brew, check out this article by John Moody, author of Food Clubs & Co-Ops. I personally haven’t tried this method yet, but I must confess that the more I read about it, the more it seems like an excellent fit for my kombucha loving family!
Want to know more about kombucha tea?
Here are some more posts I’ve written on kombucha:
- Kombucha Tea: How to Make Kombucha
- Kombucha Tea Questions & Answers Part One
- Kombucha Tea Q &A Part Two
- Kombucha Health Benefits
- How to Grow a Kombucha SCOBY
- Is Kombucha Safe When Pregnant or Nursing?
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So here is my question…..I keep finding different answers: is kombucha safe to drink while pregnant and nursing? I’m mainly concerned about the detoxifying effects, especially because I only drink it occasionally right now but would like to start brewing it myself and drinking it regularly. I would love any insight on this, thanks!!!
Hi Sarah,
I wrote a whole post about it. You can read it here:
https://www.foodrenegade.com/is-kombucha-safe-when-pregnant-or-nursing/
I started a continuous brew about 6 weeks ago. I normally do batch brewing for 4 weeks. I tested the CB at 4 weeks and it was still too sweet, 5 weeks was still too sweet, 6 weeks was still too sweet but I didn’t want to wait any more so I drained off a majority and added more sugared tea. My question is, how long does it take to lose the sweetness? I like a very, very tart kombucha. I’m about ready to give up and go back to batch brewing. Help!
While my first continuous brew was fermenting, I was confused and concerned when long after the “normal” time period, it was still super-sweet. My new SCOBY grew well, and everything looked good, but it just wasn’t ready when all the literature said it should be… It ended up taking 9-1/2 weeks for my first batch to be “ready” according to my taste buds (at which point I drew off two large bottles for secondary fermentation with ginger and lemon juice). I know that is much longer than any of the recommended time frames.
It’s been two weeks since I drew off and refreshed the brew, and I now find it pleasant to drink what I draw off every day – it is fizzy and delicious! The taste reminds me of ginger ale, although I did not add any flavoring to my brew.
Strangely, I have not been able to find any information at all online regarding a batch taking so long to ferment. I live in Phoenix, AZ, so my house temperatures are not very low. I can only surmise that it was due to the large brewing vessel – I got a 3 gallon glass beverage dispenser (with stainless steel spigot) from Costco. I only fill it about 2/3 full, so there’s plenty of room for gas exchange, and I keep it covered with a cloth table napkin secured with a rubber band. I made my tea mixture with 1/2 black tea, 1/4 green tea, and 1/4 white tea, for the greatest possible variation in healthy bacteria; I used plain white sugar,as I read this is the best and easiest food for the culture to utilize.
So far, I’m finding this continuous brewing method super easy. Other than the initial preparation, periodic refreshing with the tea/sugar solution, and regularly observing the culture for signs of problems, it has required no other maintenance. In order to avoid negative symptoms, I’ve started drinking it slowly, only about 2 oz. a day. I haven’t noticed any health benefits yet, but I have high hopes that as I increase how much I drink it may help somewhat with my numerous health problems.
Hi to all, I’m new here, I haven’t start yet to the idea of making Kambucha, ,but I would love to do it,but I’m afraidthinking it will come not good, the same happen the first time with my kefir, but I alraedy goog ain my kefir, yogurt, I also do my fermented cabbage.should I start soon with the Kombucha,please help me in decision,thanks Maggie
Thanks for this post, it answered a number of my questions…I am wondering if this batch brewing method would increase our consumption of sugar though…I know the SCOBY will eventually eat up the sugar in batch brewing, does continuous brewing allow time for this to happen?
I love my continuous batch Kombucha. I do a second bottle ferment about every 2 weeks or so which produces a very tart bubbly drink. On Kombucha bottling day I usually have one glass of k-tea from the continuous batch and I’m always surprised how mellow and smooth it is. Doesn’t matter if I want to bottle a little or a lot I just adjust the amount of sweet tea I add.
This is on my list to do!! I can’t stop drinking this stuff and know it can get expensive. The continuous method sounds freaking awesome!!
Sorry, maybe I didn’t read every word of your long and informative article here – but I am still not clear how the continuous brew works. Let’s say you take 2 cups out (or 500 ml or something), you replace that amount with fresh tea – but how much sugar? And how long until you can take something out again?
A bit concerned about the pics showing fruit suspended in the brew. That’s a very bad idea, as you’re introducing all kinds of mold and fungi. If you want raspberry-flavored kombucha, add raspeberries to your glass, not the jar!
You can clearly see those are second ferment jars and there is no scoby 🙂
I was wondering if someone can reccomend a good brand or store where I can find a good quality continuous brew vessel? I know it must be glass and either have a stianles steel spigot or a food grade plastic spigot. I have been researching and seem to find mostly aluminum spigots. anyway, I thought I’d ask
actaully i have a question that I have been fishing for a while, do you know if i can do a continous brew system in a 2gallon jar without a spigot;by just pouring it out of the jar into somthing to bottle it, while leaving some remaining scoby juice in the 2gallon jar, toping it off with fresh kumbucha tea to keep it going. thank you.
Why can you only drink a small amount per day. I’ve seen this before but can’t remember if there was a reason listed or not. I remember that it sounded dangerous. If I’m not fond of the taste, a little bit will be OK, but if I like it I don’t want to be so limited it it isn’t necessary. How much should I start out with and how do I increase it?
Hi, I am interested in making a continuous brew kombucha, but had a question. If it isn’t safe to use a plastic container to brew kombucha due to the plastic leeching into the kombucha.. why is it all right to use a container with a plastic spigot? Won’t the chemicals from the plastic spigot leech into the kombucha that way also?
Thanks
This question is answered here:
https://www.foodrenegade.com/kombucha-questions-answers-pt-2/
ok I read this in hopes of finding out how to do a continuous brew, I read how to make a batch and that sounds a little hard for me, I have severe arthritis in my hands, exactly how do you do this start to finish, or is there another post about this and what do I need, do I need to buy any special items besides like the starter, or can I use things that I might have around the house I tried some kombucha the other day, it takes awhile to acquire the taste, like the idea of mixing with juice or something, but the cost is definitely out there, so I’m really interested, so if you could point me in the right direction I’d love it. Also can you use herbal teas in addition to or with the regular sweet tea.
A little history, I suffered my whole life in pain, as did my older sister, and my mother.
I have been in a doctor’s care for a couple of decades only to go from one drug to another with no lasting results.
In my 20’s I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. In my foolishness, I was actually happy. Thinking I had a diagnosis and that would lead to a cure.
One time at about the age of 33 I was given Prednisone and I was actually pain free. I had never experienced that before. I had come to think that everyone felt like I did but the just didn’t talk about it.
I thought that due to the fact that my mother was always complaining and so was my sister, I just thought other people “toughed it out”
Unfortunately it was a short-lived fix and within weeks I could feel the pain creeping back into my body.
I know, not cool.
I now knew what I was missing and didn’t want to go back to a life of hurt. Time passed and while the Internet was out there, too much of the info was really “out there” but that shifted and more credible sites come out. I started searching. For years.
In my searches I realized that Lupus was not what I had, I could see photos of other people and I spoke with them in chat rooms and that just wasn’t me, I didn’t care what my test results were saying
I tried just about everything here and there trying to fix my body. Between western medicine and folklore stuff I was bound and determined to see what I could find.
I started keeping a diary
In my search I discovered I ran a low-grade fever and the pills I was taking for pain was masking it and the aches that came with it.
At that time I also started having nausea issues, unable to even breath without getting ill. The very movement of inhaling was enough to make me sick.
I took this knowledge to my doctor who run some test to discover I had the Helicobacter bacteria, and he said it would not change anything we might as well get rid of it and he put me on antibiotics for the bacteria and an anti-psychotic because the side effect of it was it controlled nausea.
I wasn’t so cool with that so I started smoking pot.
Ended up on both as the pot while it helped I couldn’t smoke all day long, but it was more effective than the nausea pills in the mornings.
I took the antibiotics and thought nothing of it. At this time I was about 38-39 years old and I was being passed in the mall by little old ladies in walkers.
It was incredibly disheartening to be alive some days. But I have things that got me through.
With in a month of completing the antibiotics I noticed I didn’t have to take pain pills to get out of bed in the mornings, a bit of a ritual I had come to depend on. Wake up at 6 to take a painkiller to get out of bed by 7. Soon I didn’t need a painkiller until the afternoon, and that was after a day of puttering around.
I weaned myself off of my nerve blockers and just stopped my pain pills. I joined my husband on his daily 5K walk.. And some days I ran a little. My body really wanted to run, like it had been unused for too long. Felt exhilarating.
I felt great for over a year, 15 months even. then the pain started to slip back in. Needless to say I was in a panic. I didn’t want to lose this fun life that I had and go back to a life of pain.
This time around it crept much slower back into my life. I was still a lot better then I previously was.
The pain took years to come back so I did adjust physically, it took longer to wrap my head around it, I have to admit I was a little resentful at whatever it was that was getting the best of me.
Pain tends to rule.
Back to the ‘net
Throughout the years I kept adding pieces to the puzzle of what I thought I had but my first definitive proof that it was beatable was the antibiotics and my reaction to them, but I was treated for the pain itself when it came back. Not with more antibiotics to kill what ever was causing the pain. My doctor was convinced I had arthritis.
Thing is with what ever was going on with my immune system seemed to bring on early menopause symptoms. Just before I hit 40 I started my symptoms. At first it was night sweats, that lasted for about 7 years.
I added it to my list of symptoms.
That confused the issue in many ways as now I was having symptoms from more than one condition but I was thinking of them as one.
So up to this point I knew these facts.
– I had a lifetime debilitating disease that seemed to be undetectable in todays world.
– It seemed to be a family issue (My sister was diagnosed with Lupus as well, and had my mother survived I am sure she would have also been diagnosed with auto immune issues)
– I run a low-grade fever that was for years masked by my daily use of painkillers
– I still didn’t know what triggered bad days.
– It seemed to be fightable with antibiotics, but I wasn’t going to get a 3rd try with the dangers of antibiotics that doctors have to face in writing long term prescriptions. It is illegal in Canada to write over a certain amount of weeks worth. I am not updated 100% on the laws so I wont specify numbers,
– My symptoms kept adding up to now include hot flashes as well
– I wasn’t going to give up
In my searches I found out about Chronic Lyme disease and I actually found something that I had over 65 symptoms from a checklist of about 100 symptoms.
These symptoms included the nausea and the night sweats and the hot flashes that had also decided to become a part of my life.
They included thyroid issues, which was something I didn’t know could be a symptom, it fluctuated for years. CHECK
IBS issues… I spent enough hours on the floor crying silently as not to wake my family. Screaming into a towel. It was something I grew up with and I a hospital wasn’t going to find out what it was, and it passes… it always did.
So, I figured. Why be like my mother who always complained. One of the things I hated while growing up. And some of us didn’t want to be our parents when we grew up.
I had programmed myself to just allow it to do its thing.
I have a very high tolerance for pain, I do not know if it is due to this or if it a heredity thing as many in my family have that trait.
You have to remember I had come to think for many years that everyone lived quietly in silent pain.
Hell even my child suffered from type 2 migraines.
Chronic Lyme Disease was another piece of the puzzle for me, I grew up in the bush and remembered a time when my parents were removing a tick from the back of my neck with a lit cigarette. While they were absolutely blotto from alcohol, needless to say it is one of the memories I remembered when I thought of a tick encounter.
And if not for the trauma of having a lit cigarette being held at the back of your neck by my drunk parents I may have never remembered it, everything for a reason eh.
I took this information to my doctor who was not interested in hearing about a disease that is not clinically recognized.
Even though my doctor believed in me about the antibiotics helping since he himself had seen it, he gave me another dose of the antibiotic it was the same two varieties and after no affect I thought it was due to the strain of bacteria having built up a tolerance to those specific antibiotics and although nothing was ever solved by any of my blood-work.
All the research said that is why the spectrum has to remain the same but the pills have to change.
After that I had no chance in getting him to believe in CLD at all.
I was not going to give up and was going to head to another country to seek the antibiotic therapy that they say is the treatment.
A treatment, which could take up to a full year of antibiotics to kill the bacteria.
Then life happened, to make it short my husband had a heart attack and from then on I changed his diet.
We always ate well but I fine tuned it for a heart attack survivor, which high in anti-inflammatory foods. Olive oils and all that good stuff.
It is closest to the Mediterranean diet if you want to compare it to anything
Within a month or so I found myself feeling better and being able to take my pain pills further and further apart, needless to say I turned back to the ‘net.
I read all I could on anti-inflammatory foods and decided to get a little more back to basics and I am sort of an obsessive-compulsive person, so it is an all or nothing approach I tend to take more often than not.
Recently it was discovered that I have a cortisol issue. Neither my doctor or I knows what that means.
It seemed that it does not go down in the afternoon as it should, this peaked my doctors interest and he said that he was getting me tested for things he had never sent a patient in for before, so I was lucky to have a doctor so interested in my health, even if it was for his personal pleasure.
LOL.
On the list of symptoms it went.
Well in my obsessive way I started doing cultured foods for my husband and our diets.
I got there by learning about genetics and heart disease I discovered that flora is a dictator of health and children who have not been breast fed have more issues with an unhealthy flora.
Things clicked a bit in the back of my mind, my mother could not BF any of us…
I figured if a happy flora is what it takes to make a healthy body I was going to make happy bacteria for us.
Yes, I know, obsessive.
I started with apple cider vinegar mostly due to the fact I wanted to make a batch of blue ribbon beets and I thought why not start truly from scratch, I would get a giggle out of walking away with a ribbon.
Then came yogurt and we love it.
I haven’t had more than a 6-pack of pop in a decade and don’t drink much for coffee so I was looking at some of the items to drink that were popping up on my culture sites.
I found a drink called Kombucha Tea and thought I would like to do that as well since I mostly drink water and would like to try something different without adding to my footprint in life with all my empties.
Did I mention obsessive.
So I thought if I was going to try it I would buy a bottle of the raw stuff. And with my lack of knowledge on the subject I had no idea that raw KT was a very different product than the end result of a brewed batch.
The moment I opened it and smelt the sour vinegar scent I knew that my body was craving it.
As a child I had craved vinegar, and drank it by the glass daily.
As did my mother and sister, usually in the form of pickle juice.. It was just a thing my family did and when I met my husband I stopped doing it.
As soon as I smelt it I took a big slug of it, and found I couldn’t quit drinking it.
This vile brown unattractive liquid that was supposed to be taken a few ounces at a time. I couldn’t quit drinking it.. It tasted amazing to me. My hunny was not impressed.
But he remembered my fetish and I told him that all the times I drank vinegar this is what my body was actually craving but I just never knew of the existence of this product.
I was excited in a strange way and just was happy to have found this drink, not knowing I wasn’t drinking the final product but the vinegar produced by a very long brew.
That knowledge came later.
Within 2 days I had gone through a 500 ml bottle so approx. 8 oz a day was what I was drinking.
Day 3 when I woke up I was pain free.
I kid you not. Like a switch had been flicked.
I was regular for the first time in my life. After many years of my body going into shock from the IBS symptoms it was an amazing change.
I had massive amounts of energy and was completely taken aback. I think back about my first few days and still cant help but smile as I was acting like an evangelical. All over the place in people faces telling them about my miraculous “cure”
If you had told me to list all of the things I would expect from this drink, a cure would not have made the list.
It was another piece of the puzzle, the drinking of the vinegar and the bad flora.
I obviously had bad flora, and I try not to think about all the time wasted in my life due to a simple imbalance, it is what it is.
Currently I am back on painkillers. Only a few but it will climb. It always does.
My first batch was great. In the winter a long slow batch that took a month. And I am assuming it is that long slow brew I need.
Since it was also my first batch and I was also using the SCOBY from the bottle of KT that I bought and was unsure if it was even viable, and once again my inexperience allowed me to see that I will need to do long slow batches as the quick ones while they taste awesome and experimenting with flavours is great but my last few batches have not kept the pain at bay.
Or it could be the dreaded alternative and once again the bad bacteria is winning and become immune to the healthy stuff.
But I think I can just overwhelm them as I did the first time.
Or so I hope.
I experiment and will find something. Hence why I am looking into the continuos brew.
You asked for people to share their story and I give you mine..
Sherri Gibson.
Lubianka Sliencko
I’ve been doing a continuous brew, but I find scobies grow in my spigot so I can’t get the KT out. I’ve switched to batch brewing due to this issue.
If you open your spigot everyday to release a teaspoon or so of Kombucha, the scobies won’t have a chance to grow. That’s what I did to fix the same issue.
My friend has given me a baby kombucha and advised me to put one cup brewedtea and sugar in the evening and drink half cup next morning empty stomach and eat any thing after one hour .she has been doing this in past.Is this correct method. pl.advise.Thanks I am from India
Wonderful news Gary! And 35 yrs! What a blessing!
” Then, when you are ready to start again, remove some of the vinegar and add fresh sweet tea” does this mean add the tea to the vinegar you removed or to the original?
>> “decreased tolerance for sugar”
Was that a typo..? did your tolerance of sucrose worsen after drinking KT? I had been hoping to use KT to improve my sucrose tolerance.
Sherri Gibson, wow.. just wow that is a fantastic story. Every body please take the time to read her story (in the comments section of this page).
I have a similar story, but in my case the immune disorder was Ankylosing Spondylitis, and my salvation was Natto – fermented soy beans. Whilst that was what worked for me, I believe others with my condition will simply have to experiment with a variety of cultured foods. In case anyone with Ankylosing Spondylitis sees this, they can read my story here:
http://auto-immune-diet.blogspot.com.au/p/intro.html
http://auto-immune-diet.blogspot.com/2014/11/nsd-book-remission-natto.html
Best of health to you all.
Hello!
I am about to start my 2nd fermentation process today. Its been exactly 7 days! It’s not super hot in my home since the weather has been off and on here in NY. Do you think i should wait a few more days before i transfer it to bottles? Also, the scoby left almost like a plastic like film on the top of the kombucha…is that normal?
IS IT OK TO USE MORE THAN ONE SCOBY WHEN BREWING A BATCH? i HAVE EXTRAS AND DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEM.
ALSO WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO ADD FLAVORING?
Thank you, Therese
Kombucha Q.
I have kept now about 8 or scouts al8ve in 1/2 canning jar w coffee filter cover, ak8ve for a yr and a half. I feed it a cup of tea n sugar approx.every 6 weeks or so. Might get left longer at times. It’s of course a very vinegar liquid. Last yr I gave a friend a ago by and it was great and she made lots of kombucha from it. I just wondered if there was a period of time that they could be no good or bad for you to use? Going on 2 yrs w this ago by hotel..
Q2, since this hotel is super vinegar will it matter to the flavors of the batches someone makes with them?
Q3, most pages say you need to use white sugar. I do not because of the processed unhealthy aspects of it. I have used organic sugars. And occasionally a dark brown sugar, and often house organic coconut sugar. The latter would have been the last several feedings of the hotel. So…Will those sugars make a difference in flavors,or in the general nutrition of it. I’d read that coconut sugar was super nutritious?
Q4. How long after I feed them/hotel should I wait to remove a ago by to give to some one? It will of course grow a new one covering the top and all the other songs if I wait the 15 days. ?
Ugh new phone auto Incorrect!
**I have kept now about 8 or scobys alive in a 1/2 gal canning jar w coffee filter cover, approx. for a yr and a half.