Help with brewing kombucha

The_Abyss · 29 Oct 2018 at 20:35

I'm looking for a little guidance with brewing some kombucha. I tried this for the first time this summer and really liked it so looked into it in a little more detail. Surprisingly, it seemed relatively straightforward to make yourself, so I got the ingredients (tea, sugar, water and a SCOBY) and got cracking.

I'm now on batch five, and I'm beginning to get a little disheartened. I've experimented with shorter fermentation times, and blended in some green tea for variety and tried varying the sugar - all to no avail. So far I've mostly created a rather foul vinegar and, most recently, a sweet slightly off tea. My fermenting conditions are perfect - cool and out of sunlight - I just can't work out what I'm doing wrong. It looks a bit grim, but it is supposed to look like that. The end result is too cloudy in most batches too, despite me filtering it before bottling. I'm stuck - help!

One More Solo · 29 Oct 2018 at 21:19

I don’t brew it myself but my wife does. It looks like you’re brewing in a metal bowl? As far as I’m aware your scoby and tea mixture should never come into contact with metal as it will taint the flavour and do other funky stuff. You may need to pick up some plastic sieves, bowls etc for the prep process and some big glass jars for fermenting. They should be covered but open to the air so muslin cloth is ideal.

The_Abyss · 29 Oct 2018 at 21:23

Thanks for taking the time to reply. No, no metal involved at all - I’m just using plastic and glass. It can definitely breathe while fermenting. I’m beginning to wonder if my scoby is not quite playing ball.

One More Solo · 30 Oct 2018 at 11:12

Hmm possibly. Did your SCOBY come with some starter liquid too?

The_Abyss · 30 Oct 2018 at 17:00

Yes, it did. They're only around £10 so perhaps I'll just get another one and try that. Thanks for the help though, appreciated.