/hob/ - Hobbies

hi, I've been brewing kombucha for about 3 years now. I heard about it from a friend in Russia and wanted to try it out. Its quite easy to start and rewarding too. I wish you goodluck

never tried it but i always like pictures of the scoby being removed

>>46276
You should make your own vodka instead. It's really easy.

>>46280
How is brewing kombucha at all comparable to growing weed? The alcohol level of kombucha is negligible, and for all intents and purposes it's a non-alcoholic drink.

I don't understand why you're shitting on the alchemist comment. I'm just having a little fun.

>>46280
Growing weed IS pretty wizardly as a matter of fact. As is having a personal "alchemical garden" in general.

>>46285
Growing anything imo is pretty wizardly because you're producing something you need for yourself rather than relying on society to make it for you. The more reliant you are on society, the more you have to be a slave to society in order to get the things you need. My new goal is to try and build hydroponics/aquaponics systems in my basement to let me grow most of my own food. That way I can just order nutrients, seeds, and cuttings off the internet rather than have to go to the grocery store and there is also the potential of selling some of the food to restaurants to get the money you need to continue growing. It's nice to have work that is directly related to your own survival as someone who is not motivated by the trappings of material wealth in our consumerist society.

>>46276
I drank some kombucha ages ago and completely forgot about it until you brought it up OP. That actually looks pretty interesting and much easy to make. I might give it a shot myself. There's lots of resources online about it, had no idea how popular this is.
I hope you keep us updated on your endeavour. Best of luck.

>>46276
that's pretty cool, OP.

>>46285
Can it be a potential neet-bux?
Is it that hard for a wizzard to sell?
I mean a lot of people smoke it.
Selling would not require more social skill than working in grocery I guess…

My mother has started making some of this. It's pretty good but I rarely drink it because it has chunks of ginger she uses to season it floating in it that needs to be strained out and I'm basically just too lazy to do the extra step. She's making cranberry and apple flavored varieties this time though in addition to lemon-ginger so maybe I'll drink more of those. This seems to be the ideal hobby to me, it's something that you can just spend a little bit of effort on to set up and then watch as the bacteria and yeast do the work for you.

She also makes yogurt using a pressure cooker. That's pretty easy as well and is pretty much the same concept. She makes mead and wine from time to time as well and she used to make beer but she gave away the beer making stuff. I don't like alcohol much but fermenting seems to be a pretty cool hobby. My aunt and uncle used to make their own beers and breads as well, apparently you can use leftover parts from the beer making process and turn it into bread. All of this uses bacteria and/or yeast. I'm thinking about making some kefir basically because it's the one fermented thing that I like that my mom doesn't.

It makes me happy that so many of you have responded positively to this. It is a huge encouragement, and for that I thank you.

I feel rather tired, both mentally and physically, for reasons other wizards have put far more eloquently than I ever could. That's not the point of this thread, though. What I'm getting at is that I'm going to purchase the necessary equipment and start brewing kombucha, and stop asking "why". My hope is that if I focus on this endeavour alone, I should be able to ward off the pessimistic, tiresome, obsessive thoughts, at least for a little while.

My only concern is that the SCOBY will grow mold or somehow become infected. To those who have brewed kombucha in the past, what is your experience with this?

Down the line, perhaps I could even sell my kombucha. It would beat wageslavery anyday.

What are your favorite brands of store-bought kombucha? I'm currently drinking Health-Ade apple flavor. It tastes like a tart apple cider. It's good, but I prefer the stronger, more robust brews.

I found the process of making it intresting but the last time I drank it it tasted bad and I was made sick for the night from it.
Granted it was probably a bad batch or something, but now I don't even risk buying or making it for fear of being laid up for the night with cramps and diarrhea.

Where do you source your SCOBY? Do you grow your own?

>>46305
You can buy one on amazon.

OP are you still planning to do this? After reading your thread I decided to try my own hand on it. Yesterday I was out for groceries so I took the opportunity to purchase some unflavored kombucha to try and make my own scoby. I already had a jar, coffee filters and I'm a tea drinker so I had that as well. So thus far this operation costed me a total of 3 bucks.

All I did was make a cup of black tea, add a spoon of sugar in it, wait for it to cool down and pour it into the jar along with a cup of the kombucha. There was already some stuff growing at the bottom of the bottle so hopefuly this works. Now comes the hardest part. I'll be reporting in a week's time with another picture. If it works as it's supposed to, I'll have a thin scoby layer forming on the surface and it's going to take yet another week for it to be thick enough to be used for making kombucha.

As for the second fermentation process I'll be using wine bottles as I have plenty of those around here. I saw some people online doing it that way so I'll give it a shot. We'll see. Being able to do your own fizzy drink is pretty cool. I hope everything goes according to plan.

>>46317
good luck wiz

>>46317
It will need a lot more sugar than that I think

>>46318
Thanks.

>>46323
From what I read you don't even need the extra sweetened black tea to make a scoby. Just pour some unpasteurized kombucha into a jar and you'll see some growth in a week. The extra sugar is just that. Some extra stuff for the bacteria to feed on. That's what I read anyway, like I said this is my first attempt at doing this so we'll see how it goes.

>>46317
My interest was fading but I saw your post and I'm inspired once more. Thank you for that. So yes, I still plan on doing this.

I bought some plain kombucha today to grow a SCOBY. Tomorrow I will go to a craft store and purchase a jar and a filter of some sort.

I want so badly to stick with this. My hope is that this thread will help me stick to it. I will share my progress here. Depression, pessimism, and philosophy have gotten me nowhere. Truly the interest in life lies in action. Wu wei and all that. At the same time, I do not want to lose myself. I do not want to lose my love of truth, honesty, obscurity, and the turning away from the rat race and normdom at large. I love that us wizards are brewing kombucha. So many kombucha brewers are hipsters and redditors. But that is them and this is us.

(Apologies for turning this into a wiz/dep post.)

>>46345
Hey OP, glad to know you'll be trying this yourself. It was your idea after all. I wasn't planning on checking on my jar before the seventh day but since my post helped to have your interest back up I took a second picture just now. 2 days in and there's already a thin layer of goo on the surface. You can't quite see it through the picture but apparently it's really working.

I spent the last couple of days reading about the process of this thing (I know jackshit about chemistry, didn't even know how fermentation works) and turns out, this yellowish layer like in >>46305's picture is actually dead cellulose. There's no SCOBY there at all, it's just the pellicle the bacteria secretes to produce an anaerobic environment so the yeast stops using the oxygen to metabolize the sugar. Apparently yeast can metabolize sugar without oxygen and when it does so it releases alcohol as by-product. Quite interesting stuff really. Apparently bacteria are alcoholics because those guys will then eat the alcohol the yeast produce, releasing acids on the way. That's why the longer you wait the more acidic your Kombucha will be.

Anyway, my point is, you don't need the pellicle AT ALL. The SCOBY is on the liquid itself. All you need is a cup of Kombucha to make more Kombucha. No need to wait for a thick layer of dead cellulose to build up. In fact, you don't need to transfer this layer to your next batch at all. The bacteria will produce a new layer everytime. I've seen several pictures of thick pellicles just floating on the middle or at the bottom of the jar. Guess what, it's not doing anything in there. Its only use is to isolate yeast from oxygen and if it's not on the surface, it's useless. Bacteria will make a new one anyway.

I don't know if you knew that already but I'll leave this info here for any wiz considering brewing Kombucha out there. 5 more days to go and I'll be doing the carbonation step. I have a couple of wine bottles already lined up.

>>46348
Thanks for the update, brother. I appreciate the scientific explanation - I'd like to read into it more myself.

I plan on growing a pellicle simply because expert brewers seem to use them. I have heard that kombucha tends to brew better with a pellicle. My guess would be that the pellicle sinks when it gets too thick relative to the amount of liquid. To combat this, I will take off old layers once it thickens.

I found a homebrew shop not too far from me, so I will make the trek over there in an hour or so. I called them beforehand to verify that they have the equipment I want. Better than walking all the way over there and not being able to get the supplies. I am a bit nervous about going there, but I must keep my goal in mind.

I plan on purchasing the following:
- A half gallon jar
- Star San sanitizer
- A tight weave cotton cloth
- A rubber band
In addition, I ordered a stick-on thermometer online.

I will post a photo of the supplies when I get home. I am enjoying discussing this with you, and I hope that more wizards join in on the fun.

(Perhaps this could be a good way to make money down the line? I know many wizards ask about such things.)

>>46354
Do you have any strong glass bottles for the second fermentation process? I'm not seeing it on your list. I'm using wine bottles but since you appear to be going a bit more pro than myself and the fact you're already going to a store, see if they have those swing top bottles for brewing. They seem to be cheap enough and I've read lots of people love it. I mean you can even use plastic bottles if that's all you have it but I think your Kombucha would get some of the taste of the soda it was in there previously. The positive side of pet bottles is they're strong as hell and can hold quite a lot of pressure. I'm going with wine bottles for now because that's what I have. We'll see if it works.

>perhaps this could be a good way to make money down the line? I know many wizards ask about such things.
Perhaps. Right now though I'm pretty much focusing on just not fucking up my first batch.

Best of luck to you OP. Looking forward to your updates.

Since I've taken pictures from the beginning might as well as keep doing it all the way through. Day 3. Now you can definitely see the white pellicle of cellulose growing thicker on the surface of the liquid. Bacteria is really doing its level best to isolate the yeast from oxygen (or at least that's what I read it's going on). It's going fairly quick and I've read several people saying it took even a week for them to see any significant change to the appearance of their liquid. Apparently temperature plays a big role here. This jar is inside my closet, away from direct sunlight and in a more of less constant temperature of 21°C (69F). I've also read Kombucha really thrive on actual tea, meaning any liquid that is an infusion from the Camellia sinensis leaves. I know people will do "tea" out of everything these days so it's important to make a point about this.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, all I did here was a cup of black tea, added a tablespoon of sugar to it, waited to get to room temperature (this is important, if you pour Kombucha into hot tea you will kill the microorganisms that are fundamental to the process), pour it into a jar along with a cup of store purchased Kombucha (unflavored, unpasteurized), covered neatly with a coffee filter and a rubber band and stored it inside my closet. That's literally it.

The only extra material I'll need is a bottle for the second fermentation step, which is simply sieving and pouring this liquid into a strong glass bottle or PET bottle and seal it with a cork or strong cap. This is will allow the Kombucha to continue its fermentation process but now the gas won't be able to escape, keeping the carbonation in, you want to do that to turn your Kombucha into a fizzy drink, which is the part I'm actually looking forward to it. I've seen several people online complaining of bottles exploding so be aware about that when picking your bottle. Get thick glass bottles or PET bottles if it's all you have at hand. After 3 or 4 days of this you put the bottle on the fridge. The cold will slow down the fermentation process and you can drink that whole thing now. Remember to leave at least a cup of your Kombucha to prepare the next batch.

This is really appealing if you happen to like tea, which my case. I'm a serious tea drinker and being able to make this different type of tea is pretty cool. I've read lots of people use Kombucha as a substitute for Soda as well. If you do it right Kombucha is this fairly sweet, carbonated drink similar to Soda so there's that. I hope more wizzies try their hands at this as well, it's extremely easy, cheap and so far it required pretty much no work. I specially recommend this if you like tea or is looking for a Soda alternative.

Remember, I'm a newbe at all of this as well and the info above comes from my 48h research on it, so feel free to correct me if you actually know about this stuff.

Day 4. The pellicle continues to get thicker. Only 3 more days to go and I'll be tasting this to see if it's good enough to carbonate. I'm struggling with the idea of tossing the pellicle or keeping it. Most people apparently keep it even though based on everything I read so far, which, granted, it's not a lot, it's not necessary for future batches. We'll see.

Other than the picture nothing to report. Like I said I really don't have to do anything other than waiting. Today I opened my closet and could smell a faint vinegary scent coming from the jar. Maybe I should start tasting this before day 7 comes along.

OP, where the hell are you? You didn't give up did you? This is just too easy for you to give up on it. Typing this just now gave me more work than actually setting up the Kombucha.

>>46396
>Typing this just now gave me more work than actually setting up the Kombucha.
lol

Day 5. Almost there now, 2 more days to go.
Checking the development of the pellicle growing on the Kombucha's surface is the best way to tell if the fermentation process is going well. Considering how quick it's going I'll risk say it it's pretty good so far.

I've decided to keep the pellicle and do an experiment. I'll do 2 batches next with the same starter tea. One with a previous pellicle and one without, to see if there's any change in taste. I'm guessing it's going to taste pretty much the same.

I only drink bread.

Day 6. Can't wait until I finally take a sip of this and see how it turned out. I'll be going to step 2 soon so there'll be something different to see and talk about.

>>46290
it is risky unless you are blessed with pleasant and cautious normalfolk to sell to. selling to retards or assholes is probably not possible for a wizard.

>>46442
Hey brother, apologies for the delayed response. I’ve been in bed with the flu for days, but I’m feeling mostly better now. Thank you for your updates; without them, I would likely have lost the will to do this.

As I’ve been sick, I didn’t want to touch the kombucha supplies for fear that I would contaminate them. Despite that, I picked up the supplies like I said I would a few days ago, including the flip top bottles you suggested. I hope to start the brewing process tomorrow. I’ll keep you all updated.

Honistly it sounds kind of gross and I don't want to spend $3 on a small drink that I will have a sip of and be revolted by.

How does it actually taste. I don't really like other fermented drinks especially not alcoholic ones. All taste rotten/spoiled to me and I would never willingly drink them. Is kombucha any different or does it also taste rotten/spoiled?

Day 7. I tasted and it's good enough to the second fermentation process. I have to consider it will continue to lose sugar for the next 3 days. By then it will be pretty good, hopefully. Now let's show the pellicle (which is not the SCOBY).

>fermented

Is this stuff alcoholic?

>>46469
Btw you can see a dark spot on that pellicle. This is not mold, but something called yeast flocculation and you'll get some of it brewing Kombucha. It looks like these dark threads either floating or hanging from the pellicle.
And here's another picture. I picked it up and it's surprisingly sturdy, not gooey at all.

Here's where I made a mistake. This is the wine bottle I'll be using. To achieve optimal carbonation, you shouldn't leave this much air inside the bottle. In fact you should fill it all the way up stopping half an inch short from the top. Unfortunately I didn't realize my jar was way too small for this. I would need 3 jars to brew a decent enough amount. Lesson learned. Next I'll be brewing a bigger quantity. I'm sure I'll still get some carbonation out of it. Let's see how it turns out. This step takes 3 days and I won't be taking pictures because, well, as you can see, it's just a wine bottle inside a closet. You can't really see anything.

>>46466
Hey OP. Nice to see you're still here. Hope you're well soon enough to start this thing. It's very easy.

>>46467
>>46470
Kombucha doesn't have enough alcohol to taste like an alcoholic drink. I think it's something around 1%. The taste is more like a fizzy soft drink than anything else. It has a tartish, sugary taste to it. You can adjust how tartish or sugary you want it. If you want sweeter, ferment for a shorter period of time, more tartish, longer. The longer you let it ferment, more acidic it tastes. 7 days is said to be the middle ground between the two.

>>46472
>>46472
Anon, make sure you ‘burp’ the bottle everyday by opening the cork a little. This will prevent your brew from exploding everywhere once you’ve finished the second fermentation. Also, I could be wrong on this, but I’ve heard you’re supposed to keep the bottle in the fridge for second fermentation. Perhaps something to look into.

>>46472
Scratch that (>>46474). I did a little research, and it turns out you can leave the bottle in a closet like you’re already doing. The burping isn’t always necessary, and I don’t think it is in your case since you’ve got so much air. That said, it’s recommended that you transfer your bottle to the fridge for a couple hours before opening it once your second fermentation is done, since the cold will calm down the bubbles a bit and make it less prone to eruption. Since you’ve got so much empty space in the bottle, you could add some fruit or fruit juice to your brew. The sugar should help with the carbonation process. I’m no expert, however, so take what I’ve said with a pinch of salt. I look forward to finding out how your kombucha turns out!

>>46474
Hey wiz, thank you for your concern. Do you think I'll get enough pressure on a bottle with this much air inside? Wine bottles are build like champagne bottles, really sturdy stuff, build to hold quite potent fermentation. I've only read people getting explosions by using cheap beer bottles or when they add sugar to the second fermentation, making the yeast go crazy. We'll see. I didn't push the cork all the way in so it will pop out if it gets too much. I'll report anything that happens itt. I should've done this part on a plastic bottle where I could feel how much presure I have going on by simply pressing the bottle. I'll try that next time.

>you’re supposed to keep the bottle in the fridge for second fermentation
Isn't refrigeration slows fermentation almost to a halt? How am I to get carbonation if fermentation stops? Like I said I've never done this before but it doesn't seem to make sense from what I read so far. You are suppose to refrigerate after the second fermentation step otherwise it's going to keep doing its thing until it becomes vinegar. Again, something I'll soon find out.

But yeah thanks again for your concern. If you're right and I was suppose to refrigerate for the second step, I'll be drinking some vinegar soon. That should be funny, will report back soon.

>>46475
Oh, you did a second post while I was responding.
>I look forward to finding out how your kombucha turns out!
Thanks wiz, I'll make a detailed report on the taste soon.

I'm using this thread to keep date records as well so here's my second batch. This time I'm fermenting 1 litre (33 oz). I used 5 black tea bags, mixed in 4 tablespoons of sugar and 200ml (7 oz) of the previous Kombucha batch. Only one has the pellicle from the previous run. We'll see if they taste any different. If they don't, I can simply stop using the jar. The only reason people do these in jars is so they can easily retrieve the pellicle. If the taste is the same I'll be doing everything in a single bottle, only sealing it for the second fermentation process and tossing away the pellicle before refrigerating.

Here it is, my very first cup of Kombucha. It came out a little more tartish than I would like, probably because there was only one tablespoon of sugar in it. I'm very hopeful the second batch is going to come out really good indeed. Also, even with fucking up the quantity and leaving a lot of air in that wine bottle I still got some carbonation out it. I'm very impressed with it overall, definitely worth trying to do more and perfect the taste. I think all I need to do is making sure to add more sugar this time and have the bottle filled all the way up to carbonate properly. I've adjusted these two on my second batch. We'll see how it comes out.

Cheers!

>>46509
OP here. Gotta buy cane sugar today. Can you keep us updated? Your posts give me hope.

And here is how the second batch is going btw. Day 3. As you can see the pellicle from the first batch is just floating in that weird position, doing nothing. I really doubt it will alter the taste at all. I hope it doesn't, if I don't need to keep the pellicle from previous fermentations it will be an easier process. Plus they take up liquid space, so there's that.

>>46510
Hey wiz. Did you read something specific about the sugar that needs to be used? I mean I'm sure the type of sugar you use do affect the taste in the end because there's some of it left by the time it's finally time to drink it. But if you're doing to help the yeast or something like that I don't think it makes a difference. I just used the cheapest sugar available and it fermented just fine.

Just make sure you do have a tablespoon of sugar to each 200ml(7oz) of tea in there. I don't use sugar when drinking tea and adding that much sugar to a drink seemed insane to me but the fermentation really eats up most of it in the end.

i am considering starting this but i dont have yeast. i think i can just mash up some grapes like they do for winemaking.

>>46514
The easiest way to get the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) is to get some store-bought Kombucha and use it to make your first batch. That's what I did and it's going just fine.

>>46481
I just moved this batch to the wine bottle for carbonation. I'm taking it out earlier (only 4 days of first step fermentation) to see if I can hold some of the sugar and make it sweeter. It's amazing how fast yeast will consume sugar, impressive really, had no idea how active those microorganisms are.

You have to keep your SCOBY active so I've already prepared the third batch. Right now I have a third batch going on in the jar and the second batch already carbonating. Finished drinking first batch yesterday. It was a very small amount anyway, it gave me 3 cupfuls of fairly bitter, robust Kombucha. Quite liked it.

I didn't take any pictures because you have seen all my setup by now. It's just 2 jars and a wine bottle really. Nothing else to see I'm afraid. I'll be taking pictures of the finished product though, for color comparison.

>>46512
Oh yeah, Forgot to mention there was no noticeable difference between a Kombucha brewed with a previous pellicle and one without it. However I kept all 3 and inserted into a single jar to see if this time it makes a difference. I doubt it though.

I've tasted the third batch (on third day of first fermentation) just now and it's too sweet. The first one was more tartish than that on its third day because I had added so little sugar. I'll wait a couple more days and taste again.
Also, I've moved the second batch to the refrigerator on its third day of carbonation, I'll be drinking it in a couple of hours. Will post a picture and comment on taste.

>>46580
Just took a sip from the second batch. It tastes great. Very robust with a good balance between tartishness and sweetness. The one I got at the store had a much watery taste to it I'm starting to think they actually add water to their final product to approach the feel of a soft drink. Also the carbonation is not as strong as on store bought ones. It's definitely there but after doing some research I found out many brands infuse carbon dioxide to get that extra fizzyness. What I can do on my end is adding more sugar during the second step carbonation in order to get more bubbles going on. I'll try that on my third batch.

>>46529
Just moved third batch to the wine bottle with 4 days into 1st fermentation process. I added 3 teaspoons of sugar to try increase carbonation during second fermentation. As soon as I added the sugar, the Kombucha immediately began foaming rather vigorously. I had to add a tiny bit of water to the bottle to get the foam out of the way so I could cork it with the right amount of empty space between liquid and cork (half an inch give it or take).

I just ran out of black tea. I'll be trying white tea next.

Finished drinking the second batch just now. The last cup was sweeter than the rest of the bottle. I should gently shake and turn the bottle before serving to get a an even taste.
High hopes for the third batch, very curious to see how adding sugar will help on the carbonation.
I've just prepared a full batch with white tea, which I actually prefer over black tea. Let's see how that turns out.

>>46590
Moved third batch to the frigde, 2 days in into second fermentation. One day short than usually recommended. I want to see how sweeter it gets with a 24h cut. I'll be drinking it later today and tell you guys how it turned out.

>>46600
It tastes like a store-bought Kombucha except it's not as thin and watery. That's the taste I assume people prefer, sweeter and less tartish. I prefer it right in the middle but to each its own.
Overall I'm very happy with the result of this one. 4 days of first fermentation, then 2 days of second fermentation with two teaspoons of sugar to help creating more bubbles. Carbonation is there but still not as strong as you see in soft drinks. I don't think you can reach that level without direct carbon dioxide infusion.

I've been reading about fermenting foods and other types of drinks and most of it is fairly easy as well, so I'm considering trying something more besides the Kombucha. We'll see how it goes.

This is the tea I'm using for the next batches btw. I'm assuming as long as we're dealing with Camellia sinensis leaves it will be alright.

>>46603
Found a third jar inside a cupboard and I'm using it to make a batch out of it. Also I'll start writing dates on the bottles, using this thread to keep these records is a bit silly.

looks like jarate

i don't have tea or yeast, and because i dont leave the house kombucha is kind of off the table. but like i posted earlier grapes have yeast on their skins, so i added that to a bunch of apple cider. the only problem is that my room is freezing cold and i didn't use a yeast packet, so there is a very small amount to start with and because it's very cold they are probably going to take forever to reproduce and eat up all the sugars. i dont even know what apple cider will turn into, hard apple cider?

>>46606
Store bought hard apple cider is really good. I like it better than regular cider. Its fizzy and less sweet.

I decided to stop being a pussy and try this stuff.
Bought a bottle that didn't have to much random shit in it (no, I don't want poop yogurt germs and "bottled love" whatever the fuck that means)
As I feared with just about all fermented drinks I strongly disliked it, but since I payed 3 bucks for it I still cringed through a bottle.
The weird thing is once I was 3/4 of the way through it the flavor improved a lot, with the last few swigs actually being almost pleasant. That said the vast majority of the bottle was horrible. Like spoiled juice that was watered down with piss weak tea. Not worth the money, but might try it again if it was offered for free to see if I don't like it in general or if it was just that brand.
If it just tasted like the bottom of the bottle I guess I would be willing to pay a buck fifty for it but still not 3 dollars.

stop making fake homebrew. only make it in Alaska.

>>46305
too lazy to google I assume that's the sugary part where yeast clings on to? if that's the case then putting a slice of potato might work

>>49472
No and no.

>kombucha is a type of fermented tea.
so what is it alcoholic?
there's a big kombacha house down the street and I don't see the scum who took over my city making a big ol' tea house unless they're getting drunk off the shit

plus the door has an angrily written "no minors" sign

>>49480
It's only 1% or so, can't imagine anyone getting drunk from it. I'm >>46512 and stopped making it after the fifth batch or so. Anhedonia kicked in again and I failed to check my jars for several weeks. Just tossed all out in the sink at the end.