DIY Kombucha Homebrew | Our SCOBY Isn't Growing! 🍵

in blurtdiy •  4 years ago 

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Ok it's been a week since we brewed our black tea and put all our ingediants together into the brewing vassal.

Generally speaking we want to leave the brew for 7-10 days, so we are still early. But I thought we could check up on the brew and see if our SCOBY is growing.

The environment where I have left our 5 gallon brewing vassal seems to be warmer than I remember it being. This is a good thing! The best fermentation happens when the brew is between 20-25 Celsius which is pretty warm. The warmer the environment, the faster the fermentation happens.

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What,..Wait!

This isn't good! Dude where's my SCOBY... For some reason our SCOBY hasnt formed, it should be well on its way by now, it's been nearly 8 days. I checked in a few days ago and though I saw a thin layer growing on top, but it was way to thin. I thought something may be wrong but figured I better give it a week before I come to any conclusion.

Shit! I'm going to declare this brew dead. First time this has happened. If I run over the steps where could things have gone wrong. I added lots of tea, enough sugar. The water was cool when I added the SCOBY and juice.

But I think that's where we might have the problem, maybe the SCOBY I used was too old, or I didn't add enough starter liquid (the juice in my SCOBY hotel). This was most likely the issue.

I'll give it a bit of time and come back and start again. I'll grab a bottle of raw unfiltered, unflavored kombucha from the grocery store and use that as starter liquid. That should help get our brew off the ground next time.

I'll be back!

@cybershade

DIY KOMBUCHA


Part 1 - DIY Kombucha Homebrew | Preparing Black Tea 🍵
Part 2 - DIY Kombucha Homebrew | It's Fermentation Time 🍵


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  ·  4 years ago  ·   (edited)

I haven't made SCOBY myself but maybe give it a little bit more time? @cybershade
I also hope in the near future I can brew some myself. :D
Adding some local leaves like Pandan leaves or or other medicinal Herbal leaves to make a nice flavor for it.

  ·  4 years ago  ·   (edited)

Just checked again today and no progress, so she's dead.
Yes, can definitely flavour with all kinds of herbs and leaves. Once the initial fermentation [10 days] is done and you have Kombucha, you can add your flavouring herbs or fruit. Then let that sit in bottle for another couple days then done!
:hot_face: