Hen's kefir and kombucha thread-is it ready??

[Henrietta23]

I've got a quart jar of fresh milk sitting with the kefir grains in it. I drank yesterday's for breakfast this morning. I'm hoping for enough for both DH and I tomorrow.
So now on to kombucha. NT says it's ready when it's grown a second spongy mushroom. Well, it really hasn't done that. It's been 7 days and it has a clearish jelly like thing growing all around it that reached to sides of the bowl it's in. I ladled some out and it is nice and fizzy and tastes like kombucha to me.

 

[freemotion]

It doesn't always grow a good baby. If the temp is not ideal (80-ish for kombucha) then it can take longer and you won't always get a big enough baby to peel off and share. My house is cold this time of year so I just put the entire thing back into the next batch. Sometimes it is almost an inch thick after a while! As long as your kombucha is kombucha, it is fine.

That scoby was resting in the fridge in a jar of water for a while, so it might need another batch or two to start growing good babies, also.

Remember the first rule of fermenting....the nose knows!

 

[Henrietta23]

It doesn't always grow a good baby. If the temp is not ideal (80-ish for kombucha) then it can take longer and you won't always get a big enough baby to peel off and share. My house is cold this time of year so I just put the entire thing back into the next batch. Sometimes it is almost an inch thick after a while! As long as your kombucha is kombucha, it is fine.

That scoby was resting in the fridge in a jar of water for a while, so it might need another batch or two to start growing good babies, also.

Remember the first rule of fermenting....the nose knows!

Cool! It smells just fine, nice and sour but not spoiled sour. Having had store bought kombucha I have at least an idea of what it should taste like and this is it! I'll jar it up, keep the scoby in some of it and make a fresh batch tomorrow. I had in a cupboard against an inside wall, but the house is cool this time of year because we have the windows open during the day for the fresh autumn air. I've already got a taker for my first baby scoby. Luckily she's at a wool festival and wouldn't have been ready for it yet. The scoby you gave me does seem to be thicker than when you gave it to me, but nothing that looks I could peel part away. I'm afraid it would bite me anyway. I've got to take a picture of it. It's something else!

 

[Bettacreek]

You guys are freaking terrible. I so want to start my own cultures.

Sooooo......whatcha waiting for?

Lol. No money, no cultures. :/ Now if I could find someone who was interested in trading for soap, then I'd be set, lol.

 

[freemotion]

People here share kombucha and kefir cultures. I will start shipping in November, since most everything goes through Atlanta on planes here and cultures die in that heat in a cargo hold!

What are you looking for? Wait, start a new thread asking for what you are looking for and put where you are in the title. If no one closer responds, I'll send you something in a few weeks. The less the cultures travel, the healthier they arrive, generally.

 

[Oberhaslikid]

You guys are freaking terrible. I so want to start my own cultures.

Sooooo......whatcha waiting for?

Lol. No money, no cultures. :/ Now if I could find someone who was interested in trading for soap, then I'd be set, lol.

I have some Kefir grains I will trade for 3 bars of your Lilac soap. I sell my grains for $10 this includes shipping .Its enough to do a quart of kefir.If your interested let me know.

 

[hunterjumper999]

can we get some pictures? I'd love to see these 'creatures'

 

[Henrietta23]

Absolutely can get some pics. I have to ake some this week of a bunch of stuff for an event at church. We're celebrating all of our creativity and the many forms it takes. I'll be showing pictures of simple cheese making, from milking to finished product. I'll probably get some of the yogurt, kefir and kombucha processes too.

 

[urban dreamer]

Ooo I want pictures too! Noobie is sending me a scoby when it gets cooler too! She's just a state away.

 

[Henrietta23]

Next batch, I promise!