Any fermentistas/kombuchers about?

[MadeleineMaxwell]

I've been fairly successful with water kefir so far and am now about to make my first batch of kombucha.

I bought a starter from Lakeland/Mad Millie (see pic). Is it supposed to look like this? In all the pics I've seen, the scoby is sort of round and flat. This just looks like random strands of yeast. Does it turn more solid during fermentation? It's in the starter kombucha/tea but that's all I know!

Also, how do you know how much to put in your next batch and how much is excess? Does the scoby grow, or does it produce babies, or both?

Hi. I haven't made kombucha for a while but it is delicious. Your scoby will be fine. It will grow to the shape of your jar, and get thicker. After a few batches you can divide it up and share with your friends or start two batches. I nerd to start again. Good luck!

Ah OK, thanks! I chucked it in a litre of Assam last night so we'll see what happens. With kefir, you have to weigh out the grains to produce the correct ratio of sugar to water to kefir, but that doesn't seem to be the case here, right?

Looking forward to trying it in a week. Might try an earl grey when I have enough for a separate batch.

Did it not come with instructions?

I left it because I never got around to starting, but there is at least one good Facebook group about fermenting foods and drinks. You could ask in there.

It did, but I was asking about its looks. All the images and videos I've googled show it being a gelatinous pancake type thing, rather than a vague collection of yeast strands. So is the scoby defective or will it firm up was what I wanted to know. It still looks like a mangled jellyfish but it's only been 14 hours or so

I'll check out the FB group, thanks!

Oh I see!

Yes it's perfectly okay that it's not a pancake yet, it sounds and looks like it's perfectly healthy from what little I know! It may take several weeks/months to form one.

I thought it was important to mind what type of tea you used and discard the first batch, hence my asking about any instructions. The Facebook group will help you in any case!

Good luck!

Well, I went with black Assam for starters, but I have plans for experiments with greens and maybe some herbals later on when I have abundant scobys to potentially destroy! Can you make lavender tea kombucha?? Maybe it would be best added at second fermentation as a flavouring. I think it actually needs caffeine to ferment.

The instructions say I can actually drink this first batch, so I'll try a spoonful and see after a week. Fingers crossed I won't explode!

I don't really know, but I kinda want you to keep in touch so I can watch your journey with it!

Ooh you reminded me I bought some lavender and something tea, must try it!

Haha, well this is the current state of my witchcraft

I'll update in a week or so when it's supposed to be ready.

(I'm trying a 'clean' ferment of the water kefir and also whether I can reawaken frozen grains. I'd normally chuck some lemon and dried apricots in there but it's been a bit bitter recently, so maybe this will reset them. Or kill them. Could be either).

Anyone ferment anything else? I've done sauerkraut, kefir, and sourdough bread. Can't say I took to any of it really. I've also turned a jar of rhubarb into slime . Yogurt I do pretty well with.

I want to eat much more live food, so any tips/suggestions would be very welcome!

Lots of fermentation is an absolute doddle.
Latest kimchi is fermenting away, needs burping a few more times before it goes into the fridge for later use as Christmas presents.
After a bumper crop of garlic, I brined a couple of kg, it took a week to ferment before stopping of it's own accord & going into the fridge.
(I know they aren't supposed to need refrigeration but I'm a coward!)
I've also brined lemons, padron peppers and gherkins with some level of success.

With kefir, if you make it with grains, how do you separate them out from the drink? All I've ended up with has been milky scrambled eggs, not something particularly appetizing!

Not sure about milk kefir, I only do water kefir so it's just a case of a sieve and a jug.

I looked into milk kefir and it looks like so much faff when a pot of kefir yoghurt is like £1 from Sainsbo's. Kombucha, OTOH, is like 3 times that price so DIY it is. I might try milk kefir sometime if I can find room in my kitchen!

The kefir grains get bigger, so you just scoop them out with a fork.

Some people find theirs just float on the top. Mine didn't, so I'd shake the jar to free them up and rinse them off, then scoop out with a fork.

I've made kimchi in the past and also made rice wine several times successfully.

I tried to do nukadoko/ rice bran pickles which was fun but didn't produce a single thing that was edible unfortunately. I have no idea what I did wrong, but I love japanese style pickles.

Thanks for the tip, picklemepopcorn.

Never heard of rice bran pickle, think I'm going to have to check it out (tho not necessarily make any!)

I do quite a lot of kombucha brewing so happy to answer questions.

Be careful re using earl grey - I think the bergamot oils in it kill off the scoby. And I’m not sure you can use herbal teas either - you need either black or green tea (happy to be corrected). Flavours are best added at the second ferment - I add some fruit juice (apple is the best) and any extra flavours. It goes super-fizzy.

OK, so a week later and I'm onto my second ferment, with my next batch of sweet tea cooling as I type and my scoby + 300ml kombucha in the fridge until it does.

I tasted it, it's rather strong with a powerful vinegary hit. I figured it wasn't going to get any less vinegary so went ahead. It's now happily sitting in a bottle with some raspberries and 1.5tsp sugar for a day or two. My fridged water kefir managed to explode the other day so I will be burping it daily just in case!

My scoby hasn't really 'pancaked' yet, but I'm learning not to worry about that as it's obviously doing its job regardless. I strained it through a muslin and there were rather a lot of gelatinous stringy things on it, so I just scraped them off into its temporary hotel. Are they still good to go?

I did my second kefir batch (I stagger them) and the kombucha this morning and now feel like a proper hedge witch

I’m desperate for some kimchi recipe. Please?
Only made sauerkraut so far and sourdough

Jamie Oliver's is decent, it gives the basics well enough so I'd start there. (Sorry I can't share the link, don't know why that is.)

Some simple points that might help -

Don't worry about the details too much, basically it's cabbage, salt & a sauce, left for a while!

When I salt the chopped cabbage, typically I leave it overnight, that works well.
Try to rinse as much salt as possible, but don't stress about it; some residual salt is essential.

Additional veg are up to your preference, they just need to be finely chopped. I've used radish, spring onion & carrot - always use onions - but have never bothered with fruit.

Make the spices easy for yourself: pureed garlic & ginger from jars, gochugaru / gochugang spice paste from oriental shops, some supermarkets or Amazon. Only a small amount of fish sauce as it is salty already.

Fill jars c90%, the fermentation can build up quite a pressure & spray you with a strong red dye!
I burp them once or twice a day & typically leave at a cool-ish room temp for 5 -7 days before packing it back down with a fork & refrigerating for months.
(Made some last week, for Christmas.)

Good luck with this, it's a delicious pickle & easy to get addicted to!

@RoseyOldCrow thanks a million, will buy relevant veg this coming week, next year will utilize the garden produce