After last month’s post on How to Make Kombucha, we received a slew of email questions regarding brewing difficulties and concerns. Here is our best attempt to address your most popular culturing issues, in hopes of helping you achieving success in your home kitchen!
My kombucha still tastes like sweetened tea, AND/OR I am not seeing a new culture on top of my batch of kombucha.
Fermentation has not taken place to the extent necessary to transform the sweet tea to the kombucha end product. Some explanations for this may be:
- Your kombucha has not yet had enough time to ferment (in which case you should leave it longer and check again);
- You do not have enough sugar in the tea mixture (try adding some more);
- Your mother/starter culture is not very robust (you may need to let it sit for a while to revive it, in which case you also may want to discard a couple batches of tea; or you may want to obtain a new culture);
- The temperature in the area in which your tea is sitting is too cold. This can happen in winter climates, especially if your brew is near a drafty window (try moving your brew to a warmer location, but never in direct sunlight).
My kombucha is too ‘vinegary’ tasting.
You have over-fermented – your kombucha has been left too long. Discard the liquid (except for about ¼ cup) and start a new batch, which you will want to watch more closely!
There is mold on my culture – is this bad?
Yes – you should never see black mold (or any color, for that matter) on your culture. Throw everything away (culture and all liquid), thoroughly clean and sterilize the brewing container that you are using, and start again. Make sure that you cover your jar opening with fabric and keep the jar away from possible airborne ‘invaders’ and pathogens.
My scoby is black.
The culture most likely did not receive enough oxygen. Make sure that your jar is covered in a fabric or material that oxygen can pass through (not an air-tight lid).
How much kombucha should I drink?
Although there is no hard and set rule, those in-the-know generally recommend starting off with a small amount at a time/per day (¼ cup worth, for example) and then working up from there. If you experience no ill-effects, such as stomach cramping or loose stools, increase your daily intake.
What if I am going on vacation or away for work?
If you are simply leaving for a few days, your kombucha batch should be just fine. If you plan on being away for several weeks or longer, you have a few options:
- Make a new batch and give it some extra sugar. This will ensure that your culture(s) have enough ‘food’ to live off of until you return.
- Put your culture and brew in the refrigerator. This will slow down the fermentation considerably. You may find that it takes a few weeks to ‘revive’ the culture and produce good kombucha when you try to get it going again, though.
Happy brewing!
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