Guest guest Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 Hello everyone. I am presently working with my fourth iteration, makeing 6 gal. at a time to share with family and friends till they are ready to do this for themselves. I got 4 huge momas from Zoe and they have produced fantastic new ones. One is 11 " and almost 2 " thick. I now want to store some to give away later. I have read what I can find on hotels, and seems several different it and recomendations. So, first do I just store them with finished KT, enough to cover? No need for new tea to keep them fed? Use some of this each week as starter, and replace with fresh? Then, my 2 biggest questions. I see some leave them on their counters, and others refrigerate? Does it really make a difference? How? And then I see some totaly sealed, air tight, and others covered with a tight fabric cloth. Again, which is better and why. And one last question. This last bottleing, I took 4 of the new babies, and put each into a qt. wide mouthed mason with fresh sugar tea mix. My thinking was when a new and thick baby forms, maybe after several weeks, i would just cap it and give to someone when they are ready. Do I need to feed it more fresh sugar tea to keep the baby growing? Should I restart with fresh each week, or just leave it alone until time to give? Seems it would need a constant source of sugar to continue growing? Sorry for so much at once. Seems like the hotel is a very important thing to have for backups, vacations, or rests. What do you all find is the best for yours. Many thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 >>So, first do I just store them with finished KT, enough to cover? * You don't need to cover them with KT - it can just be regular, unsugared tea. It you make it KT you will probably start to get new babies on top of that also. I >>I see some leave them on their counters, and others refrigerate? Does it really make a difference? * If you leave it on your counter the good bacteria can continue to generate... putting it in the fridge basically stops that bacteria growth or slows it to a crawl. Some say put it in the fridge - most say leave it out. >>And then I see some totaly sealed, air tight, and others covered with a tight fabric cloth. Again, which is better and why. *I believe this is the right answer, but if I leave something out - someone please correct me - If you are using KT and there is a chance that your scoby may continue to grow and ferment, you will need to continuously " burp " any jar with a tight lid. the fermentation process needs air and so many people use a tight piece of fabric or a 2-thick paper coffee filter - whatever you would use over the top it would need a very tight rubberband (or two) to keep out fruit flies and such. >>And one last question. This last bottleing, I took 4 of the new babies, and put each into a qt. wide mouthed mason with fresh sugar tea mix. My thinking was when a new and thick baby forms, maybe after several weeks, i would just cap it and give to someone when they are ready. Do I need to feed it more fresh sugar tea to keep the baby growing? Should I restart with fresh each week, or just leave it alone until time to give? Seems it would need a constant source of sugar to continue growing? * If you didn't put KT starter (or some distilled vinegar) into each of your qt. jars, it may not ferment quite like you had hoped. Maybe would take a little longer, but someone may be able to fill in more details about that. If it is set up properly with sugared tea, KT starter (or vinegar if no starter is available) and a scoby, it can potentially go for a while. I know the commercial teas even say they are fermented 30 days, while most here ferment their for anywhere between 5 and somewhere in the teens. If you want to keep a scoby growing without peeling the mother and baby apart, just keep harvesting your brew on the day you normally would, but when you make the new batch, throw mom and baby in together and it will keep getting fatter. > Seems like the hotel is a very important thing to have for backups, vacations, or rests. * Lots of people like to have back-ups. That's why we keep scoby hotels. But as someone earlier mentioned, scobies reproduce like bunny rabbits. You can get a new baby with every new brew. Good luck! It's nice to finally not be the one with all the questions - helps me realize how much I have learned in such a short time from this group. Have a great night. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.5/1278 - Release Date: 2/14/2008 10:28 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 14, 2008 Report Share Posted February 14, 2008 >>So, first do I just store them with finished KT, enough to cover? * You don't need to cover them with KT - it can just be regular, unsugared tea. It you make it KT you will probably start to get new babies on top of that also. I >>I see some leave them on their counters, and others refrigerate? Does it really make a difference? * If you leave it on your counter the good bacteria can continue to generate... putting it in the fridge basically stops that bacteria growth or slows it to a crawl. Some say put it in the fridge - most say leave it out. >>And then I see some totaly sealed, air tight, and others covered with a tight fabric cloth. Again, which is better and why. *I believe this is the right answer, but if I leave something out - someone please correct me - If you are using KT and there is a chance that your scoby may continue to grow and ferment, you will need to continuously " burp " any jar with a tight lid. the fermentation process needs air and so many people use a tight piece of fabric or a 2-thick paper coffee filter - whatever you would use over the top it would need a very tight rubberband (or two) to keep out fruit flies and such. >>And one last question. This last bottleing, I took 4 of the new babies, and put each into a qt. wide mouthed mason with fresh sugar tea mix. My thinking was when a new and thick baby forms, maybe after several weeks, i would just cap it and give to someone when they are ready. Do I need to feed it more fresh sugar tea to keep the baby growing? Should I restart with fresh each week, or just leave it alone until time to give? Seems it would need a constant source of sugar to continue growing? * If you didn't put KT starter (or some distilled vinegar) into each of your qt. jars, it may not ferment quite like you had hoped. Maybe would take a little longer, but someone may be able to fill in more details about that. If it is set up properly with sugared tea, KT starter (or vinegar if no starter is available) and a scoby, it can potentially go for a while. I know the commercial teas even say they are fermented 30 days, while most here ferment their for anywhere between 5 and somewhere in the teens. If you want to keep a scoby growing without peeling the mother and baby apart, just keep harvesting your brew on the day you normally would, but when you make the new batch, throw mom and baby in together and it will keep getting fatter. > Seems like the hotel is a very important thing to have for backups, vacations, or rests. * Lots of people like to have back-ups. That's why we keep scoby hotels. But as someone earlier mentioned, scobies reproduce like bunny rabbits. You can get a new baby with every new brew. Good luck! It's nice to finally not be the one with all the questions - helps me realize how much I have learned in such a short time from this group. Have a great night. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.20.5/1278 - Release Date: 2/14/2008 10:28 AM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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