RE: Carbonation, and thick scobies

[Guest guest]

Hi Dana, as for carbonation, it might also be the lids you have on the bottle,

and not just the possibility that the burping is letting out the carbonation,

remember I said the verdict is still out on burping, for me? I notice that with

the store bought kt bottles and the flip top bottles that didn't burp in cooler

weather, that they give great carbonation in only 3 days with temps averaging 70

-75 degrees F. I do notice that my regular tea, or juice bottles that have a

little different type of lid just don't get that wonderful carbonation that we

all like so well. Are your lids the aluminum type with the rubber inside? or

are they the sturdy metal with rubber inside, like the store bought kt bottles

have? They always need to have the rubber inside to get a good seal. Never fear

you'll get it figured out. Also, on the subject of the nice thick scoby, I

notice a couple of things. When my gallon jars had the heating pad on them with

a constant temperature of 82 degrees F. even at night, they produced nice thick

scobies in 5 to 7 days (with only one coffee filter on them) and then when I

turned the heating pad off and we had some rainy, cooler days, it took much

longer to produce the nice thick scoby and to ferment the tea. When you get to

the stage where you have more than enough scobies, you can put them in the scoby

hotel I mentioned in my kt tips I sent you, and because I leave them in there

until the next person needs a scoby, sometimes 5 weeks or so, the tea that they

are " sleeping " in gets very sour, and you will have a beautifully thick scoby.

I just sent one to someone just before I sent the one recently to Rodrick that

was VERY thick and beautiful looking, and Rodricks wasn't so shabby on the

thickness either, having been in the same sour kt, it only took about a week and

a half for his to get about 3/4 of an inch thick. So temperature, sourness of

brew, length of time (remember Barb said she left it for 6 weeks) and amount of

oxygen a scoby has (Barb also said her lid wasn't real tight if I remember

correctly, and even though I slow down the fermenting with double coffee filters

on the scoby hotels, they can still breathe) all seem to be factors in nice

thick scobies. The temperatures have been in the 80's and 90's this week, and

so the temp in the house has been 85 degrees or more during the day, and at

night cooling down to 79 degrees (I just checked them right now at 5 o'clock in

the morning, and believe me, those scobies are looking really nice and thick

right now.) They are a hair under 1/2 inch thick and that was with cooler temps

in the beginning of the week. Today will be the 7th day of brewing, and I just

checked them, they are ready to bottle up today, mmm, so tasty! You probably

won't produce a nice thick scoby until the scoby has a chance to really adjust

to your home environment. Could be a couple of brews or more. My scoby came

from about 3500 miles and in the beginning were not only a little on the thin

size even with constant brewing temperatures with the heating pad, but also were

not the most lovely looking things, but they settled down nicely and yours will

soon produce nice thick scobies even without the use of a hotel, I am sure. In

the beginning, I think that is every kt brewers dream is a nice looking, thick

scoby, but believe me, after awhile, all you care about is that you are getting

a wonderful healthy carbonated drink. Meanwhile, we'll try to get the

carbonation thing worked out for you! Jeani

kombucha tea@...: dana_leah@...: Sat, 5 Jul

2008 07:39:16 -0400Subject: RE: Carbonation, Reverse Osmosis, and Fluoride

Thank Jeani, for your thoughts and comments. I'm on day three now of my first

batch,and I couldn't help myself yesterday and opened up one of the bottles. The

weather here in NH has been rather hot and humid, averaging 77-85 degrees F. As

I mentioned, I've burped the bottles each day; my opened bottle yesterday wasn't

very carbonated. I definately wantto get the carbonation up, so I'm paying

attention to comments on this subject. I also am hoping for some nice healthy

and big scobys (aren't we all, right!). I don't have air conditioning either.To:

kombucha tea@...: countryrose_ak@...: Fri, 4

Jul 2008 08:55:36 -0800Subject: Was: Something I would like to share with

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[Guest guest]

Thanks Jeani, you sure helped clear a few things up!

Yes, the temp has been fluctuating, and I figured

that may have something to do with my sketchy

scoby... I tried putting a heating pad beneath a book,

with the jar on top of the book, but the heating pad I

think gets too hot and I don't want the scoby to fry.

Maybe 84 degrees F isn't too hot, but when I saw it

reaching, I turned the heating pad off. I think I'll need

to get a pad that I can better monitor the temp of, do

you have any economical ideas?

As for these tops on the pre-bottling bottles: they are

rubber lined aluminum.

kombucha tea@...: countryrose_ak@...: Sat,

5 Jul 2008 05:28:05 -0800Subject: RE: Carbonation, and thick scobies

Hi Dana, as for carbonation, it might also be the lids you have on the bottle,

and not just the possibility that the burping is letting out the carbonation,

remember I said the verdict is still out on burping, for me? I notice that with

the store bought kt bottles and the flip top bottles that didn't burp in cooler

weather, that they give great carbonation in only 3 days with temps averaging 70

-75 degrees F. I do notice that my regular tea, or juice bottles that have a

little different type of lid just don't get that wonderful carbonation that we

all like so well. Are your lids the aluminum type with the rubber inside? or are

they the sturdy metal with rubber inside, like the store bought kt bottles have?

They always need to have the rubber inside to get a good seal. Never fear you'll

get it figured out. Also, on the subject of the nice thick scoby, I notice a

couple of things. When my gallon jars had the heating pad on them with a

constant temperature of 82 degrees F. even at night, they produced nice thick

scobies in 5 to 7 days (with only one coffee filter on them) and then when I

turned the heating pad off and we had some rainy, cooler days, it took much

longer to produce the nice thick scoby and to ferment the tea. When you get to

the stage where you have more than enough scobies, you can put them in the scoby

hotel I mentioned in my kt tips I sent you, and because I leave them in there

until the next person needs a scoby, sometimes 5 weeks or so, the tea that they

are " sleeping " in gets very sour, and you will have a beautifully thick scoby. I

just sent one to someone just before I sent the one recently to Rodrick that was

VERY thick and beautiful looking, and Rodricks wasn't so shabby on the thickness

either, having been in the same sour kt, it only took about a week and a half

for his to get about 3/4 of an inch thick. So temperature, sourness of brew,

length of time (remember Barb said she left it for 6 weeks) and amount of oxygen

a scoby has (Barb also said her lid wasn't real tight if I remember correctly,

and even though I slow down the fermenting with double coffee filters on the

scoby hotels, they can still breathe) all seem to be factors in nice thick

scobies. The temperatures have been in the 80's and 90's this week, and so the

temp in the house has been 85 degrees or more during the day, and at night

cooling down to 79 degrees (I just checked them right now at 5 o'clock in the

morning, and believe me, those scobies are looking really nice and thick right

now.) They are a hair under 1/2 inch thick and that was with cooler temps in the

beginning of the week. Today will be the 7th day of brewing, and I just checked

them, they are ready to bottle up today, mmm, so tasty! You probably won't

produce a nice thick scoby until the scoby has a chance to really adjust to your

home environment. Could be a couple of brews or more. My scoby came from about

3500 miles and in the beginning were not only a little on the thin size even

with constant brewing temperatures with the heating pad, but also were not the

most lovely looking things, but they settled down nicely and yours will soon

produce nice thick scobies even without the use of a hotel, I am sure. In the

beginning, I think that is every kt brewers dream is a nice looking, thick

scoby, but believe me, after awhile, all you care about is that you are getting

a wonderful healthy carbonated drink. Meanwhile, we'll try to get the

carbonation thing worked out for you! JeaniTo:

kombucha tea@...: dana_leah@...: Sat, 5 Jul

2008 07:39:16 -0400Subject: RE: Carbonation, Reverse Osmosis, and

FluorideThank Jeani, for your thoughts and comments. I'm on day three now of my

first batch,and I couldn't help myself yesterday and opened up one of the

bottles. The weather here in NH has been rather hot and humid, averaging 77-85

degrees F. As I mentioned, I've burped the bottles each day; my opened bottle

yesterday wasn't very carbonated. I definately wantto get the carbonation up, so

I'm paying attention to comments on this subject. I also am hoping for some nice

healthy and big scobys (aren't we all, right!). I don't have air conditioning

either.kombucha tea@...:

countryrose_ak@...: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 08:55:36 -0800Subject: Was:

Something I would like to share with you (and if this doesn't work, I give

up!)__________________________________________Use video conversation to talk

face-to-face with Windows Live

Messenger.http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TA\

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