Re[2]: How to tell if Kombucha is finished fermenting

[Guest guest]

Hello amyjo,

Ph testers are totally optional.

If your brew tastes like tea it isn't finished. When done mine tastes a bit

like a carbonated apple cider- if it goes too far it will taste like

vinegar- the farther it goes the stronger the vinegar taste.

zoe

[Guest guest]

i have ph strips that i use for testing homemade soap and my first few batches

of KT, but when ordering KT stuff a while back (when i was a real newbie!), i

splurged on a ph tester as well. i thought it would be kind of like an

electronic thermometer, all set and ready to go. turns out that you have to

callibrate it, and it comes with the buffering solution to do that, but long

before i got around to finding the time to do that, i learned to " callibrate " my

taste buds and use that as the tester instead. i do think a ph tester is useful

and one of these days i really will get mine out and figure out how to use it.

if you still want to buy one, i got mine from the happy herbalist (i know

i reference this site all the time, i dont mean it as an advertisement or

anything, eddie just seems to carry everything i need). the ph strips i couldnt

tell you where they came from, i bought them several years ago, but i often go

to thesage.com for soap info (they have an awesome lye calculator for any

soapmakers out there), and they sell 100 strips for $2. i doubt you can find

them any cheaper than that. 100 will get you to the point you can do without

them, and an old soap making trick is to cut each strip in half lengthwise,

giving you double the number of testers. you might want to check with them

before ordering, some soap ph strips only do the top half of the ph scale

(7-14), and for KT you need the bottom half (1-7). mine have disappeared

somewhere into a pile of stuff (you know when you clean off the table and dump

it all in the spare room to short later, but

later, just like tomorrow, never comes!) but it i find them i will tell you

what brand they are.

happy tasting-testing

dl

________________________________

From: Zoe W <herebedragons@...>

amyjo <kombucha tea >

Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 9:07:10 PM

Subject: Re[2]: How to tell if Kombucha is finished fermenting

Hello amyjo,

Ph testers are totally optional.

If your brew tastes like tea it isn't finished. When done mine tastes a bit like

a carbonated apple cider- if it goes too far it will taste like vinegar- the

farther it goes the stronger the vinegar taste.

zoe

[Guest guest]

Thank you both...I guess it needs more time...it'll be 2 weeks on monday...it

still tastes like sweet tea...I guess I am putting the horse before the

buggy...tomorrow I go buy some GT Dave's Kombucha untill mine is finished....

thanks again

amyjo

From: LaGrand <deniselagrand@...>

Subject: Re: Re[2]: How to tell if Kombucha is finished fermenting

kombucha tea

Date: Friday, November 21, 2008, 2:20 PM

i have ph strips that i use for testing homemade soap and my first few batches

of KT, but when ordering KT stuff a while back (when i was a real newbie!), i

splurged on a ph tester as well. i thought it would be kind of like an

electronic thermometer, all set and ready to go. turns out that you have to

callibrate it, and it comes with the buffering solution to do that, but long

before i got around to finding the time to do that, i learned to " callibrate " my

taste buds and use that as the tester instead. i do think a ph tester is useful

and one of these days i really will get mine out and figure out how to use it.

if you still want to buy one, i got mine from the happy herbalist (i know

i reference this site all the time, i dont mean it as an advertisement or

anything, eddie  just seems to carry everything i need). the ph strips i couldnt

tell you where they came from, i bought them several years ago, but i often go

to thesage.com for soap info (they have an awesome lye calculator for any

soapmakers out there), and they sell 100 strips for $2. i doubt you can find

them any cheaper than that. 100 will get you to the point you can do without

them, and an old soap making trick is to cut each strip in half lengthwise,

giving you double the number of testers. you might want to check with them

before ordering, some soap ph strips only do the top half of the ph scale

(7-14), and for KT you need the bottom half (1-7). mine have disappeared

somewhere into a pile of stuff (you know when you clean off the table and dump

it all in the spare room to short later, but

later, just like tomorrow, never comes!) but it i find them i will tell you what

brand they are.

happy tasting-testing

dl

____________ _________ _________ __

From: Zoe W <herebedragons@ runbox.com>

amyjo <kombucha tea>

Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 9:07:10 PM

Subject: Re[2]: How to tell if Kombucha is finished fermenting

Hello amyjo,

Ph testers are totally optional.

If your brew tastes like tea it isn't finished. When done mine tastes a bit like

a carbonated apple cider- if it goes too far it will taste like vinegar- the

farther it goes the stronger the vinegar taste.

zoe