I have decided to make kimchi! Check out my new blog on kimchikreations.blogspot.com

Here's to a new fermentation adventure!

Unfortunately, when I went to check on my kombucha today I noticed tiny little worms inching around 
on top of the scoby. After some research, I am pretty confident these are fruit fly larvae. Apparently, 
the primary source of food for fruit flies is fungal growth, which makes the scoby a perfect food source 
for them. While this makes me sad to say because I was pretty excited about this experiment, I think 
I have to start over with my fermentation project. The lesson I have learned is to make sure the lid to the
 fermenting kombucha is breathable but also not penetrable to fruit flies. I guess the double layered cheese
 cloth I used was not the best choice. Perhaps I will choose something different for my new fermentation
 project. Either way, I will decide today and update this blog. Until then, a moment of silence for my 
kombucha please :( 

It has only been 3 days since I started my kombucha so no changes to document yet. In the mean time I have researched how to go about adding juices to the drink when it's time. The juice should be added when the fermentation process is complete and the kombucha/juice mixture should go in the fridge once combined to prevent further fermentation (the cold temperature of the fridge ensures this). If the mixture did not go in the refrigerator at this point, the bacteria in the kombucha would begin to eat the sugars in the fruit juice. I am still not sure what flavor juice I will go with but I have time to decide (this process requires patience! geez). I will be back here updating soon on any changes in smell, taste, or sight that I notice!

It is finally time to combine the scoby and the tea and sugar mixture! Both containers have reached room temperature overnight and I found a dark and somewhat warm spot in my kitchen for the kombucha to have a nice, cozy place to ferment in (in one of the large cabinets by my stove). My sister lent me a large glass container in which I poured in the brewed tea/dissolved sugar mixture and then added the scoby. For now, the kombucha still needs to be able to have oxygen reach it so instead of closing the tight sealing lid I covered the top of the container with some double layered cheese cloth and fastened it with a rubber band. Once the scoby has been added it is important to make sure the kombucha does not come in contact with any metal (metal spoons or a metal lid for example) as this will affect the scoby. Still need to do some research to figure out why this is so!

I will update this blog in a couple days to record the changes I have seen. In the meantime I am going to do some research on what flavors I may want to add later on in the form of juice, ginger, etc.

Tonight I am beginning the first step in creating my kombucha. My sister gave me a scoby she has been keeping in her refrigerator. After a trip to the grocery store to purchase some sugar and green tea and I have all my supplies and am ready to go. I am currently boiling a large soup pot full of water to brew my tea in. I will steep 6 green tea bags for approximately 3-5 minutes. After that I will pour in 1.5 cups of sugar to dissolve and let the pot stay out overnight to let it reach room temperature for when I add the scoby tomorrow morning. I learned it is important for the mixture to be room temperature because anything warmer and I will risk the scoby being affected and possibly dying. I also plan to leave the scoby out overnight so it too can reach room temperature. I was also advised to crack the lid on the container of the scoby so that oxygen can reach it and allow it to breathe. I will write a new post tomorrow about the next few steps in the process. Excited to add the scoby!

Hello!

Welcome to my blog. This is my first time ever blogging so it will be a learning process but I am surprised with how easy it has been so far. I have decided to make kombucha for my fermentation project for Microbiology. It took me a long time to start to like kombucha but now I love it! I love trying new flavors. However, kombucha is often more expensive than most beverages so making my own is something I have always wanted to try but have been a little intimidated to do. This class project was the little push I needed to go for it. I have been reading quite a bit about how the process works and what is required and I think I can do it. I know my sister has tried once or twice herself so I'm sure I will ask her for some advice. To get started I need:

-water
-sugar
-green tea
-mesh tea ball
-strainer
-scoby
-large pot (for brewing tea and dissolving sugar)
-large glass jar
-tight-weave dish towel (to act as a jar lid)
-rubber band (to fasten the dish towel to the jar)

-optional (to be added later on for flavor):
-ginger
-juice


I will update this blog as I go along, excited to see what happens!