Benway's Booch - Constant Comment

For my first batch, I wanted a tea that would provide flavor if I didn't have a successful F2 so I chose Constant Comment.  I hope the spices will provide some bite to the tea so I don't have to add ginger to every batch, but Constant Comment is not easily available in loose-leaf, so I may switch later.

If you want an overview of the process first, head over to Getting Started with Kombucha.  Either way, I hope to provide enough basis for you to get a batch of booch going!

First Harvest

I followed the instructions from the Kombucha People loosely and plan to increase volume later.  Boil 4 cups of water and steep 8 tea bags for 4 minutes (can go longer if you would like).  After removing the tea bags, add 1 cup of sugar and dissolve.  Most guides will say to cool this down to room temperature, but that is not necessary if you add it to cool or cold water.  Add the sweet tea to 10 cups of cool or cold water.  As long as it is below 90°F, add the SCOBY and starter liquid and stir gently.  Add the airlock and set the container in a warm place.

Most guides say to start testing the flavor after about a week, but the SCOBY that comes in most starters is very large and your desired flavor may be achieved earlier.  If you don’t like very intense flavored kombucha, earlier will be better and the sugar content will be higher. I find that tasting with a ½" tube is okay. This will risk contamination, but if you have a hose clamp you can insert the tube to fill with liquid and clamp the end to pull out a small amount.

Notice the difference below of my Week 1 (left) and Week 2 cultures.  The film grew very quickly since the SCOBY I purchased was large and I made sure to keep the culture warm.

My SCOBY did not float initially, but I let it go anyway and quickly found a skin growing on the surface.  I tasted every couple days and thought it was delicious after 7 days, so I pulled half a gallon.  My roommates and I decided to go with several flavors that matched the bottles that we already had.  The GT's Kombucha work really great for the second fermentation if you don't want to buy flip-top bottles.  Just be careful to burp them regularly so the caps aren't stressed too much.  They will bubble up, but so far none have burst.

Flavoring

The amount of each flavor wasn't based on any website, just guessing, but it was just about right.  I also added 1 teaspoon of honey to each bottle before closing.  The flavored kombucha fermented for 4 days before testing.  I didn't think to refrigerate them first which made a big difference in the possible fizz. All of them had a little kick to them, but the carbonation was minimal.  Because I had burped them so often, they didn't get a chance to build much carbonation.  From now on, I will always plan to refrigerate the second fermentation to dissolve more CO₂ in the kombucha.  Carbon dioxide is much more soluble in cold water than in warm, so refrigerate for at least a few hours before opening any bottles. 

 
Notice how much the caps bulge...this is before refrigeration, which should bring them down some

To refill the fermentation vessel (for continuous operation) follow the same instructions from the initial fill. I wanted to keep increasing volume so I refilled with a full gallon instead of just going back up to where I started.  Keep the same ratio of sugar in the sweet tea mixture.

Later Harvests

All harvests after the first were slightly different.  In an effort to increase carbonation, I made sure to mix the vessel very well before pulling any product from it.  The yeast tends to sit at the bottom of the container so mixing that up is essential while the bacteria generally is well incorporated or on the solid pellicle at the top.  This made a big difference with the resulting product and meant that I didn't have to move the tube up and down in the container to get a good mixture.  You should not be able to see clearly through your final product.

I generally tried to harvest every 3 days, but this schedule was not very tight.  All harvests were after at least 3 days, but some extended to 5 days.  The flavor changed noticeably in this time and definitely had more body after 5 days, but the sugar content was clearly lower.  It is much easier to pull a half gallon at a time so I maintain the same volume every time. 

I will continue to harvest this Constant Comment Kombucha, but will be expanding to attempt to create a high alcohol brew...

Much Later

After measured success creating regular and flavored kombucha, I got stuck in a rut and didn't progress much further.  College was online for the spring of 2020 and I got a bit sick of my hobbies.  After graduation, I moved to Iowa and did not start work on kombucha immediately upon arrival: this proved to be a big mistake.  I should have learned my lesson earlier when I tried to share some of the SCOBY with a friend and had great difficulty removing it from the container.  I am now in the same situation.  The SCOBY has grown immensely since my move and is now far too large to fit out of the carboy.  I will just buy a cheese wire and hope this allows me to slice up the SCOBY enough to remove it.  Maybe I will finally invest in a wide mouth container...

Even later (June 2020)

I didn't buy the cheese wire: I don't eat cheese. I worked for a long time to get that SCOBY out. My main tool was a long screw driver with some string that I used to tie a slipknot around the mass. By pulling pretty hard I could either cut the SCOBY into smaller pieces or just pull out the chunks. The whole process still took me at least 30 minutes with cleanup. Moral of the story: use only widemouth fermenters!

I saved some of the culture and kept it in a large mason jar that is mostly water. Every month or two I will pour some sugar in, barely taking the time to dissolve it. The effort in maintaining an active culture is just not worth it to me anymore, but I keep it around in case I have any friends that want a piece (remember that SCOBY wasn't free).