A Fun Way to Analyze Your Kombucha Fermentation

Analyzing your kombucha is fun, but what you really need to knock your socks off is a chart showing your pH and Brix measurements over time. If you take these measurements diligently every day for a couple months, you will eventually see a clear curve showing how fast your kombucha is approaching perfection.

For example, I find that my Kombucha reaches its final pH in about 11-14 days. After that, it continues to lose sweetness without improving flavor. So now I know to slurp it up every two weeks.

Now if you are like me, you frequently have wet hands, spill coffee everywhere, and can never find pieces of paper with your notes on them. So, I’m going to recommend a particular way of taking notes.

  1. Get a laminator
  2. Get some laminator sheets
  3. laminate some sheets of paper
  4. Get fine tip permanent markers
  5. Get NeoPlex Magic Eraser Sponges

Now put these items together and you have an awesome note-taking system: laminated unsmudgable notes that you can leave lying around without worrying about them getting wet or tossed in the recycling bin.

You’re Welcome šŸ˜‰

Got Lavender Flavor?

I don’t suppose I’ve ever made “lavender kombucha” per se, but I have made Lavender Cacao , Lavender Marionberry, and Lavender Lime Kombuchas, and they have all been pretty great. Lavender is just fantastic at giving a normal flavor an usual twist. It’s like you are coming at the flavor from a whole other state of culinary consciousness.

There are many ways to add lavender flavor. You can make lavender tea and add it at the end of your ferment. Or, you could just stuff some tea bags with lavender blossoms and let them steep right in the kombucha. You know, generally, if you have good kombucha, whatever you do, you will end up with good kombucha.

Another handy option that I recommend is keeping some lavender essential oil in your spice cupboard and then you always have good lavender flavor ready to add. One reason I prefer using oil over fresh flower is that I tend to think of lavender as a light flavor gloss that I lay over other flavors, and the way oil spreads over water reminds me of that. Oh, by the way, if you use essential oil, just like a drop in a few gallons is more than enough, and splashing it around a bit helps it mix.

One lavender oil I especially recommend is doTERRA’s lavender essential oil. It just smells right. You can follow the link below to check it out.

doTERRA – Lavender Essential Oil – 15 mL

Indian Gooseberry – and what it means for your home kombuchery

I’ve been using Amla powder for ages and always thought it was powdered gooseberries from India because the label says “Indian Gooseberry.” But no, it turns out, it is not a true gooseberry at all, it simply looks, tastes, and acts like a gooseberry… but it is a different genus, I think. Actually, I’m a chemist so I really don’t know how it works.

Anyway, try adding a tablespoon of amla to smoothies, probiotic sodas and drinks like kombucha, or even to mixed drinks. I can never explain the flavor besides “it adds good mouthfeel” but I think that Ayurvedic tradition nails it: amla fruit is sour (amla) and astringent (kashaya) in taste (rasa), with sweet (madhura), bitter (tikta) and pungent (katu) secondary tastes (anurasas). Its qualities (gunas) are light (laghu) and dry (ruksha), the postdigestive effect (vipaka) is sweet (madhura) and its energy (virya) is cooling (shita).

In the Sanskrit Buddhist tradition, half anĀ alma fruit was the final gift to the Buddhist sangha by the great Indian emperorĀ Ashoka. This is illustrated in theĀ AshokavadanaĀ in the following verses: “A great donor, the lord of men, the eminent Maurya Ashoka, has gone from being lord of Jambudvipa [the continent] to being lord of half a myrobalan”Ā 

Below is a brand of alma that I really like, but I’m sure there is a lot of good stuff out there.

Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Amla Berry Powder (Amalaki), 16 Oz

Happy New Year

My family ushered in the year with sparkling blueberry ginger kombucha (pictured above). You know, if the point of drinking champagne is to drink a bubbly fermented beverage, then kombucha is a great alternative. It even has trace alcohol so you get that sacrament as well šŸ˜‰

Can I suggest a New Years resolution? Instead of drinking soda, consider other fizzy drinks like kombucha and kefir water.

2020 is a year of hindsight and reflection. This year, please try to be a more thoughtful about who you vote for and also please stop blocking the aisles in the grocery stores. Thank you.

These are my dream kombucha/champagne glasses, check them out:

Lenox Tuscany Classics Champagne Flutes, Buy 4, Get 6

Charge Your Water With Crystals Before Brewing

One of the ways you can ensure a perfect fermentation is to charge your water with crystal energy before brewing. Try placing a large amethyst or clear quartz crystal in sunlight for a day to get it full of solar goodness. Then carefully rinse your stone and sanitize it with a food-safe sanitizer like star-san. Put it in a sanitized water-proof container and add your water. Cover. Let the water absorb the crystal’s beneficial vibrations for several hours. Then use the water to brew your usual recipe. You will definitely notice the difference.

Check out these Brazilian tumbled amethysts.

Bingcute Brazilian Tumbled Polished Natural Amethyst Stones 1/2 Ib for Wicca, Reiki, and Energy Crystal Healing (Amethyst)

You can use a bunch of them at once and since they’re tumbled, you don’t have to worry about sharp edges.

Meet the Brewmaster

Hi, my name is Josh and I am a brewmaster in Portland, Oregon. In this role I produce large quantities of probiotic beverages, such as kombucha, jun and kefir water, for four West-Coast beverage companies. I created this blog to share exciting and interesting things I come across while working in this field.

I will often make book and product recommendations. Supporting these entrepreneurs gives me a way of creating an ad-free site while curating a collection of quality resources. I mean, how do you not want to know about a beautiful book like Julia Mueller’s Delicious Probiotic Drinks? I can’t wait to try these fizzy treats.

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