krauby ;-) ... Taking kombucha in a new direction

[Owly055]

One of my projects is making apple cider vinegar using kombucha instead of starting with Braggs. The reason for this is that vinegar normally has a single organism.... one variety of acetobacter. It has a far less complex flavor than kombucha, or even kombucha vinegar.
In my previous experiment I fermented my kombucha wort using Belle Saison, then when fully fermented out pitched it into a jug with some kombucha to sour.......
That worked fine........ except that what I left in the other jug which was supposed to have only Belle Saison, turned out to have been "infected", and developed a beautiful pellicle / scoby. I should have expected this, as I had previously used the jug for kombucha, and though I had treated it with boiling water, and then starsan, it was not pure enough...... or it cross contaminated from adjacent jars.
I threw the scoby out, but not the sediment, as I wanted to use the yeast....... I of course expected it to be infected, but was surprised at the vigor of the Belle Saison. It quickly produced a nice krausen, but that krausen was combined with a newly developing scoby.... A very interesting development indeed. I'm quite eager to see how this tastes after fermentation by the yeast. Will the Belle Saison retain it's vigor? I suspect that the key is feeding it fresh wort, and taking the main ferment to a secondary vessel. Allowed to sit long term as the brew sours will probably kill it off.

The exciting thing (to me) about this is that I can perhaps produce kombucha this way using a high temp fermentation.... 90F or so to promote the Belle Saison and get it to throw that distinctive funk I love so much, creating funky kombucha. There is also the possible of using apple juice directly to give an entirely different flavor profile, as compared to adding the flavor afterward.

H.W.

 

[bigdawg86]

So you brewed the tea, fermented with yeast, then used the scoby to sour? I have been trying to figure out how to do beerbucha or whatever you want to call it... how did it work? Taste good?

 

[Owly055]

So you brewed the tea, fermented with yeast, then used the scoby to sour? I have been trying to figure out how to do beerbucha or whatever you want to call it... how did it work? Taste good?

This has a way to go.... vinegar is the final objective

A number of years ago I made an unhopped beer, and kombucha side by side and blended them. I began by drawing 25% of the kombucha off. I then replaced it with that much beer, then a week later repeated the process, and kept this up until I had introduced all of the beer into the kombucha. The result was very interesting, with each "harvest" being different from the previous one, all good. All were given a secondary fermentation. The beer was actively fermenting during the early part of the process ...... It was a worthwhile experiment with good results. If you do something like this be very careful to have extremely low IBUs, in fact I would not introduce ANY hops into the boil... I would throw pellet hops into the wort as I was pitching yeast. I used US 05. Personally I would use a more interesting yeast. I love what Belle Saison does at very high temps, but there are other yeasts that throw off strong flavors, such as some Belgians that throw clove at elevated temps.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Here is a photo of my "Krausby"..... it is a krausen and scoby all rolled into one. The aggressive fermentation prevents the typical gelatinous scoby from forming as you can see. Note that I added more frozen concentrate, making this double strength (flavor). Flavor is currently excellent, with the yeasty flavors dominating, and the sourness not yet coming through...... It's very early in the process and this will take months to sour properly. Aint it pretty ;-)

H.W

 

[Owly055]

This product keeps improving....I'm very happy with it. Considering shifting to a continuous brew as I do with kombucha.

 

[hottpeper13]

I have a lambic barrel going ,and will have another barrel ready by t.he end of the year,and was thinking of doing the same process but with a scoby instead of lacto and bret. Waiting to see how the first one turns out before doing 2 and dumping 50 gal.

 

[Owly055]

I have a lambic barrel going ,and will have another barrel ready by t.he end of the year,and was thinking of doing the same process but with a scoby instead of lacto and bret. Waiting to see how the first one turns out before doing 2 and dumping 50 gal.

Pardon the tardy reply. I haven't been on in awhile. Several years ago I made a kombucha / beer using a unique process where I brewed a gallon of unhopped beer alongside a gallon of kombucha. When the kombucha was properly soured, I drew off a quart and added a quart of still fermenting beer. The kombucha was on a 4 day cycle before I began this.... 25% every 4 days. I continued adding the beer to the kombucha every 4 days as I drew off kombucha. The result was actually quite good and unique, each "draw" being a bit different from the previous one........ worth repeating. kind of reminds me of my continuous brew beer using Signumds Voss Kavik yeast........ 1/3 of the primary was drawn off into secondary, and hot wort right from the boil kettle added (2 gallons), once a week. I was using my Fast Ferment, and would loosen the yeast ball before this then repitch after the temp dropped. The idea was to prevent contamination via the heat of the fresh wort. Part of the process was to "change it up" each brew, so there was a gradual change in the character of the beer. It was a fun and quite successful experiment, and I ran many gallons through it....... 2 gallons a week. I'd dry hop in secondary also.
A brewery in Chicago once did a Kombucha beer, adding a scoby at a specific point in the ferment, I'm not sure why they stopped.........

H.W.