Kombucha Vinegar

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Kombucha Vinegar

Postby terji on Sun Aug 25, 2019 2:35 am

Hi fellow Fermenters,

I just want to run my kombucha vinegar setup by You to see if I am doing something wrong or can do something better.

I have this system of 6 5l jars labeled I-VI where I should be the most vinegary and VI just tea/kombucha starting.

Whenever I need some vinegar I just take it from the number I and top it up from number II, number II from number III and so on like a little cascade. I usually do this when I feed them or getting rid of the excess scobies and do some sieve filtering as well. This way I know that the first jar is always the oldest one (I am really bad at keeping track of things .-) )

I feed nos II-VI around 17g of sugar per litre every two weeks.

The goal is to have strongest vinegar possible.
Temp is room temp, Jars are covered by cheesecloth, tea I feed it is regular kombucha 70g sugar / 7g tea - 10 min steep per litre.

One thing I noticed after couple of months is that the vinegar is turning darker and darker and the sieve I have does not filter that out but vinegar still smells and tastes good.

Any comments appreciated!

Thanks

T
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Re: Kombucha Vinegar

Postby kefir_14 on Tue Sep 03, 2019 12:51 am

I’m not quite sure why you are transferring between vessels as it seems like extra work, but maybe I’m missing something?

I have my main Kombucha vessel which I use to brew Kombucha to bottle/flavour and drink.

Then I have 1 or 2 smaller vessels which I use to make vinegar. I follow the exact same recipe/ratios but just let it ferment for longer to increase acidity and turn into vinegar.

I let my Kombucha vinegar ferment and then bottle it all except for reserving the correct amount of starter liquid for the next batch.

Alternatively you could just extract what you want until the level gets down to your required starter liquid volume and then feed it with sweet tea as normal.

If you have multiple vessels you can start them at different times and always have vinegar available or alternatively you can bottle enough to last you until the next batch is ready to bottle.

You mention that the vinegar is getting darker. In my experience fermented Kombucha & Kombucha Vinegar is always lighter in colour than the sweet tea mixture. Perhaps you are referring to the Scoby/pellicle and sediment in the vinegar? Are you trying to filter out the sediment? It won’t hurt to leave it in but I understand some prefer to remove it. It may just grow more Scoby/pellicle and sediment in the bottle though.

I hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions.
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Re: Kombucha Vinegar

Postby terji on Tue Sep 03, 2019 3:34 am

Hi!

thanks for the answer!

How long do you let it ferment? how many times do you feed it with extra sugar?

My room temp is around 20-22C.

T
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Re: Kombucha Vinegar

Postby kefir_14 on Tue Sep 03, 2019 4:44 am

terji wrote:How long do you let it ferment? how many times do you feed it with extra sugar?

My room temp is around 20-22C.


Well it has been winter here so my ferments are taking longer. Normally 4 weeks but with the cooler weather it can take a bit longer. I just go by taste. I think in hot summer weather it could be ready in ~3 weeks but we will see.

I don’t feed it extra sugar. Once the vinegar has finished fermenting and I have bottled it I make a new batch of sweet tea according to the recipe and add to the correct amount of reserved vinegar starter liquid.

Hope that helps.
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Re: Kombucha Vinegar

Postby terji on Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:02 pm

Hi,

I went to visit my uncle and he is making killer ACV and also introduced me to hard kombucha - as a brewer I immediately saw a potential in turning hard kombucha into high % vinegar and cleaning it in the process.

Any advice on hard kombucha? How much sugar, how far the booch shoudl be ?

Did a quick try and I dropped some yeast and sugar into quite old vinegary kombucha but I think the acidity killed the yeast.

Yesterday, I started proper process and made a yeast starter (using some beer yeast I decided not to use again Safale S04) with fresh kombucha and some sugar and it is progressing as expected. Will try to salvage the first try with good top-up of fresh kombucha and yeast ready to go.

Once it is fermented we shoudl be somewhere around 5+6% alcohol.
What next? and for how long?

Thanks
terji
 
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Re: Kombucha Vinegar

Postby terji on Sat May 16, 2020 8:18 am

just a update - I have now second batch of kombucha fermenting with a beer yeast, I will try some cider/champange yeast next just to run the sugar all the way down.
First batch looks good, is nice and vinegary, will mix the hard kombucha to it when it is ready...

I still keep getting SCOBY at the top - does it mean that the acidity/alcohol content is too low?
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