Secondary Fermentation w Flavourings

[thegreatbrewnorth]

Underway with my first ever batch of booch (1 gal).

Used organic black tea, organic cane sugar, and a nice fresh healthy SCOBY I got from another seasoned brewer.

It's currently in a nice glass 1 gallon wide mouth mason jar. I plan on adding some frozen organic fruit (strawberry and mango) that I have for the secondary fermentation.

My question is, do I need to transfer to another container? Or can I just remove the SCOBY from the jar (along with a cup of starter tea for the next batch, throw in the fruit, then ferment for another couple of days, then bottle and stick in fridge? When I bottle I plan on filtering out the fruit/sediment, and bottling in my beer bottles and capping them.

What do you guys think?

 

[hunter_le five]

Can I just remove the SCOBY from the jar (along with a cup of starter tea for the next batch, throw in the fruit, then ferment for another couple of days, then bottle and stick in fridge?

This plan sounds fine.

 

[thegreatbrewnorth]

This plan sounds fine.

If I am using frozen fruit do you think its okay to just drop them in the jar right from the freezer, or should i let them thaw a bit since the temperature might shock the scoby a bit?

 

[hunter_le five]

If I am using frozen fruit do you think its okay to just drop them in the jar right from the freezer, or should i let them thaw a bit since the temperature might shock the scoby a bit?

I thought you were going to remove the scoby? I like to keep my flavorings separate from the SCOBY when flavoring batches.

I would thaw the fruit first. I don't think it will hurt anything if you throw it in frozen, but I imagine it will retard the secondary fermentation until it warms back up to room temp.

 

[thegreatbrewnorth]

I thought you were going to remove the scoby? I like to keep my flavorings separate from the SCOBY when flavoring batches.

I would thaw the fruit first. I don't think it will hurt anything if you throw it in frozen, but I imagine it will retard the secondary fermentation until it warms back up to room temp.

Sorry, I meant in the sense there are still residual cultures within the kombucha even after the scoby is removed that continue to work for the secondary fermentation...right?

What do you mean you keep flavorings separate? This is my first batch so don't know what to expect, but I think I would prefer my booch flavored, and I also have some nice organic frozen fruit I would like to use up.

 

[hunter_le five]

Sorry, I meant in the sense there are still residual cultures within the kombucha even after the scoby is removed that continue to work for the secondary fermentation...right?

What do you mean you keep flavorings separate? This is my first batch so don't know what to expect, but I think I would prefer my booch flavored, and I also have some nice organic frozen fruit I would like to use up.

Gotcha. Generally when people say "SCOBY" they are referring to the big glob of cellulose that floats on top, not the actual culture swimming around in the tea.

I just meant the SCOBY (glob) should be removed from the batch before any flavorings or added to the tea, so as not to carry flavors and whatnot across batches when you reuse the scoby for the next batch.

 

[thegreatbrewnorth]

right!

So I guess I'm doing exactly what I need to be doing then!

Thanks for the input, looking forward to trying my first batch!