Third (Bashful) Brew - Bottling

February 12, 2011 - Bottling

This one went way longer than I had intended, and I seriously thought this was going to be a large batch of salad dressing.  I noticed that when I tasted it, it was much more naturally fizzy than the others I have done at this point.  It was rather good, and sour.  I could have poured a big glass of this over ice, and left it.  

I pitched my shredded Scoby from the last time, and noticed I got a much nicer one this time.  The new Scoby is n the top right.  Try and guess which one came from Hannah... You guessed it, the beauty on the bottom.  Hannah has some nice Scobies ;)

I decided to simplify somewhat.  One bottle with Black Raspberries, one with Red Raspberries, and this time Meier Lemons with about twice the ginger.  I also decided to bottle one plain with a little rock sugar just to see what would happen.

I'm making 5 bottles as I used a bottle to start a Scoby Hotel.  This is a cool picture before I extracted and separated the scobies. Look at how they form a nice tight seal across the top.  This I think is a big reason why I got a nice fizzy batch.  2 scobies are the way to go

Only 5 bottles this time

Frozen Red Raspberries - Small Handful

Feb 25 - Opened - This was mega fizzy, so much so i lost half the bottle on the counter. very strong and sour

Meier Lemon/Ginger - 3 slices of lemon, about 1/2 oz. of juice and about 10 pieces of ginger

Mar 6 - Opened - Big fizz, still in need of more ginger, but it was very tasty!

Frozen Black Raspberries - Small Handful 

Feb 19 - Opened - Light Fizz, similar to lindedmans lambic, very nice. will do again soon

Plain - Teaspoon of German Rock Sugar

Feb 20 - Opened - Almost no fizz, light sour, plain , simple. just ok

Meier Lemon/Ginger - 3 slices of lemon, about 1/2 oz. of juice and about 10 pieces of ginger 

Feb 19 - Opened - Not so tart, lt fizz, still need more ginger, need more 2nd ferment time too

Third (Bashful) Brew

Sunday, January 30

I decided I needed other watchers over my booch, since the cracked vessel, the shredded scoby, and the mediocre performance on my last batch.  I decided to simplify a little, only do two flavors, and appoint another sentinel.  Bashful.

Ingredients

• 2.5 spoons of Lychee Black Tea
• 2.5 spoons of High Mountain Oolong
• 1 cup 365 Organic Sucunat
• Original KK Scoby, my eldest Scoby

Decided on a mix, instead of all black tea.  I was running low on Lychee

These are both very good teas, and make a nice pair.

As before, all tea was steeped and tempered prior to putting in the vessel.  I don't need another busted contain.  I also tried using Sucunat, as opposed to straight sugar.  I just like saying it... Not sure if I'm saying it right, but it is fun.. Imagine this with a thick southern drawl "Suck-You-Nat"

35 Minute steep, and added sucunat.  Poured remaining 8 cups of water in the vessel, and then added the sweet tea.

Time to get this covered up and put away

This one is going to sit awhile.  My schedule indicates that I have a few trips to make, one in which I plan to see the Steelers win their 6th super-bowl (2/18 ok, that was a disaster, hope it doesn't rub off on my kt)

Keep watch