5/8 – House Oolong
We let this batch ferment for 10 days. Because it had only 1 generation of SCOBY it was still pretty sweet. We bottled it in our new brown bottles with just 1 teaspoon of sugar for Babs favorite plain buch.
5/6 – Grape Ape
Our standard recipe is now 3/4 gallons of water, 21 grams of tea, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of starter buch. We let it steep in 195-200 degree water, covered for 5 minutes, stir and steep an additional 15 minutes. We let this batch ferment for 8 days. It tasted about right so we added 1/4 cup of concord grape juice and 1 tsp of sugar. We’ll do a second fermentation of about 5 days.
We refrigerated this batch after 5 1/2 days. It was plenty explosive and not too sweet. If anything it was not quite sweet enough but still good. Rindon will like it. We’ll probably try a 4 day second fermentation for the next Grape Ape batch.
4/5 Grape Ape
We’ve moved operations to Capitola, California for some coastal flavor. The family traveled well and now have a new home on a shelf in our new kitchen. We are continuing to refine our methods. This time there was no measuring of water for the steep. We just used a pitcher full. We did the usual 20 minute steep with a quick stir after 5. The usual double strain and we have a happy family in its new home. I’ll probably make the first Capitola bach Grape Ape since our new next door neighbor likes it.
3/14 House OG #1-5
Batch B we left plain and flavored with 1/2 tbsp of sugar. We pulled it after 4 days but probably should have gone 3. It’s looking like we need 1-2 days for fruit and 2-3 days for plain, at least during the winter. Both our first and second fermentations are taking less time. We suspect this is due to hotter inside temps during the winter. Our current brewing method is to bring 8 cups of water to a boil, cover and remove from heat, allow to cool slowly to 195 degrees so that the bottom of the pan is not hotter than the water. We have started using only 14 grams of tea which is less Oolong than we’ve ever used. We steep the tea for 20 minutes, stirring once after 5.
3/14 – Grape Ape #91-95
This was batch A and tasted great after a one week first fermentation although one more day might have been too much. We flavored it with a little over 1/4 cup of WF concord grape juice and 1/2 tbsp of sugar.
We pulled this after 2 days in second fermentation and it turned out great.
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