We let this batch go 10 days so it was perfect for a batch of Grape Ape. Because there wasn’t much sugar left we added 1/2 tbsp of sugar to the 1/4 cup concord grape juice. We’ll let it go the usual 5 on the shelf.
For our next small batch we did the usual 21 grams of tea in a gallon jar with 1 cup of sugar and 1 1/4 cups of starter buch.
Our neighbor left us some strawberries on our porch today just in time for our harvest. We let this one go 10 days and it tasted strong and not very sweet. We added a full tbsp of sugar because the strawberries were tart. We’ll let this ferment on the shelf for 2 days max.
For our next batch we are transitioning to a 1.5 gallon jar. We used 28 grams of tea steeped in 1/2 gallon of 190 degree water for 20 minutes. We then added 1.5 cups of sugar and another 80 or so ounces of water (to line) leaving enough room for 2 cups starter buch and the SCOBY.
This week’s harvest fermented for 9 days. We made 4 bottles with fresh apricots from Rindon, 4 bottles with Rindon’s berry mix and two bottles of plain. We added 1 tsp of sugar to the apricot and plain and 2 tsps in the berry because it was tart. We’ll let the fruit ones do a 2 day 2nd fermentation and the plain do a 5.
We let this ferment for 9 days and bottled it with 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 tsp of sugar. It tasted sweet after 9 days. We had to refrigerate it after 4 days instead of 5 so it may not be as fizzy. Should be good!
We started this day’s harvest by brewing new nute the usually way, stepping 21 grams of Oolong tea in 195-200 degree water for 20 minutes, adding 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of starter buch. We flavored the harvest with 1/4 cup of fresh raspberry puree from raspberries that Rindon and Becky gave us for 3 bottles of raspberry. We left two bottles plain for Babs and flavored all of them with 1 tsp of sugar.
We had to refrigerate the raspberry a little early due to travel after 1 1/2 days so those may need a little more fermentation when we return. The plain will get an extra long 2nd fermentation, also due to travel as we’ll be moving them to the fridge after 8 days on Thursday. The new buch will be 8 days in first fermentation.
It’s strawberry season and we’ve been getting some great local berries. This is our typical strawberry recipe, 21 grams Oolong tea, 3/4 gallon of water, 1 cup of sugar, steeped at 200 degrees for 20 minutes. We harvested it after 8 days on 5/31, added 1/4 cup of strawberry puree and 1 tsp of sugar. We let it go a little less than 2 days in second fermentation because we are leaving for a couple of days. We’ll test it when we return.
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