Kombucha Malaysia

Jun Scoby looks like Kombucha Scoby and even brews like Kombucha but its not Kombucha Scoby!! There is one marked difference though. Jun Scoby feeds exclusively on Honey! I managed to get a Jun Scoby shipped all the way from US via the Happy Herbalist. Did the brewing with green tea but the final brew turned out to be quite disappointing; no bubbles, no new layer of Scoby and the drink was flat. In short, I failed. It turned out that the honey that I was using was not pure enough (bought from Giant hypermart). By the time I used real organic Acasia honey it was too late, the Scoby had failed to function.  Disappointed, an idea cropped into my head.  Why don’t I try to train my kombucha Scoby to “feed” on honey? Off I went to brew with the same procedure, replacing sugar with honey with kombucha Scoby.  Fast forward two weeks into the future all I got was another failed brew, proving once and for all that kombucha Scoby and honey does not mix. After t...

I had a chat with a fellow brewer Erin who regularly brews in Canada and currently relocated to Malaysia. Based on that conversation there were certainly several differences in the brewing process. Shorter Brewing Duration   Malaysia being a tropical country is always hot and humid 24-7. Thus the brewing duration to complete a kombucha brew is only 10-14 days compared to 18-24 days in a temperate country. Thinner baby Kombucha Scoby As the time needed to brew is way shorter compared to temperate countries, the baby Scoby that are formed are also notable thinner. To make the baby Scoby thicker you might need to lengthen the brewing process but you might end up with a more vinegarish brew. Thicker baby Scoby Thinner baby Scoby Higher risk for mold growth The risk of mold infestation on kombucha Scoby is very high here in Malaysia. The high humidity and temperature is a potent mix to encourage growth of mold if proper steps are not taken during the brew...

No 1: Is SCOBY and Kombucha the same thing? Scoby and Kombucha are not the same thing. Scoby is an acronym for a symibiotic culture of yeast and bacteria.It is the interaction of the bacteria and yeast  with sugar tea via the fermentation process that creates the end product which is kombucha. A simplified relationship for kombucha and Scoby is as follows;  Kombucha Scoby + Sugar Tea = Kombucha No 2: How much kombucha should I drink daily? For starters it is best to start at around 50ml.  This is to get your body to get used to the introduction of good bacteria into the body. From there on you can gradually increase the intake. No 3: How long can I keep a brewed kombucha? In room temperature I usually keep my brew for around 2 weeks.  If kept in the fridge I will stretch the duration up to 4 weeks. Kombucha has lots of good bacteria. If you keep it way too long the number of bacteria will start to reduce thus reducing the health i...

7 days later I went back to the brew that was produced by the dehydrated Scoby. Below is the result. Unfortunately the re-hydration process did not work out as planned and the result was a very thin Scoby infected with mold. For the time being, I will have to go back to the drawing board and maybe shorten the dehydration process and rehydration and perhaps achieve a better result. If all else fails, well, I can start to knit the dried Scobies and well use it as a table cloth. :) 

Mistake No 1: Washing the Mother Scoby Novice brewers always come to me and ask, should I wash the mother Scoby? It smells and there are lots of gooey matter on the Scoby. Simple answer, No; you don’t have to wash the Scoby.  In fact the brown gooey matters are perfectly harmless dead yeast.  Also, washing will remove the yeast on the Scoby and might even stress out the Scoby due to exposure to contaminants in pipe water such as chlorine. Dont wash your mother Scoby Mistake No 2: Sealing the container tightly shut/ Brewing in an airtight container It is important to seal the container during the brewing process but it has to be loosely sealed with bands and also breathable to allow a smooth fermentation process. During the fermentation process, it is vital for the circulation of air in and out from the brewing vessel.Sealing the brewing container shut will halt the fermentation process due to the excess carbon dioxide and the lack of oxygen. Don...

I am always perplexed on what will happen when the process of dehydration happens to a kombucha Scoby.  In short I tried to mummify a Scoby and see whether it can come back to life. So I went ahead and  I dried a fresh healthy kombucha Scoby in a food dehydrator for 9 days.  To get a clearer picture I compared a fresh Scoby side by side with a dried Scoby. The one on my i right is a fresh Scoby while the one on my left is a dried kombucha Scoby. A closer look at the two kombucha Scoby Dried Kombucha Scoby ( Side Note: One interesting literature I read about kombucha stated that there were attempts to actually use dried kombucha Scoby as an alternative to fabric. Imagine wearing a tshirt made from Scoby !) Fresh Kombucha Scoby  Next, I created a fresh batch of sugar tea and inserted the dry Scoby and left it to brew for 7 days. The results? I will share it in my next post. 

2 weeks ago I had the chance to interview Mr Jamil at Mcdonalds Kota Damansara. He is a keen enthusiast for kombucha and had been consuming this drink since the year 2000. Me:           How did you get to know about kombucha? Mr Jamil: It was back in 2000. My wife was diagnosed with cancer at 3 areas. The doctor did not give her much chance for recovery and recommended chemotherapy. I decided against chemotherapy after reading about the stress and how it affects the body.  Me:           So what did you do next? Jamil:       I decided to send her for traditional therapy. It is there that I learned about kombucha       because the healer incorporated kombucha as part of the healing regime. Fast forward 2 years in the future, a follow up to the doctor revealed that the cancer is now under control. I am not saying kombucha is the cure, but it was a part of the traditional therapy. Seeing how...