Anyone brew their own Kombucha/Jun?

[*Red-Bird*]

I started brewing Jun tea recently having read of the wonderful health benefits of fermented foods/drinks (I prefer Jun to regular Kombucha).

Anyone else brewing and drinking regularly? Have you noticed any personal health improvements?

[Clover]

No, but sounds interesting. I may start moving into that direction soon.

[*Red-Bird*]

I highly recommend it! I brew Jun, prefer it to Kombucha as it's sweeter and I just love that I can create an unlimited supply of something in my own kitchen which has so many health benefits. It's fun experimenting with different flavourings too - lemon, ginger, blueberry etc. Totally think you should go for it!

[TheGlow]

I just started about a month ago.(Kombucha) Im going to have to try again.
It was great at about day 4 but by day 7 it was getting vinegary already. I was trying to do a continuous brew so obviously I wasn't keeping up drinking/refreshing I guess.

At this point I'm going to have to order another scoby but I'm waiting till its a bit cooler in hopes that would slow the fermentation down.

I have not tried or heard of Jun.

edited to add I just looked up Jun and have always heard green tea was still Kombucha. I actually prefer green tea ferment what ever its called.
How does the honey change the process?

[*Red-Bird*]

Originally Posted by TheGlow

I just started about a month ago.(Kombucha) Im going to have to try again.
It was great at about day 4 but by day 7 it was getting vinegary already. I was trying to do a continuous brew so obviously I wasn't keeping up drinking/refreshing I guess.

At this point I'm going to have to order another scoby but I'm waiting till its a bit cooler in hopes that would slow the fermentation down.

I have not tried or heard of Jun.

edited to add I just looked up Jun and have always heard green tea was still Kombucha. I actually prefer green tea ferment what ever its called.
How does the honey change the process?

Hmmm...it could be that you've upset your scoby, so to speak. If you're using a Kombucha scoby you should only be using black tea and sugar as that is what the culture has been cultivated to 'eat'. You can train your Kombucha scoby to live off green tea but it is a gradual process. Might be why you're finding it vinegary after a short ferment as Kombucha traditionally prefers a warmer climate and takes 1 - 2 weeks normally to ferment to taste. Giving it green tea straight off instead of black has probably had some sort of detrimental affect.

Jun scobys on the other hand eat green tea and honey, like cooler climates and can be ready in as little as two days (mine are usually ready in 2 - 3 days, any longer and it's vinegary). The taste is lighter and sweeter than Kombucha, less harsh - it doesn't have that alcoholic taste Kombucha can often have, especially ready made commercially bought Kombuchas. As honey already has so many vitamins and minerals, there is the added the bonus of that. If you get it right, it's carbonated after the first ferment, and a second ferment, especially if you add fruit or ginger after bottling can give a wonderful light carbonation - Kombucha carbonation again always seems a little harsh to me compared to Jun.

Did you scoby mother start growing babies? If you do have to invest in a new scoby I recommend trying the Jun one instead - although of course it depends on your preference.

Good luck with it!

[TheGlow]

Interesting! Thanks
I guess thats why it was fine till day 4. Thats when I realized how much space was in my container (4 gallon) and added the green tea sugar brew, it went pretty vinegary 2 days later.

I just drained most off and the pellicle/scoby/whatever looks correctly ugly so I'm going to try again with it.

No green tea this time though. Thanks for the info.

Do you have a recommendation for where to get a Jun scoby/pellicle?
My scoby was only about 4" round and the top of my vessel is about 8 so I don't think there is another baby one. I didn't dig but it looks like the original has just gotten larger and now reaches the wall ove the vessel. Im kind of nervous to go messing with it.

I bought a continuous brew kit and it isn't transparent(not ideal for a beginner I now realize) so cant easily see without disturbing things if any babies have started.

[*Red-Bird*]

Well, I live in Sweden so I'm not sure where in the States is the best place to buy the jun scoby - I know you can get them from Amazon though. I had the hardest time trying to get my hands on one - seems there are only two people in the whole of Sweden who sell them and one has been out of stock for months (I heard there's one company only in the States who produce Jun for commercial sale and they've been broken into several times to have their cultures stolen!!! So precious they are!!)

If you didn't upset the balance of the culture too much it should grow babies eventually - it will grow in a large vessel despite the size of the original scoby - you'll see a very thin slimy film start to form on the top of the liquid. The best way to grow your babies though is to stick the mother in a 'hotel' - preferably around the same circumference of the scoby. Fill it up with prepared kombucha or jun, cover with a cloth as you would if you were making the drink and put it somewhere undisturbed but dark and airy for a few weeks. Keep checking in on it - you should see a baby form on top, you can just tear the two apart when it's sufficiently grown then start brewing again, or just put them back in the hotel to grow more babies.

The scobys are pretty hardy though so I don't think using green tea will have harmed it too much...I'm sure it's still viable, even if it looks ugly now!!