Sometime ago I ventured into brewing mead. I transferred naturally captured yeasts from batch to batch via a bug/mother that I kept fed with honey and filtered water. It bubbled vigorously, enough to make me wonder just how fizzy it really was. I took a few sips, it was a vibrant effervescent soda. It was flavored with organic lemons from my mother in-laws's trees which had me knee deep in lemon meads. This gave me the idea to make a natural soda. (Come to find out there are so many recipes out there for natural sodas but I found out via experimenting)
I had a batch of tea in a sun tea vessel that I ushered into the house after a long warm day of brewing. I sliced lemons and apples into chunks and plopped them in the tea along with a heaping cup of honey and the mead bug. I then covered with a kitchen cloth and let the little yeast go to work. It took about three days to get a healthy bubbly brew. Tea on its own is pretty tasty but adding the fizzy live culture adds a great refreshing kick, especially after working outside in the heat all day.
I also had a terrible soda addiction that seems to be at bay now that I have these ferment/active culture teas. So far its been over a month and I still have the initial culture that has worked many past batches of tea.
Follow me on Instagram for video of the active culture. I tried linking the video here but no such luck!
IG account: rieper_reptilias
I post there fairly frequent as oppose to blogging which is sometimes a week or a week and a half between posts.
Want to make a batch for yourself? Well follow these simple culture capture steps and you will be on your way. I find capturing a mother/bug first would be best instead of brewing a whole quart of tea off the get-go.
The Mother/Bug Recipe:
You will need:
* a large size glass jar (old honey jar or jam jar with lid)
*kitchen towel or paper towel that will cover the opening of jar
*rubber band
*Organic fruit, sliced with peels on (I started with lemons but apples would work just as great. I haven't tried other fruits just yet but I would imagine it would be fine to use pear, peaches and berries.)
*honey or sugar (the quantities will be in steps)
*filtered water (enough to fill your jar half way)
Steps:
1) Fill your jar half way with filtered water. The amount of honey or sugar to use will seem extreme but use 1 cup if honey or half a cup if sugar. If you don't have a large jam jar and had to use something small then 1/2 of sugar or honey would be best.
OPTION: you can warm (not boil) up the water and add your honey or sugar to get even dilution before adding fruit
2) Add chunks of your fruit into the jar make sure the liquid levels are not at the very top of jar. Give yourself some space to be able to stir and not make a mess plus once active, fizz and fruit can rise.
3) Cover with towel and secure with rubber band. Set somewhere warm and out of direct light.
4) Stir once a day for three days.
You should see some activity around the third day, little bubbles or, if you are lucky, full on bubbling. If not don't sweat it, stir the jar and set aside. Take note that fruit isn't molding, it might brown but should never mold.
Once you see some bubbling, especially after you stir, your bug is ready to start working your batch of tea.
***NOTE***I leave the fruit in the mother so it has a source of sugars to eat while it stores. Also I found it keeps the bug and tea brew fizzy longer. Plus I love flavored teas. Apple and lemon are my favorites but orange and cloves is pretty amazing too. I recommend experimenting with added flavors like cloves, mint, etc...
Tea Brew Items Needed:
*Sun Tea Brew Glass vessel with spigot (just a little over a quart/gallon, small enough to fit in fridge)
* Kitchen towel big enough to cover entire opening of glass vessel
* Rubberband big enough to secure towel to glass vessel
* 1 cup of Honey or 3/4 cup of Sugar
* Organic Fruit chopped with peels on
* Any Tea you like 4-5 bags or half a cup of loose leaf( I use black tea and yunnan tea)
* Filtered water (enough water to boil tea then also to fill vessel)
* Spoon long enough to reach bottom of vessel to stir
* Mother/Bug ( I use about 1/4 of the liquid, avoid dumping the fruit it.)
STEPS:
1) Heat up water to a boil in a medium pot, turn off the heat and add tea. Let the tea cool down enough where you are able to insert a finger in brew without discomfort. This is to ensure that you don't accidentally boil your culture when it gets added. Strain out tea then add your honey or sugar and stir till incorporated.
2) Fill your glass vessel with the tea brew, add filtered water till your jar is 80% full. Add your fruit and the mother/bug. Give it a good long stir.
3) Covered with kitchen towel and secure with rubber band. Place somewhere warm and out of the way. Next day give it a stir and cover, you will stir once a day for three days.
4) Sample your tea. Is the fizziness noticeable? Is it too sweet? Is it not fizzy?
Troubleshooting:
Not fizzy? Answer: add 1/4 cup of sugar, honey or fruit juice and stir again. Try again in a few hours.
Is it too sweet? Answer: Allow to sit out one more day and sample again. The culture will eventually tone down the sweetness even if you place it in the fridge. I've had batches that the sweetness all but disappeared after two days in the fridge. It had something like a ghost sweetness, it was weird but totally cool :0
5) Place your finished tea in the fridge. It keeps for awhile but if you don't drink tea as often as say once a day, then make sure you are sampling the brew before next use. The sweetness could be gone. Just add more sugar or honey.
NOTE: After you are done with obtaining the small amount from the mother, replenish what you took by adding filtered water, more sugar and stir. Allow the mother to sit out one day then cover with lid and place in fridge. You can keep your original culture going and ensuring a healthy bug with each feeding. I tend to go through my teas every three to four days. (I use two sun tea brew vessels, about a quart size). I feed my mother regularly after I take from her.
Play with different teas, fruits and sweetness levels. It's a bit of an art form but extremely worth it especially if you want to kick your soda addiction. Also it's a healthy thing to do for your gut microbes. I also encourage you to keep the old fruit from previous batches to help kick start your future brews. I tend to keep them for three batches then replace them with freshly sliced fruit.
No comments:
Post a Comment