I've used both ginger bug & finished ginger beer to ferment grapefruit juice, it's so good.

Did mango once too but be careful, it looked like it wasn't working so I ignored it awhile and got mango soda exploded all over the kitchen. What was left in the bottle was glorious just be careful.

I can imagine that. But at least watermelons! Good luck with your gardening! For me it is only possible in my living room!

Yeah it's hot AF here, not much survived but the "mini love" watermelon variety is happy - I can't even get in there to weed. I can recommend that hybrid, it's sturdy and they taste really good.

And for some reason the asparagus seems to be surviving the heat too but it isn't a summer crop. Watermelon all over it but it's doing ok. Deep roots I think.

Will do! Also.. I am really jealous about your garden now! That sounds really great! I am also currently trying to ferment a watermelon wine with honey, lemon and watermelon.. looks promising atm, but its only 2 days old, so we will see..

Please update when it's done, my garden is pretty much just a watermelon patch right now, I harvested three today!

We will know in a week or so.. Flavor wise I am pretty convinced.. texture will be interesting because of the high watercontent

I used some cayenne chili peppers I had laying around. I think I could have gone for more fruite ones to support the watermelon flavor a little more...

Yeah, only black tea works

I love the GTS kombucha. I usually get their ginger one. I will have to check my local co-op to see if they have a raw unflavored because I know I haven't seen it elsewhere.

Hmm. I wonder if some preservatives in the "juice" messes with the yeast and / or bacteria in the Scoby.

I might buy a commercial Scoby. There's a local store that might have it which I feel better about.

Cool. I assume it's black tea then

I used to buy the regular unflavored GTS bottle but the grocery stores near me stopped carrying it

I tried making it, but the problem is that the scovy forms too slowly from stuff you buy at the store. There's a fundamental problem for kombucha makers. It makes CO2 and alcohol. I haven't measured what sort of pressures are possible but it's about to burst aluminum cans. So hey, you love kombucha, go get it from the store but be careful or you'll get kombucha in your car all over the car or you might need stitches. Because of this problem and the generation of alcohol... Which makes it a requirement to have a license.... The makers simply heat the mix to kill the colony before you get it. Same taste but it's all dead or mostly dead.

You might find live cultures at the local swapmeet or flea market or Asian or Latino stores. But there's the possibility of bringing home some deadly disease or a get your self blind or kill your liver sort of deal. For those reasons I opted to get it from Amazon. I sort of paused after I totally screwed up. I fed it a very drink that I got from Ikea. It's some christmas popular berry from Ikea's country of origin.

Do not, I repeat, do not feed kombucha lingon berries. It has got to be the nastiest least offensive smell and taste. You see it, you think it will taste good and it sort of tastes ok when the liquid touches your tongue. But it's too late. You sense of smell tricks you, you get an after smell and a horrific after taste. It's not like hot pepper or Philippine balut when your body is ready to be in contact with the nastiest matter ever expected. No, it's the fact that you're expecting sweet raspberry preserve and you are met with sweaty shoe mixed with wet cardboard and pinesol.

Somehow the Scovy learns that taste and it appears that it just keeps giving you shoe tasting kombucha after that. So don't.

Just fermented tea and sugar

Makes sense. I have only really seen flavored Kombucha. I have seen plenty of raw Kombucha but nothing that is unflavored. Since Kombucha's base is usually tea with some sweeteners what even would be the base?

I’m in Australia, so brands will probably vary.

We get all sorts of flavours, from berry, to peach, various herb flavours, raspberry. All sorts. I avoid those if building a new SCOBY

I don't know anyone who has been brewing Kombucha which is a little annoying. I could check out and see if they have one on my buy nothing group or something else.

It is cool that the SCOBY is pasted on from someone else. Its kind of its own little ecosystem that we humans use to make something delicious. Fermentation is so interesting like that. We use invisible creatures to make something better.

I figured they would. I would prefer to not purchase it from Amazon. I also think its pretty fun to make it. But I might have to do that.

What do you mean about unflavored? I know most are unpasteurized but most have some flavor. Do you have a brand in mind?

Anyone brewing kombucha would be more than happy to share some scoby with you! they usually have too much, and several backups in the fridge/freezer etc.. It's also so easy to divide: you just grab it with your bare (washed, thotoughly rinsed) hands, tear it like a piece of strong cardboard, and any portion would do. you then give it with a bit of the liquid in a bag or jar, and together they will start a culture anywhere...

If i were you I would find a way to call for people around where you live and find one such person, rather than buying anything from a store or such. local auction/second hand sites could be a great place to search. Scobys are often listed for free or just a few bucks....

Also there is something immensely cool when you think of it: you got it from someone, who got it from someone, who... etc. maybe your Scoby is much much older than you?

Get it on Amazon. They sell little pouches with stock or liquid.

Some kombucha is pasteurised which kills the bacteria.

Just make sure you use a natural kombucha, unflavoured and unpasteurised.

I've never heard of watermelon hot sauce until now but I'm down af

What are you using for peppers/heat?

Thanks. I'll try that next time.