TIL my probiotic gummy ferment was off because of the water temp

A guy in a fermentation class told me I was killing my cultures by adding them to water over 100 degrees. I switched to room temp distilled water and my last batch actually got that fizzy tang I was after. Anyone else make that mistake starting out?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomasb415d agoMost Upvoted

Burned a few batches myself before I figured that out. It's a bummer when you think you're doing everything right and find out you've been killing the good stuff the whole time.

skyler_kelly695d ago

Oh man, tell me about it! I once spent an entire afternoon making what I thought was gonna be some bomb kombucha, only to realize I basically boiled the starter tea alive before I even added it. Tasted like weird sugary swamp water. Definitely been there, done that, burned the t-shirt and probably the jar too.

paige_bell815d ago

Wait, you're saying heat actually kills the cultures? I always figured warmer water helped them wake up faster. Guess I was totally wrong, this explains why my gummies were so flat tasting.