Second Fermentation

My new occupation is going well, I am finally getting to the fun part of making kombucha. This week I started the second fermentation. This is the final fermentation before I can drink the kombucha. I started tasting the kombucha on day 6 of the first fermentation. On day 8 it had a good balance of sweet with a slight vinegary taste to it- it tasted like store-bought kombucha I have had. For the second fermentation I set aside two cups of the kombucha to keep with the SCOBY and bottled the rest of the kombucha into 16 oz flip top bottles, I filtered the kombucha through a sieve and filled the bottles until they were about two inches down from the top of the bottle- this should leave room to add flavorings and hopefully avoid exploding a bottle. I flavored 3 bottles in this batch with lemon juice and ginger and the other three with homemade huckleberry simple syrup. I also filled a plastic bottle with kombucha, when the plastic bottle is filled with air and fully hardened this will indicate that the kombucha is finished with the second fermentation. 

My occupational identity definitely had an influence on my choice in a new occupation. I really enjoy both creating things and living naturally. Most of my occupations I choose revolve around nature and creativity. I love to garden and have been starting to forage for food. I have foraged for mushrooms, berries, nettles, and rosehips so far this year. I have made different syrups from the things I have foraged that I have been able to implement into creating kombucha. I have elderberry, huckleberry, and rosehip syrups that I will flavor kombucha with. While trying to be more natural I have also been trying to reduce waste and my consumption of single use packaging. By making my own kombucha I will be able to reduce the amount of single use glass bottles I use.

Raanaas et al. discussed how ”the course of life creates an ‘activity story’ or biography that changes continuously in the cultural and social context” (Raanas et al., 2019). With the stress of graduate school in this part of my life I needed an occupation that wasn’t too difficult and was something calming to take my mind off schoolwork. My job before I went back to school was inconsistent and I was always on call to leave town for almost a month at a time. Now that I am back in school and will be home more often I was able to start home-brewing kombucha. The need for a calming occupation as well as having a more consistent schedule with school are both a part of how my occupational biography played a role in my choosing to brew kombucha as a new occupation.

Works Cited

 Ruth Kjærsti Raanaas, Anne Lund, Unni Sveen & Mona Asbjørnslett (2019) Re-creating self-identity and meaning through occupations during expected and unexpected transitions in life, Journal of Occupational Science, 26:2, 211-218, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2019.1592011