I optimized the crap out of the kombucha making process, and it's now a 15-minute event, including the cleanup

 Regular reader of this blog might have noticed me complaining about the kombucha boil and transfer steps being big big tasks, like I used to have to spend hours and hours taking stock of different dishes and boilers and measuring cylinders and what not, seeing which went where and moving things around, creating mess and spending so long cleaning everything up.

Well earlier today, and by earlier I mean fifteen minutes ago, I decided I needed to get the kombucha figured out, with very little time to go before I left for Brookline. I didn't think, I just had to do, keeping general hygiene considerations in mind. And what I did blew my mind and it was so quick.

Here's what I did. Used a ladle instead of all the messy transfers. And not fill the ladle to the brim, which means I didn't have to be careful, which meant I could move my hands faster, which meant the entire process took shorter even though a ladle itself can take not much liquid even when it's full. And I was done in 12 minutes, cleanup included. Quick easy and painless. The only thing remaining, the kombucha boil wouldn't take too long either, just get the water boiling, add a few kettles worth of water, open the teabags and drop them in. The teabag opening would take a few minutes, but the minutes I could multitask...watch tv or do whatever.

This has also given me idea for the next stage. When I'm bottling, I can literally repeat the same process. Drop liquids from all the jars, since I'm not distinguishing between individuals anyway, into a giant container, and start ladling into the funnels connected to the bottle. That's it, I won't have to tip over anything, won't have to clean like seven different beakers, not care about walking across the kitchen. So easy and simple.

And to minimise the cleanup, I put a baking pan underneath, so all the drips were caught too. So a quick wipe for the table, a ready rinse for the baking pan, and I'm all set to go baby.

I did make a minor mistake, holding a jar above the water, and some of it dribbled over the jar and into the water, which may have contaminated the rest of my liquids. We'll see how that goes, because if that's the case, ahh well, but that was while I was figuring the strategy out, so no harm, no loss.