A Kombucha Guide

A How To On Brewing & Fermenting Tea!

Kombucha is fermented with the use of a S.C.O.B.Y. (a symbiotic culture of bacteria & yeast). You can get a scoby from a friend, a health food store or buy one online. A scoby is the skin that forms during the fermentation process of lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria and yeast. In other words, it is full of probiotics and antioxidants!

Fermentation is the oldest, safest and healthiest form of food preservation. It uses cane sugar to feed the yeast, which it consumes and in turn makes the drink fizzy. You can flavor your tea with fresh fruits, roots, herbs and spices. I think homemade is always better than store bought and you can make it for pennies!

Supplies:

1 Gallon Glass Jar

8 16 Oz bottles with latch toppers

Rubber Band

Tightly woven cloth, paper towels or a coffee filter

Ingredients:

1 Gallon Water

1 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Loose Green or Black Leaf Tea (or 8 Bags)

1 Scoby

1 Cup Liquid From Previous Brew (or raw store bought kombucha)

You are basically making a flavored sweet tea for this first ferment. So, you can add dry ingredients to the tea you are brewing like lavender flower, hibiscus, elderberry, cinnamon bark or other dried herbs and spices.

You can use plain green or black tea (or a mixture). I have gone from a green to a black tea ferment with a mixed batch in between to get the scoby used to a new kind of tea.

For the second fermentation you will want fresh ingredients like ginger, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, etc. Some flavor profiles ideas include ginger peach, lavender ginger, strawberry hibiscus, apple cinnamon, rosemary grapefruit... you get the idea! It's a lot of fun to play with flavor combinations. This will also help to give your kombucha a good fizz.

First Fermentation:

Bring the gallon of water to a boil with 1 cup sugar. Take off the heat. Add the tea and let steep until cool. Strain the loose tea or remove the bags and pour into your gallon jar and gently rest your scoby over the top. Make sure your tea is room temp or you could kill your scoby. Cover with a towel and a rubber band. Let ferment for 7-10 days away from light (you can cover with a towel), at room temperature and where it won't be disturbed.

Second Fermentation:

Your kombucha should be a little sour. If it tastes like sweet tea, it isn't ready and if it tastes like vinegar then it has gone too far. Remove the scoby and place it in a glass or plastic bowl (never metal). Reserve a cup of the liquid and pour over scoby. Divide about a cup of cut fruit pieces between the bottles and/or about 1/2 tsp. of ginger per bottle. This not only gives your komucha flavor but also gives it food to digest that it uses to create bubbles! Fill each bottle with your fermented brew, leaving a little head room (about an inch) at the top of each bottle, clean the rim and stop up. The more sugar, the less fermentation time. Strawberries will be about 1-3 days where just ginger can take up to 7. It is important to note that pressure will build inside these bottles, so don't forget about them. The contents will inevitably explode. Mark your calendar or keep them on your counter covered in a towel. Whatever you need to do so that you won't forget about them.

Checking a batch:

Be careful on the second ferment when you open the bottles. If they haven't been refrigerated yet - I have had kombucha hit my ceiling! I unhook the latch carefully while holding the stopper down with my hand. I can gauge if its going to explode by slowly releasing pressure while still keeping pressure and watching the bubbles. I can slowly release the gas over a few seconds. If it's taking forever then it's probably ready and I will put it in the refrigerator for a while before repeating this process. I like my kombucha a little sweet, a little sour and fizzy. Taste it. When you have achieved your goal, it tastes good to you and has fizz, refrigerate and enjoy!

Holding the scoby:

If you are not going to turn your scoby over right away, you can just leave it in the liquid, cover it and place it in the fridge for up to a week. After this point, brew a small batch of sweet tea for the scoby and always keep a cup of previous liquid with it and change it out every month.

Troubleshooting:

If your kombucha tastes like vinegar, you have fermented it too long! It should be sour but not unpleasant. Just start over.

If your brew has grown mold, throw everything out and start from scratch.

If your scoby develops a hole, bumps or patches, it is fine but if it turns black, it is dead. Also, if it grows green or black mold then it has become infected and needs to be thrown out.

Each batch of kombucha will create a new layer of scoby. Over time, you will want to discard the bottom older layers, give it to your friends, compost it or make something out of it. Some things you can make are smoothies, energy balls, jerky, skin treatments and even eco-leather.

I carefully lay my scoby over the top of each new batch. If it doesn't float but still creates a new scoby over the top of your brew, your brew is fine. The new scoby will just be a milky film on the top at first and then turn into a skin. However, if it your milky film turns into mold, your brew is dead and your scoby might be too.

It can be a little scary and intimidating at first but you will become a pro in no time!

It is pretty easy to distinguish if something has gone wrong. Use your senses and your instincts!

Here is a photo of my scoby in some reserved liquid, in case you were wondering what one looks like. I hope you give it a try and can't wait to hear about it. Enjoy!