So what's the buzz about kombucha?
Kombucha seems to be a fad right now, but really it's been around for centuries! I've read varying information about the benefits (or not) of kombucha. A summary of what I've learned is that not only do you get the same health benefits as tea (antioxidants), your gut gets some extra TLC. Kombucha contains probiotics, which make your gut happy and can aid with indigestion, inflammation, and weight loss. Other purported health benefits are improved weight loss, improved cholesterol/blood sugar, reduced risk of certain cancers/heart disease, and assistance managing type 2 diabetes.
Now I can't say for sure that all of this is true, but I know tea & kombucha have been considered health tonics for centuries. I know my gut feels better when I drink it, and I experience improved energy levels which helps me focus and be more active. I also am allergic to dairy, and tend to cheat (A LOT), and I find regular consumption on kombucha helps fight most of the negative digestive effects.
I also really like it because it's helped me kick soda. I don't drink soda for the caffeine, but for the sugar & carbonation. Kombucha is a healthier way for me to feed those desires, plus when I make it I know what has gone into it. And there is still the caffeine if that's your thing too ;)
I'm experimenting w/ making my own sodas as well, and you can totally use a kombucha brew method to give them some fizz if desired.
How do you make Kombucha?
Well, it's really a 2-step process. I am by no means an expert, but am happy to share what I've learned so far! But also, feel free to just use this info as a rough guide, and experiment with flavors, dilution strengths, etc.
I should also note there are 2 brewing methods: batch & continuous. I am currently using the batch method. If I see a need to move over to continuous, I will be sure to share that method with you in the future.
First Fermentation (F1)
1.Get a SCOBY and some starter tea.
I've read and seen posts of many people who have successfully started their own SCOBY from store bough kombucha. I've not tried this so cannot comment. I got my SCOBY from a friend who brews her own kombucha. There are also many reputable online stores where you can buy a SCOBY as well (Although I've heard you don't want to trust dehydrated SCOBYs).
The amount of starter you want is somewhere in the 1-2 cup range. My friend gave me a huge SCOBY from a 2.5 gallon crock, and 1 cup of tea. That gave me wonderful results, and for my second batch I also only used 1 cup of tea.
Once you've made your first batch, this step switches up a bit. You will now have 2 SCOBYs in your crock. Save 1 along with 1-2 cups of your F1 kombucha and start your next batch! You can put the other SCOBY into a hotel, pass it along to a friend, find another creative use for it, or simply dispose of it (they compost well).
2. Brew yourself up some sweet tea.
I've read a multitude of methods here, and for my first run I just followed the steps my friend uses. Typically, kombucha is made with black tea, but my friend uses green tea. Feel free to experiment here though, as I've seen many success stories with all different sorts of tea. My one note of warning would be to avoid teas like earl grey because the oils can mess of your brew, and herbals may not have enough tannins for the brew to be successful (however, I have also heard success stories, so you do you; I would recommend not straying from regular tea for your first couple brews).
For my first run I used about 8 bags of organic green tea, steeped in 8 cups of water for about 15 minutes. While still warm, dissolve about 1 cup of sugar. I then added another 7 cups of COLD water to help bring down the temperature, as you will want your tea at room temp for the next step.
I was told to use organic cane sugar, so that is what I did and it worked great. However I know of people who have successfully used regular white sugar, and even honey (although I believe the use of honey means you are making JUN, and not kombucha?).
These amounts are for 1 gallon of kombucha. Adjust as needed for the amount you want. My friend recommended 1 gallon per person, and since I am the only one in my house who drinks this, that is what I did. Frankly, I found this to be more than enough!
You can also adjust the type & amount of tea. Generally I see people hover around 8-10 tea bags (or equivalent loose tea) per 1 gallon of kombucha, but again this is all about experimentation so if you want to use more go for it. The flavor is pretty light at 8 bags of green tea, but that lends it self well to all sorts of flavoring ;)
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| What's that SCOBY doing? |
As mentioned in Step 2, you want to get your sweet tea down to room temp first. You can brew your sweet tea in your crock, or pour it in once at room temp. You will want to use a glass or food-safe ceramic crock or other vessel (I use a 1 gallon mason jar myself).
Once you are there, add your starter tea and place your SCOBY on top. Make sure your hands are clean before touching your SCOBY (a simple vinegar rinse is sufficient). It's OK if your SCOBY doesn't fit your crock--you can trim it down if it's too big; and if it's too small no worries, it will still do it's job and a new one will grow anyways that will fit your crock perfectly.
Don't worry if your SCOBY sinks, sits vertically, or otherwise doesn't float nicely on top. It will do what it wants. SCOBYs are living things and they will do as they please! A new one will form anyway, and as long as you see that happening you know everything is working.
4. Cover and let sit.
Cover your crock with a coffee filter or cloth (like a flour sack towel). You want the air ventilation as it helps the natural yeasts & bacterias eat the sugar and turn your tea into kombucha. Do not use cheese cloth as the holes are too large & you don't want fruit flies! Or if you do use cheesecloth, make sure to use multiple layers.
Now be patient...I've heard you should wait at least 3-5 days before checking on your brew.
5. Taste your brew.
Your kombucha is done when you decide it is. It's all about your taste preferences honestly. I would wait until you see your new SCOBY has formed before tasting (which I believe took about 4 days for me). Many people say kombucha takes 10-14 days, but you can start tasting earlier. My friend says hers only takes 7 days, so since I used her SCOBY & method I tasted mine at 7 days. I was happy with the result and decided I was done. However, for my second batch I waited 14 days to see the difference, just because. It actually had more bite, but not in a bad way. I tend to like sweet so was happy at 7 days, but I think 14 days is actually more to my liking. However, find your own sweet spot (pun intended!). The environment you store your kombucha in will impact the fermentation process, so just because 7 days was perfect for my friend at her house, doesn't mean 7 days will be perfect for me at my house. Our house environments are going to be slightly different, and also probably our tastes.
Some people do pH testing...I personally do not, but I'm also a super newbie! The longer you let it brew, the more acidic it will become. If you want it sweeter, stop brewing earlier; if you want it sour, brew it longer. Do not be put off by a funky, vinegary smell. It's all good! Well, as long as your SCOBY doesn't grow any mold. If it does, you probably want to start over with a new or reserved SCOBY.
6. Bottle & prepare for F2.
Once you are happy with your brew, it is time to bottle it up. First remove your SCOBY with clean hands. You can place this into a temporary dish, SCOBY hotel, or new brewing crock. Make sure to include 1-2 cups starter tea from your current brew.
You will now want to pour your kombucha into bottles for storing or F2. I've heard it is fine to bottle and put straight in the refrigerator if you are happy with the results. However, if you want some fizz you probably want to give it a second ferment, regardless of your desire to include flavorings.
I've read you want to give your brew a good stir before distributing it so that your yeast particles get kicked up and end up in each bottle (you can also do this before pulling your starter, but I forgot & everything still worked fine for my second batch).
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| L-R: Cucumber/Melon, Mango/Peach/Strawberry, Plum/Blueberry/Kiwi |
7. Prepare your flavorings, if desired.
Half of the fun of brewing my own kombucha, is being able to choose my own flavors! You can use pretty much anything here... fruits (fresh/frozen, chopped/pureed/juiced), juices, herbs, flowers, other teas (herbal or otherwise...), probably vegetables? For my first attempt, I decided to try & mimic some of my favorite smoothies:
Mango/Peach/Strawberry:
1 mango, 1 peach, 6 strawberries
Plum/Blueberry/Kiwi:
2 plums, 2 kiwis, 1/2 cup blueberries
Cucumber/Melon*:
1/4 cucumber, 1/8 melon, 1 lime zested/juiced
*For my first try, I used watermelon, but my smoothies are usually honeydew. I also usually add mint & honey to the smoothies. Not sure the mint would be needed for the kombucha, but this flavor did not have a lot of fizz, so I think honey would have been beneficial.
I pureed the fruits in the same ratios I use in my smoothies, and added about 1/2 c of puree per 16 oz bottle. I probably could have gotten away with 1/4 - 1/3 cup instead (or maybe just used diced fruit instead of pureed), but my friend said she does 1 part flavoring to 3 parts kombucha, so who was I to mess with her tried & true method on my first round? Even at a 1/2 cup puree per 16 oz bottle, I had about enough to do 4 bottles of each flavor, but only enough F1 for 8-9 bottles (I only had 8 though).
hotel (more on that later), and only had 2 empty bottles on hand (which is fine, I want to do some experimenting with the second brew anyway). Originally I was thinking something apple and something orange, but I ended up settling on using both bottles for an attempt at apple cider kombucha using 1/2 apple diced finely, 2 cardamom pods split, 2 cloves, and 1 cinnamon stick per bottle. I didn't think the apple would offer enough sugar, so I added 1/2 Tbsp sweetener (maple syrup for one and honey for the other).
You can realistically swap Steps 6 & 7. I personally find it easier to add my flavorings to the bottles first. My friend likes to fill her bottles with kombucha first. To each their own.
8. Add additional sugar, if desired.
Some flavors do not have as much sugar as others. Different fresh fruits have different sugar levels, Juices tend to have higher sugar (no shame in using prepared juices!). Herbs & floral flavors (or other teas) will definitely need a sugar boost.
Feel free to play with the sweetener you use. While most of the sugar is going to feed your fermentation, there may be a certain flavor profile you want.
I've also heard adding raisins helps build fizz without imparting additional flavor, so that's something else to consider. I actually gave this a try, and did not notice an impact on my flavors.
9. Cover & let ferment 1-3 days.
This step is really variable. Depending on the sugar content of your flavorings (if you used any at all), your brew may ferment at different levels. It's a good idea to check at regular intervals 1) to make sure you reach your desired fizz level, and 2) to make sure your bottles don't explode. You can help prevent exploding bottles by using grolsch style flip-top bottles, pressure tested bottles, or I have even found that commercial screw-top kombucha & ginger beer bottles are reliable.
I left all 3 of my flavors sit 3 days before checking them. The mango/peach/strawberry was so fizzy! There was a volcano when I opened the bottle. It probably could have gone just 1 day. The plum/blueberry/kiwi was also very fizzy & volcano-y, but not as much. Not sure if 1 day would have been enough, but definitely would not have gone more than 2. On the other hand, the cucumber/melon has barely any fizz! It's OK, but probably could have gone another 1-2 days, or used some additional sugar (like honey or more raisins).
You can strain & rebottle your brew if desired, or leave as is. It won't hurt either way, although you may sacrifice some of the fizz if you strain & rebottle (not always an issue though!).
10. Refrigerate until you are ready to enjoy!
Once your bottles have reached their desired level of fizz, place them in the refrigerator. This not only stops further fermentation, it helps the carbonation better integrate into the liquid which can help prevent volcanoes when you open your bottles ;) Also, I personally find my kombucha most enjoyable when cold, but then again I like most drinks cold.
If you did not strain your brew in the previous step, your kombucha may be a a bit textured...You can strain prior to enjoying or drink straight. There is a possibility a baby SCOBY has formed. That is fine. It's safe to eat/drink, or you can discard it. Do not use these baby SCOBYs for new brews though, as they probably won't work (something something chemistry). Or try it out and prove me wrong!
What if you want to take a break?
I took a break after my second batch, because even though I let that batch go 2 weeks on F1, I still had not finished my 9 bottles from my first batch! I really like tea, but tend to drink regular more and kombucha is more of a treat (or soda substitute). You might drink it faster, or have more people to help you, etc. Regardless, sometimes you may want to stop brewing, but you are probably wondering what to do with that SCOBY.
SCOBY Hotel (long term)I moved my SCOBYs into a hotel. You can do this with any of your SCOBYs, from your first to your most recent. So I currently have 3 SCOBYs sitting in my hotel because I have the one my friend gave me, and I've brewed 2 batches which has resulted in 2 new SCOBYs. A hotel is basically a jar full of your SCOBY(s), some starter, and some sweet tea. The hotel can be covered with cloth or a more secure lid. Every 4-6 weeks you will want to decant some of the original liquid out and add new sweet tea to keep your SCOBYs fed.
I moved my 3 SCOBYs into a 1 quart mason jar with 2 cups starter and 2 cups fresh sweet tea (using 1 tea bag and 1 Tbsp organic cane sugar). I sealed it up and it sits in my basement until I am ready to brew more! This is also a good way to store your extra SCOBYs if you don't want to get rid of them some other way (there are some creative food/health uses, composting, give to a friend, or just throw it out).
I want to keep a few on hand in case I mess something up! It's a good idea to have some on hand as a backup, because your experiment can go wrong (for example, I want to try a black tea brew next time), or just the ferment can go wrong for unknown reasons. I do have easy access to replacements since I have a hook up from my friend, but not everyone will be in that situation. You can always buy a new one too, but my limited experience & research has shown that your brews will get better over time, so starting anew with a brand new SCOBY may take you back a step.
Just Let it Brew (short term)
Alternately, I've also read that if you are only planning to take a break for 4-6 weeks, you can just leave your brew going. Yeah, it's going to get really acidic and taste like vinegar, but the SCOBY should be fine. This will give you a really strong starter for your next time, or some people use the result as a vinegar in things like salad dressing, etc. You probably don't want to drink this though or bother with your F2 ;)
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