kombucha

Once you have your starter SCOBY (and/or pellicle) you want to get it super strong before diving into a full brew. 

DO NOT MISS THIS STEP!!! 

The most common reason for contamination is the kombucha not being strong and acidic enough to ward off any yeast or contaminants from the air/surfaces. 

• A brewing vessel - to start, you'll only need a 1L jar, but make sure you have around a 5L vessel with a tap. 

This tap will need to be food grade stainless steel. If you vessel does not come with it, they are not terribly expensive on Amazon.   

• Starter SCOBY culture 
• Organic cane sugar
• Good quality plain tea - bags or loose tea - normal black or green tea, no herbal, rooibos, flavourings, decaf etc. This may affect the fermentation. 
• A large glass jug
• Wooden spoon 
• A clean muslin cloth or breathable covering for the top of the vessel & elastic band
• ~1L Clip top or Screw top glass bottle/s for the finished product <3 

 Let's assume you have received about 200ml of starter and a small pellicle.  This can also apply for the store bought kombucha. 

Stage 1

1. Make sure you sterilise everything. Ideally a hot dishwasher with just the kombucha utensils and small 1l vessel. 
2. Mix around 2 teabags in around 300ml  hot water in the glass jug
3. Add ~50g sugar and dissolve
4. Let the tea brew for a few minutes and remove the tea bags
5. Add ~300ml of cool water (ideally filtered water, but I do use tap water) 
6. Add the SCOBY to your small vessel and cover with your cloth. 
7. Leave this for about 3-4 days.

Stage 2

Basically repeating it all

1. Make sure you sterilise everything. This time, the large vessel you will be using for your continuous brew. 
2. Mix around 2 teabags in around 300ml  hot water in the glass jug
3. Add ~50g sugar and dissolve
4. Let the tea brew for a few minutes and remove the tea bags
5. Add ~300ml of cool water (ideally filtered water, but I do use tap water) 
6. Add the previous brewing Kombucha including the scoby to your large vessel 
7. Add the new sugar tea
8. Cover with your cloth. 
9. Leave this for about 3-4 days.  You should get a super thin, white-ish pellicle forming on the top of this brew now. 

Check for no weird white or green circles on the top! 

Stage 3

Just adding more sweet tea. 

1. Mix around 2 teabags in around 300ml hot water in the glass jug
2. Add ~50g sugar and dissolve
3. Let the tea brew for a few minutes and remove the tea bags
4. Add ~300ml of cool water (ideally filtered water, but I do use tap water) 
5. Add to the continuous brewing Kombucha
6. Leave for another 3-4 days.   You should get a thicker, pellicle forming on the top of this brew now. 

Now you have a lovely strong starter! 

You should have about 2L of Kombucha now. 

Depending on the size of your vessel, this will determine how much you add. 

For every 1L I usually add around 90g of Cane Sugar and 4Tea Bags 

So if you want to get your brew to 4 liters, let's do the following 

1. Use your existing ~2L of Kombucha as your super strong starter. Keep it in the brewing vessel. 
2. Mix around 8 teabags in around 500ml hot water in the glass jug
3. Add ~180g sugar and dissolve
4. Let the tea brew for a few minutes and remove the tea bags
5. Add ~500ml of cool water (ideally filtered water, but I do use tap water) 
6. Add to the continuous brewing Kombucha
7. Add another 1l of water (ideally filtered water, but I do use tap water) 
8. Leave for around 7-10 days. 
9. You should get a lovely thick, pellicle forming on the top of this brew now. 
10. After around 7 days, draw some fluid off into a glass to taste. It should be slightly sweet but tangy. 

1. Once the kombucha is to your taste, you can draw off the 1L into your bottle and drink away. 
2. If you wanted to flavour it, add the flavour to the 1l close top bottle, then draw off the 1L of Kombucha into the bottle. 
3. Leave this for a few days to ferment further, then put in the fridge to enjoy! 
4. I wouldn't recommend more than 2L at a time
5. After you have drawn off the fluid, replace the fluid you have drawn off, with the methods above. 
6. For every 1L I usually add around 90g of Cane Sugar and 4Tea Bags 
7. Make sure the water you add has been cooled down with cold water. 

If your Kombucha gets very acidic, draw off most of it, leaving around 10%, then fill that back up - its probably just too strong/active. 

This is all personal preference. I usually make a batch and freeze them into ice-cubes to add to my brews. 

If you want your second ferment to be fizzy, make sure you add something sweet - either fruits or a spoon of sugar. 

My favorites are: 

• Lime juice and mint leaves. Blended with a little bit of sugar. 
• Blended strawberries and lime 
• Real ginger, blended with some lemon and a little bit of sugar.