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How to make your own Kombucha

24 August 2020 recipe kombucha fermenting

Kombucha is easy to get started with, and reportedly has healthy effects on the body. This is a quick no bullshit guide to getting started with your brew. There are some risks, as with all fermented beverages, so if you’re not experienced with Kombucha, try a little first before proceeding.

What is Kombucha?

Kombucha is tea fermented with a specific culture of bacteria and yeast. The microorganisms form a floating mat in the brew that looks like a fungus, or mushroom as the tea ferments. The mat AND liquid is referred to as a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast); many sources commonly refer to the mat only is the the SCOBY, but the liquid is also important.

Equipment

You will need some equipment to brew with:

Ingredients

Recipe

Starting your own SCOBY

You can buy commercial SCOBYs, or you can start your own using a high quality Kombucha brew. I did the latter; one benefit of this is that you get a nice pressure-resilient bottle that you can refrigerate your brews in.

  1. Boil at least 32oz of water.
  2. Measure 1 cup of sugar in heat proof measuring jug.
  3. Pour 32oz of boiling water over sugar, and stir to dissolve.
  4. Add 4 black tea bags to jug, and stir briefly.
  5. Wait 5 minutes.
  6. Fill wide neck jar up to about 2/3rds with cool water (NOTE - if you have a chlorinated water supply, you should dechlorinate the water first).
  7. Remove and discard tea bags, pour sweet tea brew into the wide neck jar, and stir.
  8. Top up jar to within 1 inch with the Raw Kombucha that you bought.
  9. Cover top with cheese cloth, secure with rubber band, label jar with the date, and put in an area that you’ll designate as your fermentation station - you want a corner out of direct sunlight, and with fairly even temperatures (I have a cupboard that I use specifically for fermenting - just make sure there’s reasonable airflow).

Congratulations! You’re well on your way. Now you have merely to sit back and wait. Over two weeks or so, you’ll start to see a SCOBY mat forming on the surface on the liquid. Your first mat probably won’t be super thick, but its formation is enough to let you know that the right things are happening. Once the mat is around 1/2 an inch or so thick (it may take longer in cooler temperatures), you’re ready to move to the second ferment. Move directly to the “Second Ferment” section below.

Regular brew cycle

Once you are up and running, you’ll establish a regular brew cycle. You have a first ferment happening in the wide neck jar, a second ferment in the flip top jar with whatever flavorings you want to use, and Kombucha ready for drinking in the bottle that you bought your initial Raw Kombucha in.

Brewing a batch (First Ferment)

The first ferment instructions are very similar to the initial starting instructions above. In fact the only difference is that you no longer need commercial Raw Kombucha; you’ll transfer the SCOBY from your previous first ferment to the new one. Specific handling instructions are included below.

The purpose of the first ferment is to perform most of the fermentation. The bacteria and yeast will eat the majority of the sugar added, and a good deal of the tea. The ferment needs access to oxygen to get going, so you cover the jar with a cheese cloth while it’s happening.

  1. Boil at least 32oz of water.
  2. Measure 1 cup of sugar in heat proof measuring jug.
  3. Pour 32oz of boiling water over sugar, and stir to dissolve.
  4. Add 4 black tea bags to jug, and stir briefly.
  5. Wait 5 minutes.
  6. In the meantime, free up the wide neck jar by transferring your prior batch to the flip top jar (instructions below), and rinse wide neck jar.
  7. Fill wide neck jar up to about 2/3rds with cool water (NOTE - if you have a chlorinated water supply, you should dechlorinate the water first). Order is important here; by adding the cool water first, you’re not pouring boiling water directly into the wide neck jar, which might crack it. Further, the Kombucha culture isn’t going to appreciate boiling water, so by diluting it (next step) you’re making the temperature amenable to the culture’s survival.
  8. Remove and discard tea bags, pour sweet tea brew into the wide neck jar, and stir.
  9. Top up jar to within 2 inches with the 1 cup of brew you reserved (instructions below), and add the SCOBY mat to the top. It will probably float, but if it sinks that’s OK too (it just means your tea/sugar brew is a little denser than it should be). Make sure there’s at least an inch of space below the cheese cloth.
  10. Cover top with cheese cloth, secure with rubber band, label jar with the date, and stow it in your fermentation station.

Flavoring / finishing the batch (Second Ferment)

The second ferment is to develop flavor and carbonation. The end result won’t be fizzy like soft drinks, but it will have a mild carbonation.

  1. While the sweet tea is brewing, remove the cheese cloth from the wide neck jar.
  2. Use a pair of forks to lift the SCOBY mat out from the top of the jar, and place into a dessert bowl temporarily. (If it’s more than a couple inches thick, separate it with the forks; you’ll find there are layers that peel apart. Store one of the layers in a mason jar with some liquid from the brew - you can use this if your main SCOBY mat goes bad, or if you want to get a second brew going. You can also reportedly cook with them - I haven’t tried that, yet.)
  3. Use a measuring scoop or soup ladle to transfer around a cup of your first ferment brew into the dessert bowl. You want to scoop from the top, to ensure that it is bacteria rich (you’ll see yeast settling to the bottom of the jar as the ferment proceeds – so generally there’s more bacteria at the top than at the bottom.)
  4. Set dessert bowl aside - you’ll transfer the SCOBY back into your next first ferment (instructions above). Don’t leave it out for too long.
  5. If you have a prior second ferment going, use a funnel and sieve to pour it from the flip top jar to your pressure resilient bottle, and put the bottle in the fridge. (The sieve is necessary to remove stray strands of yeast, new SCOBY mats that may have attempted to form, and any fruit or herbs you flavored the brew with.) Rinse the flip top jar. Be careful pouring, as there may be some moderate carbonation, and it may foam up.
  6. Use a funnel and sieve to pour your first ferment into the flip top jar. You can sample it with a straw at this point, to get a sense for the flavor and how long it needs to mature. You can optionally add a little more sugar at this point for a more vigorous second ferment, or simply to make it sweeter.
  7. Optionally, add fruit, herbs, or flavorings. (A handful of raspberries is a good starting flavor. Google around for other ideas). Plain/unflavored works too.
  8. Secure the flip top, label the jar with the date, and stow in your fermentation station.

How long to ferment for

The total ferment time (first + second) is variable - you could go anywhere from 2 to 7 weeks in temperate climates, and have a drink that you might find appealing. The shorter the ferment time, the less sugar will be eaten by the microorganisms, and therefore the sweeter the drink. The longer the total ferment time, the sourer the drink. Once you bottle it and put it in the fridge, fermentation grinds to (almost) a halt, and the flavor will be stable. I tend to brew my first ferments for around 3 weeks, and second ferments around 2 weeks, but it varies.

You can make a Kombucha Vinegar by going longer - I made a 9 month old Chili Vinegar by adding chili mash to a 2 week old first ferment, and then brerwing the second ferment for the remaining 8 1/2 months. It was good. Do your own research though before experimenting, as there are risks the longer you ferment for.

Resources

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