Kombucha

Sterilize Everything!

Bacteria is your enemy when making kombucha. Take the following steps to reduce your risk of contamination.

1. Fill the sink with 2.5 gallons (10 quarts) of water. Add 1/2 Oz Star San Acid Sanitizer.

2. Add each of the following for 30 seconds to sterilize:

• glass bottles

• auto-siphon parts

• funnel(s)

• plate(s) that will be holding the SCOBY

3. Rinse off items, as necessary.

First Fermentation

1. Make Tea: Bring water to a boil in a clean pot. Remove from heat and dissolve sugar into it. Add the tea and allow to steep while water cools to room temperature. (use an ice bath in the sink to speed up the cool down time). At least some black or green tea is recommended, to ensure the health of the SCOBY (they prefer tea with caffeine)

2. SCOBY Hotel maintenance: If you have a SCOBY hotel, read on... Check on the SCOBY Hotel, if your last fermentation produced a new SCOBY, place one in the SCOBY Hotel. Some liquid may have evaporated since the SCOBY Hotel was last checked on. Add up to 1 cup of kombucha from the previous batch to top it off.

3. Add Starter: With hands AS CLEAN AS A SURGEON’S (really clean), gently remove your SCOBY from the tea and place on an equally as clean plate. You can rinse out the jar if you want (without soap), but it’s not necessary. Pour the sweetened tea into your jar(s), then pour in starter kombucha.

4. Ferment: Gently place SCOBY into jar then cover with a few layers of the tightly woven cloth and secure with a rubber band. Set the jar(s) somewhere dark and room temperature (70-75 degrees F, 21-24 C) for anywhere from 6 to 10 days. Begin tasting the tea at about 6 days by gently drawing out some of the tea with a straw. The longer the tea ferments, the more sugar molecules will be eaten up, the less sweet it will be.

• The tea MUST be at room temperature (70-75 degrees F). Don’t risk killing your SCOBY in hot water.

5. And Repeat: Reserve 2 cups from this batch to use as starter kombucha for your next batch (just leave it in the jar with the SCOBY(s)). The rest can move into the second fermentation.

Second Fermentation

1. Flavor: Add your chosen sweetener into 4 bottles (and a 5th if there is enough remaining kombucha). I tend to add about 1.5 oz of ingredients (fruit, herbs, etc.) to each bottle. Use an auto-siphon to fill the bottles with kombucha, leaving about 1 1/2 inches at the top (3.8 cm). Seal tightly with lid.

2. Ferment: Store the bottled kombucha at room temperature out of direct sunlight and allow 1 to 10 days for the kombucha to carbonate. Until you get a feel for how quickly your kombucha carbonates, it's helpful to keep it in plastic bottles; the kombucha is carbonated when the bottles feel rock solid.

3. Refrigerate the finished kombucha: Refrigerate to stop fermentation and carbonation, and then consume your kombucha within a month.

4. Serve: If desired, strain out fruit before serving.