While at lunch on day, a coworker had a bottle of Kombucha and I asked her for a small sample. I loved it. Honestly, if you don’t like sour, vinegary, tart, slightly fermented flavors, I suggest you discontinue reading this piece.
I like kefir, buttermilk, sour cream, sauerkraut, sour pickles, and other food items that can be made using fermentation. In all sincerity, most of us know that these foods were once created by natural fermentation are now processed and produced in mass quantities. Food in general is not nearly as healthy as they used to be back in the day.
So, while at Fresh Market, my wife Cat and I picked up a few bottles of commercially prepared kombucha. One was a ginger flavored bottle and the other a cranberry flavored one. The are especially good when cooled and very effervescent. Probiotics are all the rage now and kombucha also called “booch” by enthusiasts and are rather easy to make. There is a little bit of SCOBY at the bottom of most bottles. A SCOBY is a Symbiotic Culture (or Community) Of Bacteria (beneficial, of course) and Yeast.
When creating my most recent home brewed beer that I saw kombucha SCOBYs in the local brew supply shop. They were in a large jar stacked together. It`s called a SCOBY Hotel (no joke). So, I ventured down to the brew shop and asked to purchase one. I later learned that purchasing a SCOBY of size is only necessary if you wanted quicker gratification in making your own. You can start your SCOBY from a commercial jar of plain, raw Kombucha, some black tea, non-chlorinated water, and plain white sugar.
The proportions for making 1/2 Gallon of the sweet tea are:
- 1/2 Gallon Non-Chlorinated Water
- 1/2 Cup Sugar
- 4-6 Bags of Black or Green Tea (or mix is fine)
I prepared a 1/2 gallon batch of sweetened tea which cooled to room temperature. I added the SCOBY to the tea which was in a 1/2 gallon pickle jar which I previously cleaned and rinsed in white vinegar. I did not have any kombucha starter since this was my first batch, so I added about a 1/2 cup of white vinegar. This is added to make the solution more acidic which inhibits undesired microbial growth. I then added the SCOBY and a little of the kombucha liquid into the room temperature tea. I placed a coffee filter over the top of the jar and secured it with a rubber band. I waited 8 days tasting the tea each day after the 5th day of fermentation. The kombucha tea can sit and ferment for up to 30 days without any negative effects on the SCOBY. The longer you allow it to ferment, the stronger the vinegar taste and less sugar.
Since this was my first brew, I waited only 8 days and bottled it in flip-top bottles. I made one bottle of plain unflavored kombucha and added about 1/2 cup of apple-cranberry juice to the other bottle. These were 1/2 liter bottles. I place to wait 1-2 weeks before refrigerating.
Here are the next batches of 1/2 gallon Kombucha brews:
