Kombucha

Ingredients

Making a SCOBY

• 7 cups clean water (1.6 L)

• ½ cup white sugar (100 g)

• 4 bags black tea or 1 Tbsp loose tea

• 1 cup unpasteurized, unflavored store-bought kombucha (235 mL)

First Fermentation

• 14 cups clean water 3.5 quarts (3.3 L)

• 1 cup white sugar 200 g

• 8 bags black or green tea or 2 Tbsp loose-leaf

• 2 cups unflavored kombucha (from previous batch or store-bought kombucha) 470 mL

• 1 or 2 SCOBYs 1 per container

Second Fermentation

• Sweetener

• Homemade kombucha from the first fermentation

Instructions

Making a SCOBY

1. 1. Make Tea: Bring water to a boil in a clean pot. Remove from heat and dissolve sugar into it. Add the tea and steep while the water cools to room temperature. Only when water is at room temperature (test by drawing out some water with a straw) is it ready to work with!

   2. Add Starter: Pour the sweetened tea into your jar(s), then pour store-bought kombucha in (if you're using two jars, pour ½ of the store-bought kombucha into each).

   3. Ferment: Cover with a few layers of tightly woven cloth and secure with a rubber band. Set somewhere dark and at room temperature (70-75 degrees F, 21-24 C) for 1 to 4 weeks until a ¼ inch (½ cm) SCOBY has formed.

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 the water cools to room temperature.

2. Add Starter: With really clean hands, gently remove your SCOBY from the tea and place it on a clean plate. Rinse out the jar(s). Pour the sweetened tea into your jar(s), then pour in starter kombucha

3. Ferment: Gently place SCOBY into a jar, then cover it with a few layers of tightly woven cloth and secure it with a rubber band. Set the jar(s) somewhere dark and at room temperature (70-75 degrees F, 21-24 C) for anywhere from 6 to 10 days. Begin tasting the tea at about six 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.

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

Second Fermentation

1. Flavor: Strain kombucha and funnel into bottles, leaving about 1 1/2 inches at the top (3.8 cm). Add your chosen sweetener and seal tightly with the lid.

2. Ferment: Let ferment somewhere dark and at room temperature for 3 to 10 days.

3. Serve: If desired, strain out fruit before serving. Place in fridge to slow the carbonation process.

Recharge Mixture

• 5 L jar - With Scoby already in place

• 3 L water - For a new mixture

• 5 bags of tea to be added to 3L water

• 2 cups of sugar in the 3L mixture.

Each Bottle

• 1/4 Teaspoon of Sugar per bottle