General

How to Brew Your Own Kombucha

2023-05-26

Making kombucha at home is very easy! It's also more fun and much less expensive than buying it at the grocery store.

Here is the process that I use:

Supplies

• Kombucha Brewing Kit (I bought this one, but you could gather these supplies on your own)
  • 3L glass jug
  • cloth to cover the top
  • string, elastic, shoelace, etc (to attach the cloth to the jar)

Ingredients

• 6 tea bags (mix of black and green tea)
• 2 cups (500ml) starter culture (included in kit, gift from a friend's brew, or plain kombucha from the store)
• 1 cup (250g) of sugar

Method

First Fermentation (main fermentation process)

1. Bring 3L of water to a boil
2. Add teabags and remove from heat
3. Steep for ~15min
4. Remove teabags
5. Allow the tea to come down to room temperature (to avoid damaging the bacterial culture in the starter)
6. Add sugar, stir
7. Pour the room temp sweet tea mixture into the glass jar (leaving enough room for ~500ml)
8. Add 2 cups of plain kombucha (starter culture) +/- the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast)
9. Cover the top of the jar with the cotton cloth and elastic/string.
10. Leave it to brew for 7-10 days (brewing time depends on the room temperature). Remove it when it's reached the desired degree of fermentation.

Second Fermentation (flavouring and carbonation)

1. Pour the kombucha into sealable bottles (air tight to trap carbonation).
2. Add flavouring (optional)
3. Leave sealed at room temperature for 2 more days.
4. Move to the fridge to stop the fermentation

Enjoy!