Kombucha for Beginners

Kombucha is fermented tea and it's all the rage. It's also super expensive to buy a single sized serving bottle at the store. This Instructable shows you how to get started making your own kombutcha at home.

1 gal jar

Scoby

Filter- can be coffee filter, cheesecloth, muslin etc

Rubber bands

1 cup white sugar

8-10 Plain tea bags- you can add flavor etc. later

1 cup of black kambutcha or 2 tbs ACV

1 gal water

Funnel

Bottles for bottling

pH test strips

Thermometer

Make sure everything is sanitized before you begin.

The scoby is the "mother" and is what makes your kombucha, kombucha. It's a big disc of yeast and bacteria (good bacteria). You can get this at a speciality store or order it online from any kombucha product supplier.

Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil. Add tea bags and steep about 10 minutes. Add sugar to the tea and stir until dissolved. Let the tea cool to room temperature.

Transfer the cooled tea to your jar. Add your scoby and ACV to the cooled tea and then cover with muslin and a rubber band. Make sure this is secure so nothing can get it.

Move the jar to a warm and dark place to do what it needs to do. Do not touch it. The first ferment can take anywhere from 5-30 days. Don't worry if your kombucha starts to have a sour smell, that means its fermenting and working. After a couple weeks you can sample your kombucha to see how it tastes and determine if it's ready for the next step.

The ideal pH for kombucha is between 3.5-2.5. Tasting and pH strip testing your kombucha will help with identifying the different stages your brew is in. Testing pH also helps warn you if you're starting to grow bad bacteria.

When your kombucha is ready, you can begin transferring it from the brew jar to individual bottles for the second fermentation. This is also when you add any flavorings you want. First thing you do is remove the scoby (and any baby scobies) and set aside.

When you are done bottling, you can set the bottles aside to continue rounding out their flavor for a couple more days and then move them to the fridge.