How to brew kombucha

No, this is not vomit! Its a SCOBY-Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. I picked this "mother" up live from a shop in Berkeley . I had little success with freeze dried. Look on Craigslist.

Loose leaf black tea- green works too. Tea bag that ish if you like, just make sure there are no additives in the tea of any kind.

Sugar- organic would be far better

6 tbsp tea wrapped up to form super size tea bag using a fine weave cheesecloth.

Tie it off, it's a mouthful.

Add your teabag to 1 gal of boiling water. Record all data, type of tea, steeping time, water temp, amount of sugar, room temp, etc.. To repeat a good ferment you need all the facts.

Stir in sugar & and steep for at least 10 min, I went for 30 min. The tannins that make tea bitter also make a good environment for the SCOBY. Let tea cool to room temp before proceeding.

Cool it, cool it real good.

I use a funnel to aid in pouring the tea, I aim the funnel at the sidewall of the jar to prevent breaking up the SCOBY, its fragile, but will easily heal.

Fill your jar, leave some room at the top of the jar.

Attach a paper towel to the mouth of the jar with a rubber band. Keep in warm ~70F sun free location for 1-2 weeks. Start tasting after 1 week. The longer it goes the more it will taste like vinegar.

Record data. I write it on the paper towel and permanently record later.

After 10 days I decided to bottle. .I used a fine cheese cloth with a rubber band to strain and pour the tea into smaller containers.

Get your sterilized jars ready to fill.

Pour slowly. You want to fill your secondary containers slowly to avoid losing all that great carbonation.

Save 2 cups of tea with SCOBY for new brew. Every other batch I remove the SCOBY and clean the jar of any sediment.

Priming sugar, this increases the carbonation. You can use fruit or vege juices, I'm using an orange infused simple syrup 1 tsp per 16 oz. Add plastic wrap around metal lids kombucha is acidic

2nd ferment 3-7 days in a cool location. If you add a sweet juice you won't need the priming sugar. Look at commercial varieties for juice flavor ideas.

After about a week stored in a cool place it's ready to fridge. A baby SCOBY might have developed and should be removed. Or give it to a friend and they can start their own using the baby SCOBY

Koombucha is acidic. Don't brew in ceramic, metal or sketch lead glass. WARNING: Koombucha contains low amounts of alcohol 1-2% also take it slow at first and do not drink daily at more than 4 oz

Enjoy!