Home Brew Kombucha

Here is my guide for home brew kombucha. Firstly I will explain what kombucha is. Secondly I will briefly discuss its history. Thirdly I will talk about some of its health benefits. After that I will share my recipe for basic home brew kombucha. Keep reading to learn how to brew this traditional lacto-fermented beverage yourself!

I have been brewing kombucha for nearly twelve years. I learned how when I was 21 and working at a little tea café in my hometown just north of Portland, Oregon. And I have been brewing ever since!

Kombucha is a staple in my house. My husband and I both drink it every day. It has many benefits, which I will go into below. In addition to kombucha, some other lacto-fermented foods and drinks we regularly make at our house include sourdough breads, sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, fermented salsa and water kefir.

What is Kombucha?

Kombucha is a traditional lacto-fermented beverage. To make kombucha you ferment sweetened black tea with a scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).

The scoby forms naturally as a result of the fermenting process. Sometimes you may see the scoby called the “mother” or “kombucha mushroom”. It is a bizarre thing!

Where Does Kombucha Come From?

Truth be told the origins of kombucha aren’t exactly known. However, there are records of it dating back more than 2,000 years, namely from China and Russia.

What Are The Health Benefits of Kombucha?

In the first place kombucha provides us with gut-healthy probiotics. Secondly kombucha provides us with beneficial acids, specifically lactic, acetic and glucuronic acids.

I drink kombucha for its anti-inflammatory, immune supporting and detoxifying properties.

Tips For Home Brew Kombucha

• Only use glass for kombucha brewing. Plastic, as well as some ceramic, can leach toxins. Metal will react with the acidity and can kill the scoby. I like to brew in half-gallon glass ball jars.
• It is best to purchase a scoby, or to get one from a friend that already has an established kombucha system. That will ensure your kombucha starts off strong. Cultures for Health is a good place to get a scoby.
• Each time you brew a batch of kombucha a new scoby will form. I will use this new scoby to brew the next batch, while the old scoby I will remove. This makes sure you will have the right balance of bacteria and yeast in your brews. Here are some things you can do with the old scoby:
  • First you can give the scoby, along with a little starter tea, to a friend so they can start their own home brew kombucha
  • Second you can place it into a “scoby hotel” for future use (more on that below)
  • Third you can compost it
  • Fourth you can cut it up and bury pieces under your perennial plants
  • Fifth you can dry it until stiff but flexible and use it like leather. I know this is a strange suggestion! A few years back my husband got really into “kombucha leather”. He used it to make a small banjo!

What is a “Scoby Hotel”?

Essentially a scoby hotel is just a place to store your extra scobys. That way you have extras in case something goes wrong with your main brew.

Here is how you make a scoby hotel:

• First sanitize a clean glass jar with white distilled vinegar
• Second place your scoby(s) into the jar
• Third pour in fresh plain kombucha to top
• Fourth cover with a square of muslin and secure with a rubber band or metal lid band (pictured)
• Lastly store in a dark place at room temperature

Tools For Home Brew Kombucha

• Half-gallon glass ball jars
• Unbleached butter muslin
• Measuring cups
• Wooden spoon
• Thermometer
• Rubber band or jar lid band

Ingredients

• Black Tea
• Sugar
• Purified Water (chlorine and flouride free – this is the water filter I use)
• Starter Tea
• Scoby
• White Distilled Vinegar (for sanitizing)

Notes on Ingredients

Black Tea: Be sure to use a plain black tea. Do not use any teas with oils or added flavors, for example earl grey.

Sugar: Organic raw cane sugar is the best choice for kombucha and will create the healthiest scoby.

Purified Water: Use water that has been purified and is free of chlorine and fluoride. If you have reverse osmosis water you will need to add minerals back in.

Starter Tea: This is plain kombucha tea from a previous batch. If you purchase a scoby it will generally come with starter tea.

Scoby: You can grow a scoby from scratch. However, I find it best to purchase a scoby from a good source, like this one from Cultures for Health. That will ensure you get off to a good, strong start.

White Distilled Vinegar: This is only for sanitizing your jars and utensils. Never use apple cider vinegar or any other kind of vinegar! Only white distilled.

How to Home Brew Kombucha

These instructions are for making one half gallon of kombucha. Directions for scaling the basic recipe up or down will follow.

To start, sanitize your jars and all of your utensils by rinsing them in white distilled vinegar.

Next bring four cups of water to a boil.

Then place four black tea bags, or one tablespoon loose leaf black tea, into a sanitized half gallon jar (or large glass measuring cup as pictured).

Pour the hot water over the tea and steep for at least 10 minutes or up to 30 minutes.

Next remove the tea bags.

Then pour in 1/2 a cup of sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until dissolved.

Cool the sweetened black tea to 68-85 degrees farenheit.

Now place your scoby and one cup of starter tea into a sanitized half-gallon glass jar.

Then pour the sweetened black tea into the jar. Top with three cups of purified water and stir with a wooden spoon. The scoby may sink at first, but eventually it will rise to the top.

Next cover with a square of unbleached muslin and secure with a rubber band or jar lid band.

Place the jar of kombucha in a dark place. I keep mine in the back of my pantry.

Allow it to ferment for at least seven days and up to 30 days. The temperature of your home will effect the brewing time. In the summer I find it only takes seven days. But in the winter it definitely takes longer. Taste it often to catch it at the right time. The longer the ferment, the more vinegar-like it will become.

After a few days you will start to see a white-ish film forming on the top of the brew. This is the new scoby. Gradually it will thicken and become opaque.

Once your kombucha has finished brewing you can do a “secondary fermentation”. This is where you add flavors and increase the carbonation. I will share how to do this in a future post!

How to Scale This Recipe Up or Down

For One Quart:

• 2 tea bags or 1 1/2 tsp. loose leaf black tea
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 1/2 cups purified water
• 1/2 cup starter tea

For One Half Gallon:

• 4 tea bags or 1 tbsp. loose leaf black tea
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 7 cups purified water
• 1 cup starter tea

For One Gallon:

• 8 tea bags or 2 tbsp. loose leaf black tea
• 1 cup sugar
• 14 cups purified water
• 2 cups starter tea

Home Brew Kombucha Troubleshooting

Scobys are weird. And they can have a wide range of appearances. Here is a gallery that shows healthy as well as unhealthy scobys.

Basically you never want to see mold.

If you are concerned about the safety of fermenting, take comfort in the fact that kombucha is very difficult to ruin. And very easy to tell when something is off! In more than a decade of brewing I have never once had anything go bad.

Healthy kombucha should smell slightly sour like vinegar and sweet like apple cider. It should not smell rotten.

If for whatever reason there is a rotten odor, or you see mold spots, it is best to discard the entire thing and start over from scratch, with a new scoby and new starter tea. Again, I have never had this happen in my eleven years of brewing!

If you try this recipe and enjoy it, I would be so grateful if you could come back and give it five stars! And I love to see your pictures of my recipes, so be sure to tag me on Instagram @verityfolkschool.

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