# Brewing Kombucha Tea



## Mucho Bocho (May 21, 2015)

At the ECG this year, Dave (Wildboar) wife turned me on to making my own Kombucha tea. Kombucha is a tangy slightly tart naturally fermented tea. She inspired me to try to make it myself, and so kindly provided me a starter culture called a scoby (symbiotic complex of bacteria and yeast). The scoby looks like slimy white jelly fish. Handling them is not for the faint of heart. Supposed to be healthy, but I just like the taste.

Basically one put the scoby in a glass vessel with cooled sweet tea and left to ferment for a week or so. Then some of that liquid is decanted and replaced by more fresh sweet tea. This initial decant is called the primary fermentation. The one adds flavorings to the primary decant and seals it in a flip top bottle to continue to ferment. This is the secondary fermentation. It naturally generated carbonation so the drink gets fizzy. 

I've only been at it for about two weeks. I made a two gallon batch and have been testing it each day to get the right level of acidity to sweetness. I decanted the primary ferment and added raspberry and the other strawberry concentrate that I made.

I know this forum and I've got to believe that others have experience brewing Kombucha. Curious what you have used for secondary flavorings. I ordered a copy of the Flavor Bible so that should give me some interesting ideas. 

Big thanks to Dave's awesome wife for the inspiration. I owe her a big crock of sauerkraut.


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## IndoorOutdoorCook (May 21, 2015)

My favorite flavor is ginger.


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## brainsausage (May 21, 2015)

Flavor bible kicks ass (as does kombucha).


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## Cashn (May 22, 2015)

Never much liked the stuff myself but I'm always for making new things and my g/f has had a pint jar with tea and a mother/scopy from the farmers market in the fridge for a while. Sounds like the perfect thing to start our own batch, bout to go pull it out and see if there's some life left to get a big batch going. The vinegar taste is always a bit overpowering for me so maybe if I can stop it with just a little bit of funk to it I'll enjoy it.


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## CoqaVin (May 22, 2015)

taste like straight up vinegar to me, but you know what kind of tea I have really started to like Macha tea if thats how you spell it?


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## Ucmd (May 26, 2015)

Ok, I finally tried kombucha and liked it. Question: what tea do you use. Does this matter.


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## Eric (May 26, 2015)

I like to make mine with jasmine tea. Mango juice and pomegranate lime aid from trader joes or straight diluted with carbonated water. Fresh ginger juice. If it tastes like vinegar you let it go too long and or used too much sugar.


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## Mucho Bocho (May 26, 2015)

Ucmd, black tea is best. It feeds the mother. Also, when you brew it yourself, you can determine the acidity. I like mine around 3.0-3.2. Most store bought stuff is lower more like 2.8. I made a ginger and raspberry secondary fermentation yesterday. It was so good, I had to put my 8YO in time out for not sharing. Dam kids. ;-)


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## chinacats (Aug 6, 2015)

OK, finally getting started and mine doesn't quite look like MB's...I bought a scoby online and added a bottle of raw unflavored kombucha to get started (thanks MB). Anyway, just wanted to see if this looks about right...I'm four days in and it seems to be going stronger than expected...I am not so sure exactly how it should look at this stage so wanted to ask here if this looks like it should? I understand it should take about 7 days before it's ready, should I wait :angel2: or taste :spiteful: or pH test it :idea2:?

Cheers 

from the top:






original scoby from the side:





my new scoby growth seen from the side:


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## Mucho Bocho (Aug 6, 2015)

Jim, Looks prefect. With the warmer days of summer it will ferment faster. Next time, id suggest filling the container all the way to the shoulder. You can sample the brew at any time, just insert a straw about half way into the ferment, then seal the top of the straw with your finger and lift out. Pour into a glass and taste. You want it a little sweet if your doing a secondary ferment. You can also get a hydrometer and float that to tell how much sugar has been converted. My first batch took two weeks to get tangy, now it only take a week. Looks like you're off to a great start. Also, keep in a dark place and don't move the primary ferment around. Nice work, Keep us posted.


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## Ucmd (Oct 26, 2015)

Can someone post simple instructions. I have made a few batches now. 2nd batch was aweful. Third batch ok. Not fizzy enough.


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## WildBoar (Oct 26, 2015)

My wife just made an awesome batch that tasted like peach. Best I've tried of all the batches she has made. She is not very scientific-minded though, so not much attention is paid to the variables, leading to many batches being more vinegar-tasting than anything else. Her 'simple recipe' is refilling the container with water, dumping in some tea leaves (black sometimes, black and green combo sometimes) and dumping in some 'raw' sugar. No real measurements for me to pass along :-(


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## chinacats (Oct 27, 2015)

Ucmd said:


> Can someone post simple instructions. I have made a few batches now. 2nd batch was aweful. Third batch ok. Not fizzy enough.



Are you trying to do a continuous brew or individual batches? I've not been doing this long at all but it seems as the continuous brew method is somewhat easier to stabilize.


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## deltaplex (Oct 27, 2015)

Are you pulling out the scoby "babies" after each batch? That's a good place to start. I would recommend a continuous brewing setup if you are going to drink it regularly. If you want more tips/specifics simply reply. That said, if you are trying to catch it at the Goldilocks moment of ideal sugar/acid balance and carbonation, you have to taste a lot and probably measure both time and sweetner to help with consistency.


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## Mucho Bocho (Oct 27, 2015)

deltaplex said:


> If you are trying to catch it at the Goldilocks moment of ideal sugar/acid balance and carbonation, you have to taste a lot and probably measure both time and sweetner to help with consistency.



Delta has clearly brewed Kombucha as this statement is very true. Although my mom in Plymouth, MA still brew's, I gave up the whole venture (sorry Lena and Dave). I had a continuos brew of two two gallon jugs rocking but it was very difficult to achieve the Goldilocks on a consistent basis. 

So many variables:
1.) Ambient room temperature
2.) The concentration of bacteria and yeast are in constant flux
3.) The level of acid in the brew.
4.) The size, age and thickness of the scoby
5.) How often and how much you decant
6.) Concentration of brewed tea

When Kombucha has the mouth feel of beer but is slightly sweet and acidic and has a well balanced flavor profile its magical. When its not, to me it taste like flat vinegar apple juice. I guess I though the process would be more like fermenting vegetables. Its really more like growing and nurturing a living colony that needs to be kept alive. I've probably thrown out more Kombucha than I've drank. It was fun to play with though.


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## deltaplex (Oct 27, 2015)

I've had two separate colonies going continuous for over a year each and used almost every tea/mate/sweetener combo I had on hand to vary it out. Much like Mucho I ended up with more misses than hits, which for me meant drinking a lot of vinegar. To get it where it's consistently in it's sweet spot took too more attention then I cared to gave it within the normal pace of (family) life. I'd venture to say unless it's a passion or you're making money off of it, you'll eventually come to the same conclusion. I'm also thinking of grabbing another scoby from craigslist and having another go round, if that tells you anything...


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## WildBoar (Oct 27, 2015)

Got the in-house kambucha chef to provide with some more info last night. She basically brews the tea in a separate container, with a bit of sugar added, and lets it cool. It's basically room-temperature sweet-tea when she pours it into the fermentation container. She periodically peels off and discards part of the scoby. The acid balance and carbonization amount are dependent on how long she lets it ferment. She confirmed she does not measure water volume or sugar. She dumps in the batch in the evening, and usually draws from the container once or twice a day. She refills it every few days. So the quality of the kambucha is pretty inconsistent. I've threatened to get her a container with a tap so she can draw it all out when it is well-balanced instead of letting it over-ferment.


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## Ucmd (Oct 27, 2015)

WildBoar said:


> Got the in-house kambucha chef to provide with some more info last night. She basically brews the tea in a separate container, with a bit of sugar added, and lets it cool. It's basically room-temperature sweet-tea when she pours it into the fermentation container. She periodically peels off and discards part of the scoby. The acid balance and carbonization amount are dependent on how long she lets it ferment. She confirmed she does not measure water volume or sugar. She dumps in the batch in the evening, and usually draws from the container once or twice a day. She refills it every few days. So the quality of the kambucha is pretty inconsistent. I've threatened to get her a container with a tap so she can draw it all out when it is well-balanced instead of letting it over-ferment.



Man that sounds easy enough. I have baby scobs all the time and I can see it fermenting. I am using about 1/4 cup sugar in 4 cups tea. Does this sound correct.


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## Ucmd (Oct 27, 2015)

And why the hell is my post counter always stuck


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## WildBoar (Oct 27, 2015)

Ucmd said:


> Man that sounds easy enough. I have baby scobs all the time and I can see it fermenting. I am using about 1/4 cup sugar in 4 cups tea. Does this sound correct.


Should basically be a sweet-tasting tea when you pour it into the fermentation container. Think southern 'sweet tea'. The more sugar the better, to a certain point.


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## deltaplex (Oct 28, 2015)

That's more sugar than I typically used. You're basically turning the sugar into alcohol and then the alcohol into vinegar all at the same time. More sugar means more sweet/booze/acid in some balance and it all happens faster than it would if you started with less sugar. Try holding some of that 1/4 cup in reserve and add it a few hours before you bottle it/drink it.


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## johnstoc (Oct 28, 2015)

I did a 2 gallon continuous brew for 6 months and always used that ratio of sugar (which is 1 cup sugar per gallon of tea.) Several different sources recommended that amount and suggested not to go lower. Though I never tried.


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