Making Kombucha

[Toothpick]

Been thinking about this a lot lately. All of 2 hours just now. I really like the drink and figured why not make my own. Everyone says it’s easy so let’s find out.

I know you can buy the SCOBY but I’m going to try making my own. Bout to order all the hardware from Amazon and have to hit up the local stores to see if I can find unpasteurized, unflavored Kombucha. Mostly all I ever see is the flavored stuff. Fingers crossed.

 

[Toothpick]

I’ve been drinking Harney & Sons teas for quite awhile, few years now. I‘m going to find a basic black tea from them to start with. Probably Earl Gray I guess. IDK if it will make a difference but I also might try to start 2 or 3 SCOBY from the various different Kombucha makers out there. And maybe one with the Harney tea and one with something basic like Lipton tea bags.

I think a lot of the fun with this will be experimenting to see what tastes best and what works.

 

[Eric_75]

My GF has been making her own for years. I stay out of her laboratory but I love drinking it.

 

[luvmysuper]

I personally think the stuff tastes foul, but I understand tastes differ.
My understanding is that kombucha is made with a black tea and often with a green tea, or a mixture of the two.
A kombucha primarily of Assam tea would be good, maybe even more so with a touch of Matcha green tea. The roasted rice hints in matcha might be very interesting.

 

[Toothpick]

I do have powdered matcha. Maybe I’ll try that too.

 

[Eric_75]

 

[Toothpick]

Here’s what I got coming to get started. Just need the tea and starter kombucha.

 

[Toothpick]

Finding unflavored original kombucha is harder than it sounds. Seems everyone in town only sells the flavored stuff and that won’t work to start a SCOBY. So I’m going to have to buy a SCOBY.
Maybe down the road I can start my own if I ever find the unflavored kombucha.

 

[Sinnbad11]

Finding unflavored original kombucha is harder than it sounds. Seems everyone in town only sells the flavored stuff and that won’t work to start a SCOBY. So I’m going to have to buy a SCOBY.
Maybe down the road I can start my own if I ever find the unflavored kombucha.

You can use flavored, just pick a flavor similar to what you want to flavor your first batch with. Or at least something that won't clash with it!

 

[Toothpick]

You can use flavored, just pick a flavor similar to what you want to flavor your first batch with. Or at least something that won't clash with it!

I’d rather not because I don’t think I will flavor my first batch.

 

[Toothpick]

First batch started! Ended up buying a SCOBY from Fermentaholics. Everyone said that was a good place. I used Orange Pekoe (Ceylon & India) black tea from Harny & Sons. From their website: Orange Pekoe is a classic, satisfying blend of strong Assam and smooth liquoring Ceylon. Hopefully it turns out! We'll find out in 7-21 days.

 

[slimshavy]

Those purchased scobys can be pretty slow to work with, but I get it that unflavored kombucha can be hard to find. If you have Aldi, they usually have GTs kombucha, which is the most active brand I've seen. It will start forming a scoby right in the bottle.
My main advice is to keep the brewing kombucha slightly warmer than winter room temperature (so, above 70F). You can still do it at 68, but it might take three weeks whereas at summer temperature it's turning over every week.

 

[bberg100]

Made kombucha for a couple years, trouble is the wife drank it faster than I made it, I rarely got any. After a few batches your scoby will be like the blob and I started splitting it every batch. I just used black Lipton, add some frozen fruit, quite tasty. Even plain isn't bad.

Wait a couple batches until scoby is healthy and active before starting fruit batches, it will overcome any bad bacteria on the fruit, I never had a moldy run.

I need to get some going again.

 

[Toothpick]

Made kombucha for a couple years, trouble is the wife drank it faster than I made it, I rarely got any. After a few batches your scoby will be like the blob and I started splitting it every batch. I just used black Lipton, add some frozen fruit, quite tasty. Even plain isn't bad.

Wait a couple batches until scoby is healthy and active before starting fruit batches, it will overcome any bad bacteria on the fruit, I never had a moldy run.

I need to get some going again.

You added fruit on the first fermentation?

 

[bberg100]

You added fruit on the first fermentation?

Tried it a few times, meh, mostly I added it to the bottles on the second.

When on the 1st run, I waited until it was going strong to add fruit.

 

[Toothpick]

Jun Kombucha started!

 

[Ad Astra]

Sticking with the "safe" bottle one! Biologicals scare me these days!


AA

 

[Toothpick]

Day 7. Things are looking good. A bit cool at 68 degrees so after the taste test I’m going to let it go another day or so. I’ll taste it again tomorrow. But it’s yummy already!

Day 5 on the Jun Kombucha. Also very tasty. I like this better. Going to let it go a few more days hopefully will get tangy.

 

[SparkyLB]

This might be an, "If you don't know already, you need to read up" kind of question. But I'll ask. What is SCOBY?

 

[Sinnbad11]

This might be an, "If you don't know already, you need to read up" kind of question. But I'll ask. What is SCOBY?

Scoby is an acronym for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. The two essential components of fermenting kombucha.

The yeast processes the sugar into alcohol and the bacteria(probiotics) processes the alcohol into acetic acid (vinegar). Which is the driving force of the tart tanginess of kombucha.