I discovered kombuca when we were visiting my sil last May. I had never heard of the drink but really liked the taste. Basically its a fermented tea that's brewed from a mushroom. Yes sounds super appealing, right? Don't let the whole mushroom thing throw you off. Its really light and refreshing, especially in the summer. You can also flavor it with juices and organic honey. My favorite thing about it is how healthy it is. Its a huge detox agent, helps regulate the digestive system and boosts immunity.
Here's what a typical brew day looks like:
I use two scobies to make 2 half gallon jars of kombuca. First step is brewing the tea.
I measure out 3 quarts or 14 cups of filtered water and pour it into my stock pot on the stove.
I cover the pot to reduce contamination and let the water come to boil.
In the meantime I prep my other necessary ingredients. For 2 half gallons of kombuca I use 1 cup of granulated sugar and 8 black tea bags. You can also get creative and use green or flavored tea.
After the water comes to a boil I add a cup of sugar.
I then stir in the sugar to make sure it is all dissolved.
I then throw in all 8 tea bags to brew. You can hang the strings out the side if you want too.
I then recover the lid (to prevent contamination) and let the tea brew. I normally don't worry about how long it brews. Wait at least 15 minutes though.
After removing the tea bags, the next step is to bring the sweetened tea down to room temperature. To do this I throw the pot in the sink (covered) and dump a whole lot of ice in to form an ice bath.
Bringing the tea down to room temperature (68-70 degrees F) can take up to six hours. I occasionally use a sterilized meat thermometer to check the temperature.
Once your tea is at room temperature, you need to prepare your brewing supplies. I use half gallon mason jars with the lids removed. You can use any glass container to brew in that meets your size requirements. Its important to note that you must brew in glass and there can be no metal in contact with the scobie during the brewing phase.
After your brewing containers are sterilized (give them a good wash in really hot water), pour half of your sweetened tea into each container. I don't really measure. I just make sure there is a little head room in each jar.
I then grab my kombuca jars from the last brew session that have finished the fermentation process. If you are just starting out you will grab your scobie and the starter tea it is in.
With clean hands, I reach down into the finished jars and retrieve the scobie. Then I place it in the new jars with the tea I just brewed. During this process I try to keep things as serialized as possible. As you can see I've kept the lids on the jars of new tea as well as the paper towels on the fermented tea. In time you'll want to give your scobie some TLC removing any dead parts and discarding these. If your scobie is really healthy it should grown an entire new body during the brewing process!
Next, I add one cup of the fermented tea into the just brewed tea jars. I add one cup from each half gallon mason jar so I don't loose a lot from one particular jar. This step is extremely necessary as its what "jump starts" the brewing process.
If you are starting from a scobie simply add the starter tea that came with the scobie to your jar.
Next I remove the metal lids and cover the new tea jars with paper towels. You can use cheese cloth if you want to be fancy but I find this works too. I secure it with a rubber band and place it in a warm place. We keep ours by the dryer! Let this sit for about a week before checking it. We brew ours for approximately 10 days but it really depends on your preference. The longer you brew the more fermented or vinegar-like it will become. Taste daily after a week for optimal results.
If this isn't your first batch, then you'll have to also deal with your brewed tea. I first strain my tea with a mesh strainer (you can use cheese cloth) into a fresh mason jar. You can really loose carbonation on this step so if you like yours extra fizzy you'll want to leave it on the counter for a day or two to carbonate. Once you put it in the fridge it stops this process.
Now if you don't want to flavor your kombuca go to the next step. We do like regular kombuca but have started experimenting with different flavors. You can be creative the only key is you want to make sure whatever you add is 100% organic/natural. You don't want to add any fake sugars. I like adding the naked brand juices and have also used raw honey in my brews. Add about a 1/8 of a cup to each half gallon container.
The last step is to label. I always put the flavor of the kombuca on the jar and also the day it goes bad. You really shouldn't drink kombuca that's more than a month old so keeping track of the dates is important.
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