A Beginner's Guide to Brewing Kombucha
This post has been in the making for some time. I have been brewing Kombucha for about 5 months now, and let me tell you, the experimentation is never ending! There are endless tea variations, flavourings and uses for kombucha, and once you are confident in this basic method you will have the freedom to mix and match your favourites.
This post is a tutorial for someone who has recently bought or grown a SCOBY, and needs some guidance in where to go next. When I started making kombucha, I read numerous tutorials so I would get a good idea about what to do, and what not to do. I found this kombucha tutorial to be extremely helpful, so by all meant give it a read through as well. The more confident you are in brewing your kombucha the more fun it will be!
For the first fermentation you will need:
13 cups filtered water
8 black tea bags OR 2 tbsp loose leaf tea (you can mix green and black tea if you want)
1 cup white sugar
Large pot with lid
2 cups starter tea (store bought plain kombucha works just fine)
1 gallon glass vessel (get one with a spout for easy bottling)
Cheesecloth, coffee filters, or a clean kitchen cloth that is tightly woven yet breathable
Rubber band
For the bottling stage and second fermentation you will need:
6 500mL thick-walled glass swingtop bottles - the kind meant for fermentation
2 inches organic ginger (other flavour combinations listed at end of post)
Funnel & fine mesh sieve* optional
Steps (all pictured below for your reference):
Brewing your sweet tea
Bring 13 cups filtered water to a boil.
Remove from heat.
Add 8 tea bags (black tea, or a mixture of black and green) OR 2 tbsp loose leaf tea.
Add 1 cup white sugar.
Stir until sugar dissolves.
Cover and let cool until room temperature (this can take an entire day - be patient).
Let the tea steep for 30 minutes to 3 hours.
Covering the tea is important to avoid contamination.
When testing the temperature of your tea, use a clean spoon and only try the tea once - no double dipping!
The tea needs to be sufficiently cooled as to not kill the SCOBY -so again, be patient.
Preparing your starter tea and SCOBY in your gallon vessel
Pour a bottle of plain kombucha or ~2 cups starter tea into your CLEAN gallon vessel.
If you are starting from scratch, you will need to buy a bottle of plain kombucha (unflavoured) to use as your starter tea. Once you have completed one batch, your starter tea will be your own brew.
First fermentation (4-10 days)
Pour the now room-temp sweet tea into your vessel with your starter tea.
Place your SCOBY on top of the liquid (it may float or sink - either way it’s fine).
Cover with a piece of cheesecloth or a breathable dishrag (even a coffee filter works here) & secure with rubber band.
Leave to ferment in a dark place for 4-10 days, checking the flavour every couple days.
The first ferment typically takes about 6 days, depending on the temperature of the room.
It should taste slightly acidic with a hint of sweetness when it’s ready to bottle (everyone’s preferences are different here, you will learn when the best time to bottle is with practice).
Bottling
Set up the flavour (if any) you wish to add to your kombucha. In this recipe I use ginger cut into little rectangles. Put the ginger in the bottles before any liquid.
Set up your fine mesh sieve over the funnel, which is positioned over a bottle.
Stir your kombucha before bottling (this ensures the bacteria are evenly distributed and your carbonation in each bottle will be even).
Pour kombucha into bottles, leaving 1-2 inches of headspace in each bottle.
Close swing-top bottles and leave to ferment again in a dark place 2-10 days (depending on sugar content and temperature).
Second fermentation (2-10 days)
Check carbonation/burp bottles every 24 hours.
When it is perfect for you (carbonation & taste) it’s done!
Drinking!
Place bottles in the fridge & once cool enjoy!
Step 1 in pictures: Brewing your sweet tea.
Step 2 in pictures: Preparing your starter tea and SCOBY (you may use home-brewed OR store bought starter tea).
If you do not have home-brewed starter tea, GT’s plain kombucha in the 475 mL (16 oz) size is a great substitute.
Simply pour it into your kombucha vessel and add your sweet tea to it, just as you would with the home-brewed starter tea.
If you are using store-bought starter tea, odds are you will need to buy or grow a SCOBY as well. SCOBY’s are available at most health food stores, online, or you can always be gifted one by a friend. This website has a great tutorial on how to grow your own SCOBY if you are up for it.
You will only have to buy this the very first time you make kombucha, after your first batch you can use the leftover tea from your previous batches as your starter tea.
Step 3 in pictures: First Fermentation
Combine sweet tea and starter tea, and return SCOBY to filled vessel.
Cover with cheesecloth secured with rubber band.
Ferment 4-10 days (depending on temperature) in a dark place.
Step 4 in pictures: Bottling
Prepare 6 500mL glass swing-top bottles.
*Your bottles need to be made specifically for fermentation or beer-making, because the pressure build-up inside the bottles can cause thin-walled bottles to explode.
For simple ginger Kombucha, slice 2 inches of ginger into planks that will fit into your bottles easily.
Divide the ginger planks between the bottles.
If you wanted to be super precise, you can weight the ginger pieces and divide them evenly that way.
Remove the SCOBY from your fermented tea and stir the tea.
Prepare your bottling station by setting up a funnel and a fine mesh sieve.
You don’t need to use the mesh sieve, however it will strain out the big stringy bits of bacteria.
Bottle your ‘buch!
This is where using a vessel with a spout comes in handy.
Leave 1-2 inches of head space at the top of the bottles.
This makes them less terrifying to open in a day or two when checking your carbonation, and also will decrease the risk of explosion.
Step 5: Second Fermentation (Carbonation)
Secure the tops of your swing-top bottles.
Place your bottles in a dark place.
Leave for 2-12 days (depending on temperature & sugar content).
During the second fermentation…
It is important to check your carbonation/burp your bottles!
Every 24 hours, open your bottles and observe the reaction.
When it is done, there will be intense fizzing and bubbles rising from deep in the bottle (you can always taste it to see if it is at the carbonation level you desire).
Keep in mind that the longer you let your kombucha ferment here, the less sweet & more acidic it will become.
When checking carbonation, you may want to go outside and wear something you don’t mind getting kombucha all over - sometimes they spray!
Once you have filled all 6 bottles, you can brew another batch of sweet tea and start the whole process over again right away, or you can let your SCOBY hang out in the starter tea until you are ready to start another batch - up to you!
This batch of my kombucha is quite dark because I used 100% black tea (GT’s uses a mixture of black and green), and I like to let my tea steep while it is cooling, sometimes for a whole day. You can remove your tea bags after 30 minutes, or let them steep - it’s 100% up to you!
This is a great recipe to get creative with, think of this as only a set of loose guidelines to get yourself started. Once you are more confident feel free to experiment a little!
Step 6: Drinking!
You’ve made it! Once your kombucha is finished you will keep it in the fridge. If you are ever to take it out of the fridge & it warms up, the fermentation will start again, so it’s best to keep it cold & drink within the month.
One of my favourite ways to enjoy kombucha is in a cocktail with a good quality spiced rum poured over ice with a lemon wedge. Enjoy!
