Start Your Own Kombucha Brew!

The original reason I created this page was actually to provide a place to teach my friends how to make their own Kombucha brews from the mothers I gave them (see photo below). If you would like a free kombucha mother and you are in Wellington, contact me to arrange pickup. 

I figured it can also be a great place for me to share other things I'm doing and making. I love DIY and am enjoying discovering ways to save money and be self-sufficient.

Thus the page.

Now to the Kombucha.

To start with, I just want to say that I don't like the word 'scoby', (I also don't like the word 'blog'). Scoby is an acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, which is what the Kombucha culture is. But the word doesn't sound good to me. So from here on in I'll use the word 'Booch', which is what I call my Kombucha mothers*, instead of saying scoby.

(*A Kombucha 'mother' is another name for the scoby. They are called mothers because they create offspring 'baby' scobys which can then be harvested and given away to friends or used to start new batches of brew.)

There are many benefits attributed to the drinking of Kombucha, which is full of probiotics and good things for our gut... however I'll let you google search all that info for yourself if you're interested and just suffice it to say, I love it! It's yummy, makes me feel great and I have definitely noticed improvements in my health and in my energy levels.

The main thing to keep in mind with your brew is to make sure everything you use is sterile. The Booch is a living organism, and thus will thrive in a clean environment and get sick in a dirty one. However, feel assured. Households in China, Eastern Europe and Japan have been making kombucha for thousands of years, probably sometimes in conditions not half as spick as our sometimes overly-disinfected modern homes! So take heart. It's easy once you get used to it! 

What you will need:

• a Booch mother (if you don't have one I will make another post with instructions on how to make your own Booch mother from scratch)
• 7 glasses of boiling water
• 1/2 cup of raw sugar
• 4 teabags, regular black tea is great to start with (a.k.a. 'gumboot' or 'builder's' tea)
• 1 cup of Kombucha starter tea (liquid from previous batch)
• a pot or bowl in which to brew the tea
• a large (2L or more) vessel made from glass or earthenware. I use two large vessels for my brews (see below), one earthenware pot, one large preserving jar. I picked up both from second-hand stores for around $3 each. If you use glass, you will need to wrap the sides of it at the end with a cloth, as the Booch needs a dark place to ferment.
• breathable cotton (or other natural fibre) fabric for covering your brew

(An important note: ensure you avoid/limit any contact between the Kombucha brew and metal (e.g. metal spoons, metal fermenting vessels) as metal can weaken the Booch and affect the flavour of your brew. A metal pot or bowl is fine for making the tea in at the beginning of the process, before any Kombucha is added).

Also, remember to give your Booch brew lots of L-O-V-E! That's the key successful ingredient!

Instructions

1. Make the tea. Brew the teabags in the boiling water and add the sugar. You can either steep boiling water in a bowl with the teabags (my method, as below), or bring the water to a boil in a stovepot with the teabags in it. You can stir the sugar through to help it dissolve if you like. Leave to cool for several hours (you can stand the vessel in ice cold water to help it cool if you are impatient). Once it is cool, remove the teabags. 

2. Transfer to jar and add the starter tea. Pour into the vessel in which you will be fermenting and add the Kombucha starter tea, no need to stir. 

3. Add Booch. Making sure your hands are clean and free of metal jewellery, gently slide in the Booch, smoothest side up (i.e. the more ragged side downward.) Once in the jar, don't disturb any more than necessary. The Booch will sink at first but eventually will rise to sit on top of the brew, and will grow to fill the circumference of the jar, creating an airtight seal to protect the fermenting tea from unhelpful bacteria.

3. Cover the jar with breathable fabric. Cover your vessels with a few layers of tightly woven natural cloth (cotton, or even paper towels). Cheesecloth is not too good as its fibres aren't tightly woven enough and can let dust and bugs through. I used cotton scarves that I no longer wear, clean, washed and cut to size. Secure with a rubber band, hair tie, string. This cloth allows airflow so the brew can breathe, but stops dust, dirt and bugs getting onto the Booch.

3. Leave the brew to ferment for 7 - 10 days. Keep the vessel out of direct sunlight in a place where it won't be disturbed. If you are using a glass jar, wrap the sides of it with a nice dark cloth to keep it out of the light. I used an old cotton sari for this. After 7 days of fermentation, start tasting the Kombucha each day to check the flavour. When it reaches a taste that suits you it's ready to bottle.  I like my brew a little stronger so I bottle mine every ten days thus I don't need to taste test it to know when it's ready.

In the next post I will show you how to bottle your brew and start a new batch!