Brew Your Own Kombucha–Part 2

Now that you have your own Kombucha brewed it’s time to flavour and bottle it.  Before I get to that here are a few points to remember when brewing and drinking your Kombucha

• Kombuca and Scoby’s do not like metal.  Don’t brew your Kombucha in a metal container (I use glass) and avoid using metal utensils.
• Sterilize your brewing container and bottles with hot / boiling water and white vinegar.  Residue left from dish soap can harm your Scoby.
• If you are taking a break from brewing or have extra Scoby’s you can store them at room temperature in a container with some unflavoured brew and cooled sweet tea mixture. Make sure they are covered in liquid.  I keep mine in a glass jar with a lid.  Some say cover with a lid some say cover with cloth as you would when brewing Kombucha.  You can also store them the same way in the fridge for longer periods of time.
• Your Scoby should be white, ivory, beige or brown (depending on the type of tea used.  Darker tea has a tendency to stain the Scoby).  If you notice any other colours (blue, black, red, or green) this is a sign of mould.  You will have to throw out your batch and Scoby.  That’s why it is a good idea to keep a couple spare Scoby’s.
• Brewing temperature should be between 75 and 85 degrees.
• When your brew is finished the ph will be between 2.6 and 4.0
• The Scoby may sit on top or sink to the bottom.  It doesn’t matter.  If is sinks to the bottom of the jar the new baby Scoby will form at the top of the jar.
• If you are new to fermented foods/drinks start off slow when consuming Kombucha.  More isn’t always better, so start off small and work your way up to a cup or two a day.  It is recommended that you don’t drink it all in one sitting and spread it out over the day.

Bottling and Flavouring
Once your brew has reached the flavour you like (at least 7 – 10 days brewing) it’s time to bottle it. (Remember the longer you brew the less sweet it is). You don’t have to flavour your Komucha you can bottle it as is. 
Sterilize your bottles.  I use glass flip top bottles you can use mason jars or any other glass bottle you have around.
With clean hands or clean non-metal utensils remove your Scoby’s and at least a cup of the unflavoured finished brew and set aside. 

New Scoby

Get your flavouring ingredients ready. You can use fresh fruit, fruit juice, and herbs.  The amount of flavouring used depends on your taste.

• strawberry lemonade (organic strawberries , lemon) If your lemons aren’t organic you will want to slice  the yellow skin or peel the lemon.  Pesticides would not be beneficial to the brew.
• Pineapple
• Apple cinnamon
• lemon and fresh ginger (my favourite)

        

Put whatever flavouring you choose to use in your bottles using a funnel pour the kombucha in the bottles cover and let sit on the counter for another day for the second ferment.  You can then store them in the fridge.  They will continue to ferment in the fridge but at a very slow rate.

For the batch above I added some fresh grated turmeric root in with my lemon and ginger.  It was a nice addition.

This is picture of my Scoby hotel.  It sits on top of my fridge. You can see the different layers.

Make Your Own Kombucha - Part 1

Enjoy!

~~Jackie

Fabulous Fermented Foods–Kombucha

So there has been a whole lot of fermenting going on here over the last little while.  Fermented foods include, kombucha, kefir (milk, water), and sourdough.  You can ferment veggies too, a couple of the common ones are sauerkraut and kimchi.  I started with water kefir and sourdough last year and have moved on to milk kefir, kombucha and veggies (cabbage, carrots, beets and turnips). Oh I almost forgot beer and wine are fermented as well.
In all honesty the thought of Fermented or Cultured foods scared me.  I mean really, if you left milk on the counter for a day or so, I’m guessing you would throw it out not put it in the fridge and drink it….right?  Well I would still throw it out but that is essentially how Kefir is made with the addition of a culture. 
When I first heard about Kombucha a few years back, I wasn’t too sure I would like it.especially after seeing the culture that’s used to make it.  Then one day I saw some at the store and gave it a try.  I was pleasantly surprised how tasty it was.  Fizzy, flavourful and not very sweet.  The downside was the price, so I decided to try making it myself.  The starter wasn’t too easy to find around here so I bought a bottle of GT Kombucha to try and grow my own culture.  It was taking forever, so I gave up.  Patience isn’t my strong point.  Then I found a SCOBY at the health food store and my kombucha making began.
Kombucha is made by fermenting tea and sugar with a culture.  The culture is known as a SCOBY or mother.  SCOBY is an acronym for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast…. sounds awesome right? It is called the mother because with each batch a new scoby forms, so you have the original mother and the baby.  

 

The best teas to use are black and green.  Rooibos and white will work but are not the best choice.  Herbal teas or fruit flavoured teas are not recommended.
The sugar can be plain old white sugar or organic organic.  Honey is not recommended because of its antibacterial properties. If you are worried about the amount of sugar don’t, the sugar is the food for the culture so the finished product has very little sugar and is somewhat tart.
Not only does it taste good but it has a variety of health benefits as well.  Here are some of the reported health benefits of Kombucha. It contains loads of glucuronic acid.  Glucuronic acid binds to toxins and transforms them so they can be easily eliminated by the kidneys.  It is also made in the liver but quite often our liver can’t keep up with the demands put on it these days, and it is very important to keep our livers happy and healthy.  It contains lots of B vitamins aka “happy” vitamins and amino acids which are the building blocks of protein.  It also improves digestion, cleanses the liver, increases energy, boosts immune function and is a source of probiotics (healthy bacteria).
Basic Kombucha Recipe

• 1 cup starter liquid
• 1 culture (scoby)
• 4 liters filtered water (not distilled and chlorinated water will not work)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 4 – 6 tea bags
• large glass container
• coffee filter or plain cotton cloth
• wood or stainless steel spoon
• small glass bottles

Bring water to a boil in a stainless steel or glass pot (do not use aluminum) boil for 2 or 3 minutes.  Turn off the heat, dissolve sugar in the water and add tea bags.  Steep for 10 to 15 minutes then remove the tea bags.  Let the tea mixture cool to room temperature.  Pour the tea mixture into your glass container, add starter liquid and culture.  Cover the top with coffee filter and secure with elastic band.  Store the container out of direct sunlight in a well ventilated area.  You’ll want the room temperature to be between 75 and 85 degrees.  The cooler the air the slower it will ferment. I use a heating belt (you can get them at wine making stores) on mine to keep the temp constant. 

   

Now you just have to wait 7 –10+ days (depending on the temperature)  Check on it and have a taste after 7 days.  Your finished tea should not be sweet, but if you let it ferment too long it will have more of a vinegar taste.  It’s still ok to drink it just won’t taste as good.

 

Once it’s done transfer it to bottles and store in the fridge.  You can also do a second ferment to add flavour and more carbonation.

Since this post is getting a little long, I’ll talk about the second fermentation on another day.
Making my own Kombucha isn’t as scary of complicated as I thought.  If you have never tried Kombucha I suggest you pick up a bottle and give it a try.
Have a great week!!
~Jackie