Kombucha tea

Kombucha - 1 quart batch

Primary ferment: 7-10 days

1 quarts boiled water

1/4 cup sugar

1-2 tea bags

1 scoby

Boil 1 quarts of water. Add 1/4 cup sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Steep 1-2 regular-sized tea bags. Allow tea to cool and pour into wide-mouth jar. Add 1/4 cup or more fermented tea (from previous batch) and scoby. Cover tightly with a clean cloth, papertowel, or coffee filter rubberbanded down over top.  Place out of direct sunlight (keep warm in winter and cool in summer). Check flavor after 7 days (7-10 days) until desired tartness is reached.

For Secondary ferment (7-14 days), place ferment into small bottles. You may add 1-3 oz. juice per 15 oz. bottle.  Flavor may be added to the 2nd ferment with fresh, dried, frozen fruit, or juiced fruit, spices, tea bags, etc.  Be creative.  If tightly capped, it will become very fizzy.  Be careful when you open the bottles as they may have built up pressure.  You can burp them daily to avoid this. 

Use and Storage:  Black tea or a combination of black and green can be used for the primary ferment.  Place scoby in fresh batch of tea (cooled to room temperature) to begin again. If scoby becomes too thick, it will brew faster and take up a lot of room in your container.  Separate scoby into layers if it becomes too thick. Store back-up scobys in fermented tea.  ***Cultures can cross-contaminate one another.  Keep several feet from other fermented foods/beverages.

Kombucha - 1 gallon batch

Primary ferment: 7-20 days

3 quarts boiled water

1 cup sugar

4-10 tea bags

1 scoby

Boil 3 quarts of water. Add 1 cup sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Steep 4-10 regular-sized tea bags. Allow tea to cool and pour into wide-mouth jar. Add 1 cup or more fermented tea (from previous batch) and scoby. Cover tightly with a clean cloth, papertowel, or coffee filter rubberbanded down over top.  Place out of direct sunlight (keep warm in winter and cool in summer). Check flavor after 7 days (7-20 days) until desired tartness is reached.

For Secondary ferment (7-14 days), place ferment into small bottles. You may add 1-3 oz. juice per 15 oz. bottle.  Flavor may be added to the 2nd ferment with fresh, dried, frozen fruit, or juiced fruit, spices, tea bags, etc.  Be creative.  If tightly capped, it will become very fizzy.  Be careful when you open the bottles as they may have built up pressure.  You can burp them daily to avoid this. 

Use and Storage:  Black tea or a combination of black and green can be used for the primary ferment.  Place scoby in fresh batch of tea (cooled to room temperature) to begin again. If scoby becomes too thick, it will brew faster and take up a lot of room in your container.  Separate scoby into layers if it becomes too thick. Store back-up scobys in fermented tea.  ***Cultures can cross-contaminate one another.  Keep several feet from other fermented foods/beverages.