The first time I had Kombucha it was a home brew. I was super in love with how crisp and subtly flavoured it was. Then I found out how great it is for your gut health! Wonder drink! So I now brew often. I thought it might make an interesting post. I won't bore you with every single step of the process unless someone asks for it. This is a retelling of starting a flavour ferment this weekend.
Do you drink kombucha? Better yet, do you brew your own? If not, have you ever considered it? It's super easy!
If you don't know what kombucha is, here's a definition or two:
"a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria." -Google
"Kombucha is simply fermented tea, an ancient elixir consumed for hundreds or thousands of years by civilizations all over the planet." -Kombucha Kamp
To learn everything there is to know about Kombucha, please visit Kombucha Kamp. I highly recommend their book The Big Book of Kombucha. I have read it cover-to-cover and loaned it to many people. It's full of info and instructions on how to safely brew delicious Kombucha at home.
Why brew at home? Well, as many of you likely already know, it's very expensive to buy Kombucha in the grocery store. Brewing at home costs pennies, and it's fun, too! Also, when you have full control over your brew, you can make it taste however you like. I find that storebought brews are too sweet... I would guess in an attempt to appeal to a soda-addicted consumer. I really enjoy my booch dry, crisp, and bubbly with interesting flavours.
It's been a while since I've brewed. I've had a jar full of SCOBYs sitting on my counter for months, with every intention of getting back into it. So, 10 days ago, I got to work.
Here's the batch that I started 10 days ago. It's ready to be harvested. I will be reserving 2 cups of this liquid to use as starter for the next batch, and using the SCOBY as well.
In this shot you can see the original SCOBYs at the very bottom, and the new SCOBY, which drifted to the bottom when I moved the jar to take photos.
At this point I'll remove the SCOBYs and reserve them for the fresh brew. SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacertia & Yeast. It goes by a few different names but most English speakers call it a SCOBY. You need a SCOBY to brew kombucha. Every time you brew, you produce a new one. I like to give them away to other people looking to start home brewing. If there are no takers, then they go in the compost, which they are great for.
Here you can see the two smaller, older SCOBYs that I had been hanging onto and used to brew this batch. The bigger one is the new one that resulted. I put the old ones in the compost, and the new one will go in the new batch to brew.
At this point, the first ferment is finished. You could drink the kombucha now, and a lot of people like it just like this. I prefer to flavour mine and let it get bubbly. So, I will now take this liquid and move it into smaller vessels with fruit to flavour it.
I have never used orange to flavour booch before, and these tiny little tangerines are delicious so I thought I would give them a try. I peeled two and put them in the bottom of the jar. Using a wooden spoon I crushed them a bit to release some juices.
I filled the jar nearly to the top with the brewed kombucha, put paper towel cover on top, and set it aside. It will sit for 1-4 days to flavour, then will be bottled and allowed to sit another 4 days to get bubbly.
Now I will set about brewing a fresh batch in the big vessel. This means brewing tea, adding sugar, adding the SCOBY & starter liquid, and setting it aside for 7-10 days.
I will update you and let you know how this flavour turns out!
Does anyone have questions or suggestions about booch brewing? Let me know! I am by no means an expert but I have brewed a lot in the last couple years!
Cheers!
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Peace & Love!
Kombucha has to be one of the weirdest, yet oddly delicious (when cold that is) drinks out there. I mean alcohol is weird and has mommy issues, whereas kombucha has a mother. So strange. So nomnom.
HA! Yes you are so right. It literally has a mother! And cold, cold, cold. I can't drink it if it's not ice cold. We keep our cups in the freezer for this very reason. ...well, that and craft beer. Duh.
Very nice drink, full of probiotics for healthy gut & immune system health ! very helpful post caitycat 😊 . Have you tried making Kefir drinks such as Kefir smoothies ? I would suggest you try that , because that is also very good for gut & immune system health 🙂.
For Kefir drinks the normal fermentation time should stay between 24-48 Hrs. The more you ferment the more powerful & alcoholic it will become .
Cheers 🍾🕺🏻 Thanks for this wonderful read 😊
I have never tried making Kefir! I will have to look into it! I usually see it made with milk, which I don't drink, but I think I've seen it made with juice?
Thank you for stopping by! :) Cheers!
Yes you can make it with fresh milk, but the best part is that those people who are allergic to lactose can also drink kefir. Kefir is like yogurt , tastes like it, but a strong one 😊 ! you can try the smoothy though. Also you can make with juices 😊
Lucky lucky @mstafford!
I'm sure it'll come as no surprise that Kombucha is super popular here in hipster Portland... and I really, really like it.
So the SCOBYs are those disk things?
This is such a great post! Love it so much.
Oh yes I bet! It seems like a popular west coast thing! It's delicious. Some people think it's too werid. @somebuttstuff won't drink it.
Yes the SCOBYs are the disks! They grow to fit the shape of their container in a layer on top of the liquid. So the smaller ones are like that because I was using smaller jars at the time. The big one is from the big 4L jar you see in the first shot.
Thanks, man!
Well done on the curie young lady, so excited!
Holy cow!!! How exciting!!!!
Hooray! It's looks so beautiful.
Thanks! It is a thing of beauty!
Awwww yea! Fresh booch here I come!
Yes I am going to bottle the orange one momentarily. I hope I can get it fizzy!
What I want to know is like... who was the first person to drink kombucha. Like, that person is ballsy.
Right?! I think they were super thirsty lol
Wonderful!!
I'm really curious how this tastes, I have never seen it for sale any where.
I did try to make wine with tea (using normal wine yeast), but it ended up having a bit of an off flavour so it put me off trying again.
Whao, its simply amazing...