EPISODE 42: Making Kombucha - 1st and 2nd Ferment with recipe!

Angel has been making Kombucha for quite a while now. It is a fermented tea that is full of good-for-you gut probiotics. Bryce’s sister-in-law, Becca, gave Angel her first SCOBY & starter. A WHAT?!? SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Cultures of Bacteria and Yeast. It’s this bacteria and yeast that ferments the sugar & tea in this delightful drink.
Let’s get to the recipe:
2 cups kombucha starter & SCOBY
3 1/2 cups water
8 sachets of tea — I use 4 green & 4 black teas
1 1/4 cups raw sugar or sucanat
6 quart pot
thermometer
Gallon glass jar
coffee filter
rubber band

Add the 3 1/2 cups water to the pot, put on the stove burner & turn on medium high. Attach your thermometer — I use a candy thermometer — to the edge of the pot to monitor your temperature. Heat to 180 degrees F and remove from heat. Add the tea sachets & sugar & stir to dissolve sugar & begin the steeping of the tea. Put the lid on the pot & let it cool to room temperature.

Using tongs, squeeze excess liquid out of tea sachets & discard. Pour your kombucha starter & SCOBY into your gallon jar, and then pour your freshly brewed tea into the jar. Cover top with the coffee filter & fasten with the rubber band.

Set the jar on a shelf or in your pantry for anywhere from 1 to 4 weeks — I usually let mine ferment for 4-6 weeks on average.
Now the kombucha is ready to drink! I usually strain any ‘mother’ out by transferring it into other jars using a mesh strainer & remember to save that SCOBY & 2 cups of Kombucha for the next batch!

At this time, you can make a second ferment. This is the fizzy drink that resembles soda pop — natural carbonations from the additional fermentation! Use locking bottles, like those ginger drink bottles you can buy at Aldi at the holidays (I think they are 24ish ounce jars) or the ones I used in the video from Trader Joe’s! Pour in about 1/2-1 cup of a juice of your choice — my favorite is grape. And then pour kombucha into the jar until almost full & lock the lid in place. Leave this set on a counter or in the pantry as well as it does it’s thing!

Some recipes sites I’ve read about second ferments say it only takes a few days to get the fizz, but I usually let mine go for about a week. You can test it after a couple of days by unlocking the lid — if you don’t get the desired fizz, then lock it up for a few more days.

Extra resources Angel used for this video:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/kombucha-scoby#bottom-line
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/kombucha/flavoring-bottling-kombucha/
https://supremevinegar.com/2019/03/07/mother-or-scoby/

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