How do I get started?
How do I get started?
Just discovered there is a community around this. Excited to see this and would love to give Kombucha brewing (?) a go.
Do you have any tips / recipes for a beginner like me to get started?
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I'm also curious. Read some stuff online and it seems fairly easy, but I'm not sure.
It is indeed fairly easy. To get started you just need a scoby from someone or you could buy it online through Amazon or a local marketplace (there is a local community on Facebook in my country that allows users to share scobys).
With respect to recipes, there are many to be found online. Maybe this helps a bit? This is how I do it myself.
- Make strong black tea, dissolve 70g cane sugar per liter. I think some people use less sugar maybe.
- when cool, add to scoby from previous batch in large container with access to air through a cloth (prevents insects etc from getting in)
- ferment for 1-2 weeks depending on temperature and desired tartness. This is F1
- make syrup with fruits, sugar, water and strain or take some fruit juice
- add to bottle that can withstand pressure (flip top bottles from Grolsch work well). Fill up with F1 kombucha. I think I use more or less 1:6 ratio of syrup:kombucha. Make sure to fill the bottle almost completely.
- Ferment for another few days (~ 4 days) in closed container to build carbonation. This is F2
- refrigerate and enjoy
Good luck!
Thanks! This is very useful. I will try as soon as I have some spare time
You don't have to buy the scoby from Amazon you can just get any unflavored unpasteurized kombucha from the grocery store like GTS if it is available and pour a good amount into your stater tea when it cools. Just a note the pancake thing a lot of people call a scoby is just a byproduct and is not really needed, the liquid is the important part so make sure you save enough from each batch to start another
Nice. Thanks.
Can this be done with honey or does that not change the health benefits much?
That's about 265 grams of sugar per gallon; I like to use 200 g/gal, which comes to about 53 g/L.