Kombucha Recipe

Ingredients and Items

• Tea (I use tetley black green, 8 bags)
• Filtered water
• Scoby
• A bottle of kombucha (yes you need kombucha to make kombucha)
• 1 gal jar
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 8 500mL recappable bottles
• Funnel
• Fruit juice

Kombucha is made in two stages

Stage One: Creating plain kombucha

1. Bring a few liters of water to a boil enough to put in the 1 cup of sugar and 8 bags of tea.
2. With the heated water in the 1gal jar, dissolve the sugar, let the tea steep and wait for the mixture to cool.
3. Add in the bottle of kombucha.
4. Add in the rest of the water
5. Add in the scoby
6. Close the top of the jar with some papertowels and a rubber band (coffee filters also works well).
7. Let the mixture sit for 1-2 weeks in a dark area that is away from direct heat or cold. I usually go for 1 week.

Stage Two: Adding flavor

1. Remove the scoby from the mixture into a bowl.
2. Stir the mixture so that the sediment is evenly distributed. You should already see some carbonation.
3. Use the funnel and pour contents into bottles, fill them to the start of the neck taper. I can usually get about 8 bottles from the 1 gal jar.
4. The remainder of the mixture is used along with the original scoby for the next batch.
5. Use the funnel and fill the rest of the bottle with juice.
6. Cap the bottles and let them sit for 3-6 days.
7. Burp the bottles periodically to release the c02 buildup. If you don't do this steps some bottles may explode.
8. Once carbonation is at your acceptable level you can put them into the fridge which will stop the fermentation process.
9. Carbonation helps hide the vinegar taste of the kombucha. If you notice that your kombucha does not have enough carbonation, you can remove the bottle from the fridge and let it sit in stage two until more carbonation is produced.