Homemade Kombucha
“ Once you stop learning, you start dying. ”
Disclaimer: This is not our typical recipe post.
My family can attest…I’m nearly always into something. Childhood curiosity is not something I have ever outgrown. This, in combination with my desire to make healthy options as affordable as possible, leads to many experiments in our home.
The most recent: Kombucha!
Kombucha is a fermented tea that is made using a SCOBY (pronounced with an “ohhh” sound…not to be confused with the beloved Scooby Doo). More accurately S.C.O.B.Y as it is an acronym for “Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast”.
“Fermented what and why?!” you ask.
Tea - sweet tea to be exact! Basically the yeast from the SCOBY eat the sugar…they make ethanol which is eaten by the bacteria…leaving a happy little colony of healthy gut bacteria floating in a low carb, tangy yet sweet drink known as kombucha.
The why comes down to 4 basic reasons:
Healthy gut bacteria (actually viruses and yeast also) lead to a healthier you! Research is still emerging on just how amazing and helpful the gut microbiota actually is to us.
Most healthy gut helpers like kombucha and other pro-gut drinks are $$$$. So, let’s see if we can make it at home with relative ease to get the health without the sticker shock.
Water is great, but sometimes we need a little extra. Unfortunately, most of those options are very high in carbs (aka cause us to store more fat). Kombucha is a relatively low carb option that is not “empty” calories/carbs!
Learning is good for everyone. With a home brew, we can test ABV and experiment with various flavor options! Fermentation results in carbonation through carbon dioxide production. It also produces a small amount of ethanol (about the same level as a ripe banana in case you were wondering). If this works, we can make a pop alternative right here at home and the kids can be part of the fun!
Now that you know what we’re into and why…let’s go!
Tea steeping, filtered water ready and waiting, sugar measured.
Sugar added and dissolved.
Sweet tea mixture added to filtered water. The temp is right (75-85)!
Straight from the Fermentaholics bag!
Starter and SCOBY gently added. Now it’s pH time!
Under 4.5 - CHECK!
Coffee filter on with wooden lid gently placed on top - keep out bugs and such while allowing air in.
Now we wait…
Day 7…taste test…waaay too sweet for me!
Day 10…getting closer…
Day 13…tart with a hint of sweet!!
On to 2nd Ferment AND Flavors!
Since the brand I have tried and like best (GT’s) has kiwi in each flavor, I blended 1.5 kiwis with about 1oz kombucha in my blender and divided it evenly (roughly) between 8 16oz glass bottles.
Here you see our flavor experiments in the making:
Strawberry (half a berry per bottle)
Blackberry (half a big berry per bottle)
Sliced dried ginger
Mango (1 small piece per bottle)
Nestled on our kitchen shelf for 2 days of second fermentation.
Meanwhile…
We started a new batch with our growing SCOBY.
Notice our “little guy” - as our kids have taken to calling it (that would be the SCOBY) - has a bit of a different look:
The chunky part is the original that came in the mail (above). The flat, thin, folded part is what grew in the last 13 days! I forgot to take a picture of it floating with bubbles just below it, because I was so excited to get experimenting with flavor options and bottling. I’ll work on that for ya!
It has sunk. Google tells me this is normal for a new batch. If it happens during fermentation, it’s ok but means something has slowed the production of carbon dioxide. So we should see this little guy start floating again soon with new carbonation produced!
Conclusions:
This is a fun experiment and crazy easy to try. I’d like to get tighter sealing bottles to see if the carbonation lasts longer - I never really got the “Ahhh” sensation even after 4 rounds of making my own Kombucha.
I tried to calculate the ABV using a hydrometer, but the result was a negative value (nonsense). Repeat attempts had the same result - further research shows this is common with home brew newbies.
Future adjustments - I will wash the SCOBY before starting a new batch to keep the yeast count low compared to the bacteria. This will keep the ethanol by-product low and encourage the bacteria to be slightly heavier in population. Resulting in next-to-nothing alcohol content and more good gut bacteria!
We were not fans of the mango (surprising as we all love mango). So far, we like ginger/kiwi, ginger/kiwi/berry, kiwi/berry flavors. We had friends over and we were all a fan of the plum/ginger combo!
I will be filtering the flavorings in the future. We’re using fresh and/or frozen fruit and I’m not a fan of seeds in the bottom of the bottle.
Although this is pretty easy and MUCH cheaper than the store bought varieties, I think I will save this for a summertime occasional type of treat. Keeping up with the bi-weekly rotation just wasn’t fitting into our routine.
Let us know if you give this a try and what you learn!
