Kombucha: Part 2

bottling the kombucha

So I started brewing my own kombucha a couple weeks ago (12 days to be exact). I used sweet wild orange herbal tea for this batch (since I'm still on the decaf kick). I tasted it today and it was very nice! Since kombucha can be brewed between 7-30 days I figured I'd check mine out at the mid point mark and decide if it needed more time. It's still got a slight sweetness to it, but has the fizz and tang of kombucha as well so it's a nice balance. I now have the original scoby and a newly produce baby scoby. They are both resting in a glass bowl (in the cupboard) with some of the kombucha until I brew another batch... which will probably start today:)

New SCOBY!

I've done some additional reading about brewing kombucha at home (and I am in NO WAY an authority or expert): however, I learned a few things I'll take into consideration with this next batch. First the tea, apparently some herbal teas have oils in them that give them certain flavors. These oils can disrupt the culture and alter the pH. I also learned that a safe pH level for kombucha is between 2.5 and 4.6. I am going to see if I can get my hands on some pH strips to test the pH levels to insure proper brewing.



first glass of
homebrewed kombucha!

 I used (sterilized) quart mason jars with plastic screwtop lids to store my finished kombucha. I used coffee filters (with pinholes pricked into them) to strain out any sediment. These will keep in the fridge for months (not that it will last that long).