Contact Us

Use the form on the right to contact us.

You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right. 

         

123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999

(123) 555-6789

email@address.com

 

You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.

Brew Your Own

Purchase a Homebucha Starter Kit from us? You’re ready to brew! The instructions below will guide you towards a healthy and tasty kombucha ferment. Have fun!

Kombucha 101 - How to Brew and Care for your Kombucha Culture

Ingredients needed:

  1. TEA (camellia sinensis, preferably organic, can be black, green, or white tea)

  2. SUGAR (preferably organic cane sugar)

  3. WATER (preferably filtered)

  4. CULTURE (Starter liquid/mature booch + SCOBY = symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast)

Equipment needed:

  1. WIDE MOUTH OPEN TOP BREW VESSEL (glass, stainless steel, or food grade ceramic)

  2. CLOTH COVER FOR BREW VESSEL (fabric napkin, or something with similar thread count to T-shirt)

  3. BOTTLES (ideally with tight sealing lids, mason jars NOT recommended due to metallic lid)

  4. MEASURING CUPS, STIRRING SPOON (plastic or wooden)

  5. pH STRIPS (optional but handy)

Brew Steps (all instructions are to brew a one gallon batch, this can be scaled up)

  1. Brew tea!  1 gallon water, 6-7 tea bags (or 12-14 grams loose), 1 cup sugar.  Heat water to ~180, add 1 cup sugar, stir into solution, then steep tea for ~5 min before removing from liquid.  *Pro tip: only heat ½ gallon water, add sugar and tea, then top with other half cold water to bring your temp down before adding SCOBY.

  2. Let tea cool to below 100 F.  The kombucha culture (SCOBY) is alive and doesn’t want to be scalded.  You can either let it cool overnight, or use pro tip above to bring water temp down quickly.

  3. Add culture (SCOBY + 2 cups starter liquid) and tea to your brew vessel.  Starter liquid just means mature kombucha, which has all the live culture within it.  Use 2 cups starter liquid for every 1 gal. tea. *Pro tip: if you want to scale up, make sure to scale up starter liquid.  Example: use 4 cups starter liquid for 2 gal. batch.

  4. Give a gentle stir and check pH with strips if desired.  The starter liquid should drop your pH to around 4 or less.  The acidity protects the kombucha from contamination / mold, and it will continue to acidify throughout the ferment, until a final pH of 2.5-3.5.

  5. Place your brew into a safe and warm space, ideally 70-80F, out of direct sunlight.  Cover the top with cloth + rubber band to make a tight seal.  This will protect your kombucha brew from fruit flies and contamination.

  6. Let the brew work its magic!  Kombucha typically takes ~14 days to ferment, becoming more tart with maturity.  You can begin tasting after ~10 days by gently dipping a spoon to retrieve sample.  If it’s too sweet, allow it to continue brewing.  *Pro tip: Start a kombucha log. Record the date you started your brew and anything extra about the process that you may want to remember.  Day 7 typically yields a sweet watery flavor; by day 14 you should start to taste a zingy, kick.

  7. Flavor and bottle!

    *Remember to save 2 cups starter liquid for your next batch.  The rest is for the drinking!

    Line up your bottles and add your favorite flavors, then use a funnel and top the bottles with your delicious freshly brewed kombucha.  Fruit juices are an easy and excellent way to flavor.  You can also add minced ginger, turmeric, herbs, etc.  You can also use fresh fruit chunks, just be aware they will leave a cloudier end product than if you use juices.  *Pro tip: use 3-5 tablespoons of juice per 12oz bottle.

  8. Cap and carbonate!  If you don’t want carbonation, you can drink your kombucha now.  If you want to carbonate, cap the bottles tightly and leave at room temp for a secondary fermentation (F2) of 3-7 days.  The kombucha will continue to ferment in the bottles, producing CO2 that is trapped inside, thus carbonating the liquid.  *SAFETY these bottles can become overly carbonated!  The F2 (and all fermentation) is fueled by sugar.  The sweeter the juices / flavors you use, the faster the bottles will carbonate.  If you are using a sweet juice (pineapple, orange, strawberry, etc.) don’t let your F2 go more than 3 days.  If you are using less sweet flavorings, it will take 5-7 days to get a nice carb.  *Pro tip: use a plastic tester bottle for your F2.  You can gauge the carbonation by how stiff the plastic becomes each day.

  9. Refrigerate your bottles and enjoy!  Kombucha becomes mostly dormant below 45F, so they are safe to store in the fridge for up to six months (or more!)  Need to take a brew break?  Leave your SCOBY, submerged in starter liquid, in the fridge until you’re ready to brew another batch!