Making your own Scoby, to make your own Kombucha!

SO. I did this huge post on how to brew your own Kombucha at home, without spending $4 on just ONE small 24 oz bottle of it at your local Whole Foods store. When brewing your own Kombucha, you have to have your Scoby, after all it's the crutch to your tea! You can get one from a friend who has their own home brew OR you can be like me and make your own! So here's the how to, in case you want to make your own and are impatient on waiting for one from a friend :)

 

YOU WILL NEED:

- 1 bottle of RAW, PLAIN Kombucha

- 5 cups of water, divided.

- 1/3 cup PLUS 2 tablespoons of RAW sugar

- 3 bags of organic BLACK or GREEN tea

- 1 quart glass jar

- 1 gallon glass jar

- clean cloth or paper towels

- rubber bands

 

 

THE TO-DO:

1. Purchase your RAW Kombucha at your local Whole Foods store. Get one that has a lot of stringy yeast floating at the bottom :)

2. Pour all but ONE CUP of Kombucha in a glass. You only need that bottom cup with all the yeast. The rest you can drink if you want to.

3. In a small saucepan, boil one cup of water.

4. Add TWO TABLESPOONS of sugar to the water, stir to dissolve.

5. Turn off the stove, and add ONE bag of your tea.

6. Cover the saucepan to prevent mixture evaporation, and allow it to get room temperature. (I leave mine for a few hours)

7. One the water/tea/sugar mixture has cooled to room temp, remove the tea bag and pour the mixture in to a 1 QUART JAR. Add your One cup of reserved kombucha to it.

8. Cover the jar with a clean dish towel, and secure with a rubber band.

9. Place in a WARM, DARK SPOT, and allow it to sit for 7 days. You SHOULD see a thin, cloudy-like film forming on the top, THIS IS YOUR BABY SCOBY!

10. Once it has grown to 1/8" thick, it needs food again. (Only time will let it get this thick, so be patient!)

11. Boil 4 CUPS of water, add 1/3 CUP of sugar, stir, and let dissolve. Turn off stove and add 2 tea bags.

12. Cover the pot, and let it get room temp.

13. Once cooled, remove the tea bags. Transfer to a ONE GALLON sized jar. Add the original (that has your SCOBY in it) to the ONE GALLON jar.

14. Cover the gallon jar with a CLEAN dish rag, and secure it with a rubber band. Let it sit for another week and a half to 2 weeks.

15. Once the scoby is ready it will be 1/4" to 1/2" thick, and you can make your first batch of Kombucha!

 

If you've never made Kombucha before, and want to see the recipe, as well as the benefits check out my previous post here!