Kombucha -healthy brewed tea

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

brumbrew

Regular dufus
Joined
May 5, 2014
Messages
1,523
Reaction score
536
Location
Birmingham
So kombucha.

Anyone tried it. Ever seen it?

I'll put it here even though it is a type of fermentation. But estimated abv is only like .5-1%

It's a sort of yakukt healthy bacteria kind of drink. You can buy them with some amazing flavours.

If anyone is interested I'll post the way I've managed to harvest some SCOBY from a bottle I bought, and how to turn it into a mother and get a constant brew going.

I know it's not beer. It's not wine, it's not even sloe gin.

But more yeast and bacteria in my diet couldn't be to bad aye ;-)

Time will tell. First time I've tried it after watching hours of YouTube :-)
 
Oh forgot to add the basics.

It's sweet tea left to ferment. In a healthy way ;-) apparently :-)
 
Hey,

I've used kombucha in the past. Really liked it. Don't have the kitchen or cupboard space just now. Love a little kombucha to start the day.

How is your tea doing?

M
 
I've considered it in the past, but been put off by having to buy a scoby online. Not sure why, but just don't feel comfortable buying something like that without knowing how or where it came from :-?

Any recommendations for commercial Kombucha that can be used to grow a culture?

Kvass is another fermented drink I've looked at. It's a very low alcohol (around 1 or 2 %) drink fermented using Rye bread. Not made it though.
 
I bought a bottle from a local farmers fair. Drank all but the last bit which had traces of the SCOBY in it.

I made some sweet black tea let it cool and popped it in the bottle left it for a week until the jelly mass began to form.

Then I sterilized an old pasta jar and filled this with more cold sweet tea, then poured in the first batch of half formed SCOBY.

It seems to be taking hold, but there is some greenish looking stuff growing on the SCOBY. Doesn't look like powdery mold (yet) but as its a first attempt I'll chalk it up to a learning curve if it goes wrong. (As its been moved twice from different temps)
 
I bought a bottle from a local farmers fair. Drank all but the last bit which had traces of the SCOBY in it.

I made some sweet black tea let it cool and popped it in the bottle left it for a week until the jelly mass began to form.

Then I sterilized an old pasta jar and filled this with more cold sweet tea, then poured in the first batch of half formed SCOBY.

It seems to be taking hold, but there is some greenish looking stuff growing on the SCOBY. Doesn't look like powdery mold (yet) but as its a first attempt I'll chalk it up to a learning curve if it goes wrong. (As its been moved twice from different temps)

Cheers Brum, sounds like its not too difficult so will give this a go. Will have a look on youtube first, anything to boost my immune system and health.
Another fermented drink which is super easy to make is Rejuvilac. It goes off quickly but the first time i made it was vert tasty. Just looking for a suitable container.
Btw what does it taste like?
 
Well I personally don't drink tea ;-)

So I'm not sure where to start. Plus raw kombucha isn't easy to find. It's normally flavoured. As was the one I had. (Basil , black pepper and a fruit, think it was raspberry)

Just it was raw in the sense it wasn't filtered or pasturised or what ever they do to commercial stuff.

It's sort of fizzy with an acidic bite, with the tannin of the tea to finish. Since I hate tea I tried this reluctantly, but loved it.

I'll upload some photos.
 
Some pics of the first stage.

IMAG1915.jpg


IMAG1916.jpg


IMAG1918.jpg


IMAG1919.jpg
 
Thinking about it now I could have left the small jar of 'starter' a lot longer. I only gave it a week to form before tipping it into that big jar.

Think I may have stressed it in more ways than one. Hey ho, I don't even drink tea ;-)
 
Here's some of it now. I've poked the mouldy looking bit (that's the original from the bottle) and its all one jelly mass.

So hopefully it isn't mouldy and its going well.

Fingers crossed.

IMAG1939.jpg


IMAG1940.jpg


IMAG1941.jpg


IMAG1942.jpg
 
It doesn't appear to be furry like mouldy bread. Or have little hairs sticking up. Any flecks of black bits you see are just tea bits that made it through.
 
I grew quite a bit of this many years ago having purchased the starter

I had a little fermenting cupboard at the time (well a tiny heater in the airing cupboard - not enough to air the washing but it worked a treat on the Kombucha)

I kept it in an ice cream tub and it used to reproduce like mad (*I have to say though that it never had the mould on it :-)

It was like a living thing, and the hype at the time was that you don't throw it away as it's like magic!! so consequently I ended up over run with the stuff.

I have just found my original book that I bought to go with the starter and it gives the ingredients so if you want any help just let me know.

One thing the leaflet that came with the starter says is "In order to avoid disappointment use only filtered tap water or bottled mineral still water. Poor results may be experienced with the use of water straight from the tap."

The recipe/advice sent with my starter was as follows:
Use fruit flavoured tea bags ratio 4-1 (ie for 2 litres use 4 Darjeeling)
The man supplying at the time said he used either Apple, Apple and Mango, Strawberry or raspberry and he always got good cultures from those brews.

Another leaflet I had said it was called the Kombucha Network and I've had a quick look on line and it says that the following people supply a scoby for the cost of postage, (I don't know whether that is still the case though.) and I don't know whether the prices are still correct.
Hope all of this helps.

I've also just discovered what Scoby stands for "(symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast)"

Try this website for where to get a scoby from
http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/resources/find/find_kombucha.shtml
________________________________________________________________
Sulis Health
The Hollies
Wellow, Bath
Somerset
BA2 8QJ, UK
Tel/Fax: 01225 833 150

information
They'll send you a scoby for a small fee to cover post and packing.
Or you can choose one of their starter packs, a culture and the handbook for around £16. The handbook is excellent and highly recommended.
Or a they have a kombucha kit, including handbook, culture, heating tray, Chun Mee Green Tea bags, muslin and elastic for around £38.
_________________________________________________________________
 
So it's been a while and I've decided to dump the original tea in place of new stuff.

The SCOBY is a nice solid jelly mass now will post pics tomoz.
 
Update.

Sorry I didn't get round to doing it the other night.

Anyway. Fresh brew made and cooling. Here's the SCOBY grown from a tiny bit left in the original bottle. ;-)

The scoby had rejected the original little one and it pretty much fell out when I picked up the rest of the mother.

So it can be done.

I tasted the first brew and it was a little to vinigary for me

IMAG2058.jpg


IMAG2059.jpg
 
Just noticed this thread after having some Kombucha in Portland last week.
Didn't know much about the drink but it was from a company called Brew Dr and I was sold on the fact they had one blended with Citrus Hops which was really refreshing (especially seeing as it was 36c outside that day).

Did you make more following the first attempt if so how did they turn out?
 
Just noticed this thread after having some Kombucha in Portland last week.
Didn't know much about the drink but it was from a company called Brew Dr and I was sold on the fact they had one blended with Citrus Hops which was really refreshing (especially seeing as it was 36c outside that day).

Did you make more following the first attempt if so how did they turn out?

I still have it, haven't looked in the jar for a while though :-( could be dead or alive.

I've given plenty of them away though.
 
Back
Top