Homemade Kombucha: Continuous Brew

Directions

1. Place the large glass container in a dark, undisturbed location at room temperature. Ideally, place the container about 10 inches (25 cm) off the floor to allow for ease of bottling. It will be hard to move the vessel when the tea has been added.
2. If you use a container with a spigot (which makes bottling a lot easier), choose a container with either a plastic spigot or a high-quality stainless steel spigot (304 grade or higher)*.
3. Make the sweetened tea by dividing the boiled water, sugar, and tea in a clean glass jars**.
4. Stir to dissolve the sugar and allow it to steep until the tea has cooled to room temperature.
5. When cooled, remove the tea bags (or strain out the loose leaf tea) and add the sweetened tea to the large glass container with the spigot.
6. Add the starter tea to the large glass container as well. The starter tea plays a crucial role in acidifying the sweetened tea to a level that inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria.
7. Then gently place the SCOBY on top of the liquid with clean hands.
8. Cover the container with a clean cloth, paper towel, or coffee filter and secure it with a rubber band. Avoid using cheesecloth, as the small openings are large enough for fruit flies to enter.
9. Ferment for 6 to 10 days***. The SCOBY may not always float at the top, and that's okay. A new "baby" SCOBY layer should start forming on the surface of the kombucha within a few days.
10. After 6 days, give the brew a taste test. If it hits the spot, it's ready to bottle! For a sweeter beverage, ferment for a shorter time, for a tarter beverage, ferment for longer. The longer the tea is left to ferment, the less sweet and more acidic it becomes as the SCOBY continues to eat up all the sugar.
11. Using clean glass bottles with plastic lids, gently open the spigot of the large container housing the brew and fill your bottles about ¾ full.
12. Leave at least 2 cups (480 mL) worth of brew in the large container to serve as the "starter tea" for the next batch.
13. If you'd like to flavour your kombucha, add a juice of your choice to the bottle, such as cranberry or ginger juice, leaving about 1 inch (2 cm) of air at the top of the bottle for carbonation.
14. Secure the lid and store the bottled kombucha at room temperature and out of direct sunlight for 24 - 48 hours, which will allow for carbonation. After this period, refrigerate to stop fermentation and carbonation.
15. To make a new batch of kombucha, make the sweetened tea as outlined above. When cooled, add this to the large container with the SCOBY and starter tea. Cover and seal with a rubber band. Ferment for an additional 6 to 10 days. Enjoy!

Notes

• ^†Substitute every 4 bags of tea for 1 Tbsp of an organic, unflavored loose leaf black or green tea.
• ^†A culture of bacteria and yeast.
• * Since the acidity of kombucha can degrade metal, it's advised to use plastic to avoid the possibility of metal leaching into your beverage.
• ** To protect the plastic spigot from potential damage, it is advisable not to pour boiling water directly into the container with the spigot when preparing the sweetened tea.
• *** Check on the kombucha periodically to ensure the SCOBY looks healthy. Light brown spots are normal, but black spots are not.
• Read our Kombucha Tips & Troubleshooting Guide for more insights, tips, and answers to common questions.
• Avoid using metal throughout the brewing process, but especially when the SCOBY has been introduced to the tea. Metal can leak into the brew and affect the taste and damage the SCOBY's growth.
• After each kombucha batch, a new "baby" SCOBY forms on top of the "mother" SCOBY, replicating itself. More SCOBY layers result in shorter fermentation time due to increased bacteria and yeast. To slow fermentation, remove older SCOBY layers and create a "SCOBY hotel" by storing them in a clean, covered glass jar with starter tea in the fridge, sealed with a plastic lid. It always helps to have a backup of SCOBYs in case something goes wrong.

Storage

• Store the bottled kombucha in the fridge for up to 1 month.