Anyone Brew Kombucha?

Reads 1960 • Replies 14 • Started Tuesday, March 1, 2016 6:32:27 PM CT

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Alen
places 1 º 18:32 Tue 3/1/2016

Hi guys,
Going to start brewing my 1st batch of kombucha in a week. Wanted to see if anyone else does this here, what advice you may have, etc...
I ordered a SCOBY, got the essential accessories, can’t wait.

Thanks,
Alen

 
cbfobes
beers 2938 º places 29 º 11:28 Wed 3/2/2016

I don’t, but nuplastikk can probably help you out. He always brought his to the tastings we had and it was really tasty.

 
blipp
beers 14272 º places 219 º 11:33 Wed 3/2/2016

My uncles-in-law make Kombucha.

We’ve chatted about it a bit, but I’ve never actually been involved in the process. From what I gather, much like brewing beer, sanitation is half the battle.

 
henrikb
beers 1264 º places 17 º 13:15 Wed 3/2/2016

I make it all the time. You dont really brew anything. You make a strong thee with sugar, lower the temperature and add the fungus......the fungus does the brewing. It is the easiest thing in the world......and tastes amazing. You dont have to worry about anything, put a cloth on top of your jar so that you do not get insect in the kombucha,.....easy!

 
Alen
places 1 º 15:58 Wed 3/2/2016

Originally posted by henrikb
I make it all the time. You dont really brew anything. You make a strong thee with sugar, lower the temperature and add the fungus......the fungus does the brewing. It is the easiest thing in the world......and tastes amazing. You dont have to worry about anything, put a cloth on top of your jar so that you do not get insect in the kombucha,.....easy!


I got the process down. Just wanted to see what teas you have used. I plan on trying a mixture of 70% black and 30% rooibos tea to see how it tastes.
Waiting for SCOBY to arrive

 
nuplastikk
beers 9094 º places 70 º 16:44 Wed 3/2/2016

Originally posted by Alen
Originally posted by henrikb
I make it all the time. You dont really brew anything. You make a strong thee with sugar, lower the temperature and add the fungus......the fungus does the brewing. It is the easiest thing in the world......and tastes amazing. You dont have to worry about anything, put a cloth on top of your jar so that you do not get insect in the kombucha,.....easy!


I got the process down. Just wanted to see what teas you have used. I plan on trying a mixture of 70% black and 30% rooibos tea to see how it tastes.
Waiting for SCOBY to arrive


Just brewed 1600 gallons or so today. Black tea is definitely integral to keep your SCOBY happy. Green tea used to be considered not as good for the SCOBY as black, but now it accepted as also good for it, but may turn sour quicker. Rooibos will dry out and ferment quicker, but should be fine as long as it is not the main tea being used. Not a bad idea to just brew a straight black tea and sugar batch and let it age to use as a healthy starter too. There is no fungus in a SCOBY. While I try and keep everything clean like a beer brewery, kombucha is waaaay more forgiving than beer in that regard. Kombucha Kamp is probably the best website to get info from, I’d avoid most others.

 
Alen
places 1 º 22:30 Wed 3/2/2016

Originally posted by nuplastikk
Originally posted by Alen
Originally posted by henrikb
I make it all the time. You dont really brew anything. You make a strong thee with sugar, lower the temperature and add the fungus......the fungus does the brewing. It is the easiest thing in the world......and tastes amazing. You dont have to worry about anything, put a cloth on top of your jar so that you do not get insect in the kombucha,.....easy!


I got the process down. Just wanted to see what teas you have used. I plan on trying a mixture of 70% black and 30% rooibos tea to see how it tastes.
Waiting for SCOBY to arrive


Just brewed 1600 gallons or so today. Black tea is definitely integral to keep your SCOBY happy. Green tea used to be considered not as good for the SCOBY as black, but now it accepted as also good for it, but may turn sour quicker. Rooibos will dry out and ferment quicker, but should be fine as long as it is not the main tea being used. Not a bad idea to just brew a straight black tea and sugar batch and let it age to use as a healthy starter too. There is no fungus in a SCOBY. While I try and keep everything clean like a beer brewery, kombucha is waaaay more forgiving than beer in that regard. Kombucha Kamp is probably the best website to get info from, I’d avoid most others.


Thanks man. I will let you know how my first batch turns out.

 
henrikb
beers 1264 º places 17 º 02:19 Fri 3/4/2016

Originally posted by Alen
Originally posted by henrikb
I make it all the time. You dont really brew anything. You make a strong thee with sugar, lower the temperature and add the fungus......the fungus does the brewing. It is the easiest thing in the world......and tastes amazing. You dont have to worry about anything, put a cloth on top of your jar so that you do not get insect in the kombucha,.....easy!


I got the process down. Just wanted to see what teas you have used. I plan on trying a mixture of 70% black and 30% rooibos tea to see how it tastes.
Waiting for SCOBY to arrive


I only use an organic black the.
I worried a lot in the beginning about doing things wrong.....it is very hard to do anything wrong, at least I have never managed.

 
Erlangernick
beers 6 º places 2 º 07:02 Fri 3/4/2016

Nope. Don’t even really know what it is, aside from mentions of "tea" in this thread and in the internets.

 
whaleman
beers 2178 º places 25 º 11:03 Fri 3/4/2016

Originally posted by nuplastikk
There is no fungus in a SCOBY.


SCOBY - fungus = SCOB

 
bitbucket
beers 2166 º places 63 º 19:50 Wed 8/3/2016

Originally posted by whaleman
Originally posted by nuplastikk
There is no fungus in a SCOBY.


SCOBY - fungus = SCOB


I’m not getting the fungus thing. A SCOBY is a Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast. I get it that yeast is a single-celled microorganism which is technically classified as a member of the fungus kingdom, but it’s still just yeast.

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