Kombucha Making – Mountain Home Berry Farm

I make 2 gallons at time. Prepare 2 gallons of tea by using 8 green tea bags and 8 black tea bags (I’ll also use 1 gallon tea bags…use 2, of course). I fill this pot with water…holds around a gallon. Later, I divide the gallon between my 2 kombucha jars and add water to make full gallons. Once tea has begun to steep, add 2 cups of sugar (white sugar is fine…I use a less refined white sugar). All sugar and caffeine will be converted to healthy bacteria! *Be sure tea is completely cooled before adding in scobies!*

Here’s a pic of my scobies…always keep them in 2 cups each of starter tea when not in use. With scobies, you start with a Mother and will develop babies quickly and regularly. Babies can be used to make additional kombucha batches, shared with others to start their own, or fed to the chickens and pigs.

Here’s my scobies in 2 gallons of tea along with starter tea.

Let these sit on your counter for 2 weeks. Do not put a lid on these; they need air. I put these bandanas over mine with rubber bands around them to allow them to breathe and to keep the gnats out. Be sure to keep up with your starting date so you know when they’re ready! After 2 weeks, you can drink the kombucha as is, or you can do a second ferment. I’ll tell you about second ferment with the next pic.

If you’d like a soda-like drink that’s good tasting and good for you, be sure to do a second ferment on your kombucha! After you’ve completed the 2 week first fermentation of your kombucha, you can put your kombucha into jars or bottles with a little juice. Use 3 to 4 TBSP of juice to kombucha per jar. Leave a little head room in each jar or bottle…these will get fizzy like a soda. You can use just about any kind of juice (with added sugar or 100% juice)…I like apple cider, peach, anything mango-peach-apple, and berry juices are good too. You need to put a lid on these! Let these sit for approx 5 days (might happen more quickly in summer). Check them for fizziness and if to your liking, put them in the fridge. Always refrigerate after second fermentation is complete! Enjoy! *Be sure to save 2 cups per scoby of tea for the next batch.*