kombucha, baby

on tuesday, jp and i got a baby, a kombucha baby (SCOBY)! we found out from our midwife, maren, that another midwife, jen, in denver brewed her own kombucha. we contacted her and jen happily gave us our very own baby to start our kombucha brewing process.

we'd been wanting to do this for a while since we LOVE (like, really love) kombucha but it is also fairly expensive to buy (about $3-4 a pop!). since jp has all the brewing experience with beer --and, let's be honest, he's just a master at creating anything ingestible-- i let him do all the research (read: work). jen gave us great directions on what items we needed, what we needed to do, and some other helpful heads-ups. you can find those directions at the bottom of this post.

right now it's living in the back room of our basement and we get to check on it in a week or so to see how it's doing. i'll keep you updated!

Brewing Kombucha

Brewing

-boil a small pot of spring or reverse osmosis water on stove

-turn off heat. add 1 Tbs of organic tea (in muslin bag). Jen recommends gunpowder/jasmin and we used a green tea we were able to find at the asian market.

-cover and steep for 15 minutes

-in a clean gallon glass jar, add 3/4 cup raw organic sugar cane.

-pour brewed tea (minus bag, of course) into glass jar and mix until sugar is well combined

-add chilled spring water and bring up to about 3/4 gallon

-add kombucha baby and stock liquid (this is what we got from jen and what you see jp doing in the photos).

-cover top with thin cotton cloth or paper towel (jen suggests paper towel) and put a rubber band around the neck to hold it in place

-let brew for 2-3 weeks

-taste with a NON-METAL spoon at 2 weeks to see if it's vinegar tasting (not sweet).

Mixing with Fruit

-once brew is finished, take out kombucha baby with 10% stock (starter) liquid for your next brew.

-place in a glass jar and cover with paper towel/thin cloth.

-with brewed liquid, add 5% organic fruit (i.e. 1/2 a mango or 3-4 strawberries).

-cover and let brew for another week

-bottle (taking out fruit first)

-let sealed bottles sit out for a few days to build fizz.

-put them in the fridge and drink within 1 month.

Helpful Tips

-Kombucha hates metal and will take on a metallic taste so don't use any metal when brewing that could come in contact with the culture.

-if you see brown, thick discharge your kombucha probably needs oxygen. (this is why she recommends paper towels to cover jar).

--kombucha babies can be composted (chickens will love that, maybe), given away, or thrown out.