I finally did it.......it took me a couple of trys using defferent methods that I found on the internet. The one that finally worked for me was to buy a bottle of kombucha from Whole Foods and start with that and about two quarts of sweet tea. It took several weeks to grow the scoby because our house is airconditioned and kept around 71 or 72 degree.
We love it...It is very fizzy :o)
How to Make Kombucha Tea
2 quarts water, filtered
4 organic black tea bags
¾ cup white granulated sugar
½ cup kombucha from the last batch
1 SCOBY
What is a SCOBY and where do you get one?
SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. It’s what transforms the sweet black tea into kombucha and provides the healthy probiotics. You can receive one from a friend who makes kombucha, you can order one through the mail, or you can grow one from a bottle of store-bought kombucha tea (that’s how I did mine, see directions below).
Directions to Make Kombucha Tea
Be careful to keep everything really clean. I make each batch in a half-gallon canning jar, which produces enough for three 16-oz bottles.
Day 1:
1.Boil a quart of filtered water.
2.Add 4 tea bags and let steep for 20 minutes.
3.Stir in 3/4 cup of sugar and let cool.
4.Pour tea into a half-gallon glass canning jar and then fill the jar with cool filtered water.
5.Add the SCOBY and 1/2 cup of kombucha from the last batch as a starter.
6.Cover jar with a muslin cloth or paper towel or coffee filter and secure it with a rubber band or the canning jar ring.
7.Let it sit undisturbed in a dark place for about 5-10 days. The longer it sits, the less sweet it will be. You can sample it with a straw to see how long you want to wait.
Day 10 (or sooner, if you prefer):
1.Remove the SCOBY from the jar, and place it on a plate.
2.Reserve a half cup of kombucha to start the next batch.
3.Pour the kombucha into bottles or jars with lids. I use glass swing-top bottles with rubber gaskets. (I bought them from a homebrew store that sells equipment for making wine and beer.) A batch this size fills three 16-oz bottles.
4.Add flavoring if you like. We add juice for flavor add a little less than 1/4 cup juice to each 16-oz bottle or you can use canning jars.
5.Let the bottles sit at room temperature for 5 days. This improves the flavor and adds carbonation. (Make sure your bottles have tight-fitting lids to hold the carbonation.) After 5 days, transfer the bottles to the refrigerator. They’re ready to drink!
With this routine, every nine days I start a new batch of kombucha, and each batch takes two weeks to be ready to drink. I use my calendar to help me remember when to start a new batch and when to move the bottles to the fridge.
From what I’ve read, the SCOBY does best with sugar in the most simple form possible. Most of the sugar will be consumed before you drink the kombucha anyway.
Store your SCOBY covered with some kombucha in a jar until you’re ready to start the next batch.
How to Grow a SCOBY
1.Start with a new 16-ounce bottle of plain store-bought kombucha.
2.Pour the kombucha into a wide-mouth glass canning jar, and cover the jar with muslin cloth or a paper towel.
3.After about four days, a SCOBY will start to form. Add some sweet black tea to help the SCOBY grow. (Sweet black tea made with a cup of water, one tea bag, and 1/4 cup granulated white sugar.)
4.After about ten more days, the SCOBY should be ready. You probably won’t want to drink any of this starter batch of kombucha (because of the taste), but do save a half cup of it for a new batch.
Try searching Google for photos to compare. If your SCOBY has brown tendrils on it, that’s probably extra yeast, and you can just remove those. If you think your SCOBY has mold on it, be safe and start over.
That’s the basic kombucha recipe. Try adding different varieties of fruits or juices to vary the flavors!
