Starting a Continuous Brew Kombucha System
Light and tangy Kombucha is within reach! Follow this easy guide to jumpstart your Continuous Brew system.
Ingredients
- 13 cups filtered water
- 1 cup organic unrefined sugar (do not substitute, this is the SCOBY's food!)
- 2 tablespoons loose leaf tea OR 8 bags I used gunpowder green
- 2 cups starter Kombucha either from previous brew (or store-bought)
Instructions
- Boil 7 cups of the water
- Pour the boiled water and sugar into brew container, stir to dissolve
- Steep tea for 2-5 minutes (depending on type of tea).
- Pour the rest of the room-temp water in to quickly cool the hot tea down
- After water has completely cooled (very important! Heat will kill the SCOBY), pour starter Kombucha and SCOBY into brewing jar
- Fit with cheesecloth, and set in a safe, dark, warm spot away from produce or other fermenting foods
- In a couple of days, you’ll notice a translucent film forming over the top. This is the newest Kombucha SCOBY forming, a great sign! (If you don’t notice a SCOBY within 3 weeks, discard batch and start over)
- After the SCOBY has grown to 1/4-inch thick, taste the tea, being careful of contamination.
- Keep fermenting until desired tartness has formed
- Once this happens, you can drink it immediately, bottle and refridgerate it, or complete a second (1-2 day) ferment. This will result in a bubblier, carbonated drink
- For instructions, check out my Guide to Flavoring, Bottling, and Second Fermenting Kombucha
Notes
If, at any point, you see fuzzy mold, discard the entire batch and thoroughly sanitize the system.
SCOBYs are weird-looking, and sometimes oddly colored, but a fuzzy texture is a clear indication of mold.
Mold growing means that the acidity didn’t reach the necessary levels to ward off mold, otherwise it isn’t ever a problem. This rarely happens, so don’t lose hope! Perhaps start with an older SCOBY mother, or more starter tea.
SCOBYs are weird-looking, and sometimes oddly colored, but a fuzzy texture is a clear indication of mold.
Mold growing means that the acidity didn’t reach the necessary levels to ward off mold, otherwise it isn’t ever a problem. This rarely happens, so don’t lose hope! Perhaps start with an older SCOBY mother, or more starter tea.