30 Rebecca Street, Stratford | 519 271 0388 | Janua ry 2017 Issue
Making your own Kombucha at home!
Sprout Master Scoby (Culture)
Cultivated and tested at the Sprout Master Farms in Elmvale, Ontario, each culture is fermented in tea and
packaged with original tea to start your own cultures. While helpful instructions on how to make your
kombucha are included in the bag, we receive so many questions that we thought we would post the
information for all to see. Below is Nancy's favourite kombucha! Enjoy!
Step #1
Get yourself a large jar or a fermentation keg for your kombucha.
Measure 1 cup of raw sugar (use whatever variation of sugar you
prefer - this is what has given me the best results) and pour into
your jar. I also add a heaping tablespoon of coconut sugar (this
has made my batch very bubbly.) Boil water and pour into your
jar and stir to dissolve the sugar. I don't measure anymore, I just
guess roughly four cups.
Add 6 bags of tea - I use Uncle Lee's Tea (Green Tea with
Jasmine). Stir and allow to steep. I allow this sugar tea to cool
completely before moving onto the next step. Sometimes, it will
sit there for hours before I return to it.
Step #2
Remove all the tea bags from the jar, squeezing out all the
goodness of the tea solution.
Fill your jar with room temperature water - keep in mind that you
need to leave space for the culture and tea solution - called
'starter tea' (or your last batch - if this is you have done this
before.) I have a Santevia pitcher that sits on my counter so I use
the water from it.
Add your kombucha culture and tea solution and completely fill
your jar. My jar holds about 16 cups of water - I just fill the jar to
the top and that works for me. What is the culture? It is a
symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast (the bacteria and yeast
“eat” the caffeine, tannins, and sugar in the liquid and transform
them into the lovely effervescent and tangy goodness of
kombucha.)
Cover the lid with a coffee filter or cheese cloth and an elastic to
seal it. I put my jar in a corner of my kitchen (on the counter)
and cover it with a tea towel so that it is dark. I leave it for 7-10
days.
Step #3
Second Fermentation (optional)
Remove your culture from the jar (you may have more than one they will increase with every batch) and set aside. I wait until I
get to the end of bottling to add approximately 2 cups of tea
solution to the culture (this is your starter solution for your next
batch) - the bottom of your batch will have quite a bit of 'floaters'
in it, which is what pour into my culture that I set aside to make
the next batch ).
Step #4
You have quite a few choices when it comes to bottling and
flavouring. You can drink your kombucha at this point, however, I
love to flavour mine - it is delicious! I saved GT Kombucha bottles
and use them for this part. You can use:
mason jars (I didn't have any luck with this method. Some
people may love it).
flip-top bottles (pictured on the left)
any jar or bottle that you can seal tightly
Once you remove the culture from your kombucha, set it aside.
Using a funnel, pour your kombucha into the container of your
choice - leaving a 1 1/2 inch space for juice. You can use fresh
fruit if you choose, however, I found it much easier to use juice.
Step #5
Adding flavour with juice.
With every batch I bottle, I use a different flavour of juice. My
favourite is tart cherry juice, however, the orange/mango is
delicious as well.
Fill your bottles with the juice of your choice - leave 1/2 inch
space for the fermentation process. Leave on your counter for 3-5
days and then, refrigerate and enjoy daily.
Drinking Your Kombucha
Start slow in drinking your kombucha. It is important to only drink a small amount the first day and
slowly increase the amount daily.
There will be 'things' floating in your kombucha - it is actually another culture growing and not harmful to
drink. I have strained it while pouring it into my jars and that doesn't really help - they just grow back
while fermenting on your counter. What I do now is pour myself a glass and allow the culture to float to
the top, where I will pick it out. You can pick it out and add it to your batch if you like - it will grow into a
full size culture in no time.
I hope this is beneficial information for you and that you feel comfortable making your own kombucha. It
really is a fun way to get your probiotics that your body requires.
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