Kombucha

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Revision as of 14:04, 31 January 2022 by Jookia (talk | contribs) (→‎Brew log: Add 2019)

Kombucha is one of the only drinks that I enjoy. Here's a list of reasons I like it:

  • It's fizzy
  • It comes in a wide variety of flavours
  • It feels more hydrating than soft drinks to me

A lot of the Internet push it as a health drink. I don't care about this aspect enough to investigate.

Note that the hydrating feeling is just a feeling. Usually when drinking soda or coffee I need water nearby to somehow balance a feeling I identify as dehydration. It could be that I'm responding to sugars or some other taste. Regardless I don't need that with kombucha, and that's a benefit.

Getting started

There's a lot of good guides for starting to brew kombucha online.

You'll need to buy the following:

  • Starter kombucha liquid (known as the starter tea or SCOBY)
  • A glass jar with cloth to cover it
  • Flip-top bottles than can deal with high pressure inside
  • A water filter if your tap water is bad (mine is)

Most of these can easily be found online from shops dedicated to selling kombucha.

First fermentation

Tools:

  • Large jar for brewing
  • Cloth to cover the jar
  • Elastic bands to hold the cloth in place
  • Large containers for holding water
  • 1L container for starter liquid
  • Metric measuring cups
  • Water filter
  • Wooden spoon
  • Stove
  • Pot for boiling

Ingredients (for a 4L batch):

  • 800mL starter kombucha liquid (20% of the batch)
  • 3.2L water (80% of the batch)
  • 200g raw sugar (50g per litre)
  • 16g black tea bags (4g per litre) (I use 8 Lipton black tea bags)

Instructions:

  1. Wash the brewing jar using hot water and a cloth, no detergent or vinegar
  2. Refrigerate and filter 2.6L (82% of the batch) filtered water
  3. Boil 576mL (18% of the batch) water on the stove
  4. Put the tea in the water
  5. Close the lid on the pot and let it brew for 10 minutes
  6. Add the sugar to the tea
  7. Stir tea with wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved
  8. Pour chilled water in to the large jar
  9. Pour tea in to large jar
  10. Wait 5 minutes for the tea to cool
  11. Pour starter liquid in to the jar
  12. Cover the jar with cloth and elastic bands
  13. Write down the date on the jar with a marker

Exact measurements don't matter that much, just approximate.

This takes around 30 minutes.

Second fermentation

Tools:

  • 12 750mL flip-top bottles

Ingredients:

  • 4L kombucha
  • Cane sugar
  • Measuring cups
  • Funnels
  • Blender (I use a nutribullet)
  • Various fruits

Instructions:

  1. Set aside 800mL of kombucha as starter liquid (include the gross pellicle)
  2. Pick an empty bottle
  3. Using the funnel, add two teaspoons of cane sugar to the bottle
  4. Using the funnel, fill a third of the bottle with kombucha
  5. Cut and blend up some fruit
  6. Using the funnel, pour the blended fruit up to the bottle's neck
  7. Number the bottle with a marker and write down its contents somewhere
  8. Repeat from step 2 until you have no kombucha left

Pouring directly in to bottles like this is probably not the best method, it might be better to make a large intermediate jar then pour that in to bottles

This takes around 1.5 hours.

Brew log

2019

I did a few brews in 2019 but didn't write them down.

Eventually I didn't have the energy to keep brewing and my brew went vile. Don't do that.

2022-01-16 - 2022-02-31

  • Brewed for two weeks
  • Bottle 1: Blueberry, banana and apple puree
  • Bottles 2-4: Apple
  • Bottles 5: Mango orange
  • Bottle 6: Mango banana
  • Bottle 7: Half full, mango banana