Continuous Brew Kombucha Tea Food

CONTINUOUS BREW KOMBUCHA RECIPE

Steps:

• Prepare the sweet tea. I use 2 Tablespoons of loose tea, 2 family size tea bags, or 8-10 small bags per gallon of water. Add 1 cup of regular sugar per gallon. Do not use raw honey!
• Let tea cool to room temperature and make sure it really is cool! This step is very important as too hot of tea can kill your SCOBY.
• Once tea is completely cool, pour into glass jar, leaving about 20% of the room at the top.
• Pour in the correct amount of liquid from a previous batch of kombucha or if starting from a dehydrated SCOBY, pour in ½ cup from a store-bought bottle of kombucha. If you don't have starter liquid, vinegar can be used instead.
• With very clean hands, add the SCOBY. The SCOBY may sink or float, it makes no difference, as the new SCOBY will eventually form on the top.
• Cover the jar with a fermentation cover or coffee filter and rubber band.
• Put the jar in a warm (around 75-85 degrees is best) corner of the kitchen where it is at least a few feet away from any other fermenting products. If your kitchen isn't warm enough, it may help to use a heating mat on the side of the brewing vessel.
• Let sit to ferment for around 7-21 days, though the length of time may vary depending on your temperature and batch size. You can taste test the kombucha to see if it is done. It should taste tart but still very slightly sweet also.
• At this point, kombucha is ready for a second ferment to add carbonation. If you aren't doing the second ferment, just pour the kombucha into another jar or jars with airtight lids and seal until ready to drink.
• For continuous brew, we dispense into several quart size mason jars with plastic storage caps (don't use metal!), leaving about 20% of the room on top.

CONTINUOUS BREW KOMBUCHA TEA

Steps:

• Bring one quart of water to boil, turn heat off, then add the tea (in a bag or use tea bags, 6-8). Cover and let steep for 10 minutes, more if you like stronger tea.
• Add 1 cup sugar and stir until dissolved; let water cool for a few minutes.
• In a large glass beverage container, with a plastic spigot, put the 1 quart of tea, along with 3 more quarts of cool water and stir.
• Add 1-2 cups of starter tea. This is tea that has been fermented from a previous batch. You should have gotten this with the scoby (from a friend). Put scoby on top of tea.
• Cover with a small tea towel and rubber band (to keep secure and keep out bugs - they love this stuff). Let sit on the counter for 7-10 days, tasting after 7 days to see if you like it. You can then pour some out to drink, or you can bottle some of it and flavor it to second ferment. You can flavor it with just about any fruit or veggie etc. Put a bit of the fruit or pureed fruit (about 1/4 C) in a soda bottle and add kombucha. Do not fill to the top or it may fizz out of the bottle. Cap and let sit on counter for another day or so, burping as necessary to avoid explosions. Place in fridge after the 2nd ferment. It will continue to ferment in the fridge, but much more slowly.
• When your supply is down to 2 quarts, make another batch but be sure to remove scoby from the glass container when adding the new, cooled tea. You won't need more starter tea, as that is what is in your container already! Add scoby back in and cover.
• Notes: If you see some dark strings in the tea, that is the yeast. It is perfectly fine. For lots of help and questions, Facebook has several groups dedicated to fermenting and also to kombucha. Most of the groups are very helpful and friendly. You may also contact me and I will try to help, if I can. Each time the scoby is moved, jostled, etc, it will grow a 'baby'. You may leave it attached to the 'mother' or eventually pull them apart if the tea gets too vinegary too quickly. Save the baby (or mother) in a separate glass jar with kombucha tea to cover. It doesn't matter if your scoby is small for your jar. The baby scoby will grow to fit the container.