Are you in love with kombucha, but not so in love with the hole it can burn in your wallet? You are in the right place! This article will teach you how to make your own kombucha at home. Brewing your own kombucha is surprisingly easy, and this guide will walk you through each step.
If you do not have any ingredients or equipment for brewing your own kombucha, you might want to check out our kombucha brewing kits to ensure you have everything you need! If you just need a SCOBY and starter tea, we can help you with that too!
Please note this recipe is intended for brewing with a 1-gallon glass jar. It is perfectly fine to start with a smaller amount—you will just want to scale the recipe to the size of your brew.
How to Make Kombucha at Home
Boost your health and save money by making delicious kombucha at home! Brewing kombucha is much easier than you might think. This guide will walk you through each step. Enjoy!
Ingredients
What you Need:
- 1 Gallon Glass Jar
- 8 bags Tea (or 3-4 TBS loose leaf tea in a bag) black tea is best, green & white can be used too
- 1 cup Sugar organic raw cane sugar is great, plain white sugar also works
- 1 SCOBY (Mother Kombucha culture)
- 1-2 cups Strong Starter Tea strong starter tea is plain, well-fermented Kombucha. If you do not have a full cup, you may start with a smaller batch
- 1 Coffee Filter
- 1 Rubber band
- 13 cups Filtered Water
- Container(s) for finished kombucha OR see below for Second Fermentation
OPTIONAL for second fermentation:
- Flip-top glass bottles
- 1.5 cups Fruit juice there are many other options & recipes, but we will use juice to keep it simple in this guide
Instructions
Steps to Making Kombucha:
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Bring 4 cups of filtered water to a boil in a clean pot
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Remove the water from heat and add tea. Steep for 10 minutes, then remove and discard (longer = stronger)
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Add sugar. Stir until completely dissolved
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Pour 8 cups of cool or room temperature filtered water into the gallon glass brewing jar
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Add your fresh-made sweet tea to the gallon glass jar. Stir to mix with the water
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Allow the jar to reach room temperature (68-86 F). *If the sweet tea in the jar is still too hot, do not rush this! Your SCOBY can be damaged if the temperature is above 86 F
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Gently add your starter tea and SCOBY to the jar
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Cover the jar with a coffee filter and secure the filter over the mouth of the jar with a rubber band
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Place the covered jar in a dark, warm area with sufficient airflow where it will not be disturbed* (a shelf in a closet with the door cracked open is ideal). Room temperature of your brew's location should be between 68-86 degrees F**. Leave the jar to ferment for 7-21 days.
*Moving your jar causes new SCOBY particles to sink to the bottom and can inhibit proper baby SCOBY growth. Be patient and do not move your jar! It will pay off 🙂
**Kombucha ferments faster with warmer temperatures - if your ambient temperature is on the lower end of this range, you might want to add a couple days to your fermentation before disturbing and testing your kombucha
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Check on your kombucha and begin tasting on day 8 (Add 2 days if ambient temperature is below 70 degrees). The kombucha should smell and taste slightly sweet and tart. You can use a straw or spoon to gently push the new SCOBY aside and extract kombucha as pictured
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a. If the kombucha is still too sweet for your taste, allow it to continue fermentation. Taste as often as once a day until it meets your preferences!
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b. If the kombucha is not as sweet as you would like, reduce your brew time and begin tasting it earlier in the future.
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Is the kombucha just the way you like it? Time to prepare for your next batch!
**FYI, you should make sure you have enough time to immediately brew more sweet tea and create your next batch BEFORE removing SCOBYs. If you do not have time to brew for your next batch yet, we recommend leaving your current brew (and SCOBYs) to ferment until you do have more time**
With clean hands or food-grade gloves, remove your mother SCOBY as well as the new baby SCOBY that has formed on the surface. Stir your kombucha, and use a clean ladle to remove 1-2 cups of the kombucha brew to accompany your SCOBYs. Stirring the kombucha ensures your starter tea will have an even balance of the yeast and bacteria you need.
You will be brewing fresh sweet tea for your SCOBYs and starter tea shortly; while they wait, you can keep them at room temperature in a glass vessel (mason jar, large mug, etc.) covered with a coffee filter and rubber band.
Finish NOW or Second Fermentation? This part of the process is once again a matter of preference. If you are happy with your kombucha as is, read the instructions under "Finish Now". If you want to flavor and/or carbonate your kombucha, read the instructions under "Second Fermentation".
Finish Now:
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With your SCOBYs and 1-2 cups of starter tea removed and set aside for the next batch, pour the remainder of your fermented kombucha into another container (or containers) and place it in the fridge. It is ready for you to enjoy! Skip ahead to "Starting Your Next Brew"
Second Fermentation (OPTIONAL):
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If you choose to carbonate and/or flavor your kombucha, this step is for you! You will need flip-top bottles for this option. Don’t have them? No problem! Check out these alternative options you should have around the house!
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Once you have your bottles, we are ready to go! Prior to secondary fermentation, kombucha is not really carbonated. Yeast is re-activated by sugars we add for the second fermentation process, and it releases gas as a result; this means that we need to add sugars during this step in order to get the carbonation we desire! Flip-top glass bottles keep the carbonation sealed inside, and we will end up with a nicely carbonated kombucha.
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For the purpose of this guide, we will use 1.5 cups of fruit juice to keep things simple. There are many other options for flavoring your kombucha if you are feeling more adventurous! We will begin by splitting the 1.5 cups of fruit juice up between the flip-top bottles we are using (approx. 1/4 cup juice per bottle).
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Then, we will add the remainder of our first batch of fermented kombucha to the bottles, leaving one inch of headspace at the top of each bottle.
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Seal the bottles, and leave them at room temperature for 2-7 days (this will vary based on the temperature, amount of sugar, etc.). Check on them each day, lifting the lid briefly to release excess pressure. Once you are happy with the carbonation level and flavor, place the sealed bottles in the fridge.
Starting Your Next Brew
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Get your next batch started immediately! Begin at step 1. This time, you can use the SCOBY (the mother, baby, or BOTH) and starter tea that you set aside earlier rather than using a purchased or gifted SCOBY and starter tea!
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Enjoy! Whether you called it a day after the first fermentation or took your tea through second fermentation, the only thing left to do is enjoy the fruits of your labor! You can also flavor your beverage further at this point if you choose to do so. Time to impress your friends and family with your DIY kombucha skills, or keep the fermented goodness all to yourself 🙂
Becoming a Kombucha Master
As with anything else, brewing your own kombucha is a learning process. As you brew more and more, you will learn what you can expect in terms of fermentation speed at different times of the year, your flavor preferences, and more. You might even decide that you love a tart kombucha and you don’t want to check on it until day 14—to each their own!
Thanks for learning with us today! We wish you the best of luck with your first brew, and many years of making your own kombucha to come. Have any questions or comments? We would love to hear them and help with any questions you might have—simply share in the comments below.
[…] kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work […]
[…] kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work […]
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[…] kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work […]
[…] kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work […]
[…] kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work […]
[…] kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work […]
[…] are setting your brews up with the ideal ratio of starter tea to fresh sweet tea. Check out our kombucha recipe if you aren’t sure about this. Try using a full 2 cups of strong starter tea in your next […]
Hi! I’ve tried three times now to brew kombucha at home, and every time it has molded. I don’t understand what I’m doing wrong! I have a large glass jar with a towel covering the top, which I wash and sanitize with distilled white vinegar each time, I brew my tea and add the sugar and SCOBY and starter tea (they come in 8oz packages so I never do more than a gallon even though my jar is much larger in the hopes of someday making bigger batches). I follow the instructions I find on different websites for sugar and tea ratios, keep it near my kitchen where it is warm and away from windows, and as soon as the baby SCOBY starts to form I get mold! I don’t understand 🙁 please help
Hi there!
It looks like you just ordered with us for the first time– that’s a step in the right direction! 🙂
Please make sure you follow the instructions on our website (your SCOBY will arrive with a link to them). Instead of a towel covering the top of the jar, use a single coffee filter secured with a rubber band. This allows airflow while still fully protecting your brew.
If you have not, I would recommend putting your jar in the dishwasher on a high-heat/sanitize cycle to ensure any old mold spores are eliminated. If you are not already using black tea, I would recommend that (our instructions will cover quantities).
Since you ordered the pH strips, you will want to have a pH of 4.5 or below when starting your brew and 3.5 or below once your brew is completed. I would recommend placing your brew in a completely dark space with airflow (such as a cabinet or closet with the door cracked open). Try not to move or disturb your fermenting jar at all for at least the first 7 days (movement can disturb forming baby SCOBY particles and removing the cover can allow contaminants to enter the brew).
If you were following all of these instructions, the case may be that you were not using a quality SCOBY during your previous attempts. Feel free to reach out should you run into any additional questions! 🙂
Thank you for the advice!
A couple more things:
The jar I was using is too wide for a coffee filter to cover the top. Is there a better alternative than a towel and rubber band or should I get a smaller jar? I was using a linen towel because it’s breathable and thin but still has a tight weave to keep bugs ‘n’ stuff out.
I don’t have a dishwasher, but sanitized all my dishes with hot water and a vinegar rinse. This time I ordered some IO Star iodine sanitizer, do you think that’s the right move?
If the starting pH is above 4.5, should I add an unfiltered unflavored kombucha like GT’s original to lower the pH? Or vinegar? I have read so many articles 😭
Lastly, I live in a house that floats on a river, so when boats go by the whole house does rock a little bit. Very gently but still noticeable. Do you think that’s enough disruption to be causing the mold issue? Should I just not brew kombucha in this house?
Thanks again,
Hannah
Of course! I hope this all helps!
Seeing as you have run into issues a few times already, it may pay off to invest in a smaller jar that a coffee filter would work for. It is possible the towel could be housing mold spores.
Without a dishwasher, it sounds like you are taking the right steps. I would recommend soaking the jar with soap and very hot water, then scrubbing and rinsing the jar out with hot water, and finally rinsing it out with distilled white vinegar to make sure there is no residual soap. I would not recommend using sanitizing products.
If pH is above 4.5 at the start of your brew, add 1 tsp distilled white vinegar at a time until reading is 4.5 or below.
As far as the house, this is a new situation for us :). This could make brewing kombucha more difficult, but if movement is minimal I would not expect it to make it impossible. There are likely more mold spores around since it is a moist environment–making sure you start the brew at 4.5 or below is very important.
Best of luck! We hope you are able to master the elements at play here!
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[…] kombucha recipe. That means you need to have kombucha that has already completed the initial fermentation process on hand. Both are truly very simple—waiting for your primary fermentation kombucha to work […]
I read that drinking the same kombucha brew repeatedly can have adverse effects over time, and a way to circumvent that is to drink different brands of Kombucha. If making at home how do you change your brew so that it does not have the same bacteria repeatedly? Thanks I’m advance
Hi there,
A new SCOBY grows with each homebrew– the culture is constantly growing and changing when brewing consistently. While we are not aware of any science behind this claim to begin with, home-brewed kombucha is often grown at varying temperatures and offers the brewer control over other variables such as yeast/bacteria balance and temperature, which may affect the culture.
Hello. Brewing for the first time. I’m in the Ecuadorian Amazon, so using available resources in my area, which makes for a somewhat unconventional kombucha. Instead black Indian tea, I’m using guayusa, which has a similar phenolic composition. And my cane sugar is local raw panela, which is more or less unrefined pure cane sugar. To minimize impurities introduced by either the sugar or guayusa, I’m boiling both in the water a few minutes, not just pouring hot water over them to steep.
My first batch tastes good, and produced a good looking clean baby scoby on top, but there is some dark “silt” at the bottom with the mother. May be some mold, I’m not sure, since it’s my first time. Should I try rinsing that stuff off with clean pure water before starting a next batch?
Hi there,
Congrats on your first brew!
It sounds like the “silt” could be yeast particles from your brew, though it is difficult to say without seeing the brew.
I would recommend comparing to some of the yeast pictures in this article on Kombucha SCOBY health
Mold requires oxygen to grow & can thus only grow on the surface of your brew. Fortunately, this makes it a little easier to identify.
I hope this helps! Happy Brewing! 🙂