How to Make Kombucha at Home

August 5, 2018

Homemade Kombucha

Brew your own delicious kombucha at home with this easy guide! Enjoy the health benefits and save money while creating a refreshing, tangy beverage that you can customize to your taste. Perfect for kombucha lovers looking to start home-brewing.

Ingredients

3-4 Tbsp loose leaf black tea* in a bag
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
13 cups Filtered Water
1.5 cups Fruit juice, for second fermentation (optional)

Directions

Bring 4 cups of filtered water to a boil in a clean pot.
Remove the water from heat and add tea. Steep for 10 minutes, then remove and discard.
Add sugar. Stir until completely dissolved.
Pour 8 cups of cool or room temperature filtered water into the gallon glass brewing jar.
Add your fresh-made sweet tea to the gallon glass jar. Stir to mix with the water.
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
Gently add your starter tea and SCOBY to the jar.
Cover the jar with a coffee filter and secure the filter over the mouth of the jar with a rubber band.
Place the covered jar in a dark, warm area with sufficient airflow where it will not be disturbed*. Leave the jar to ferment for 7-21 days. Room temp should be between 68-86 degrees F*
Check on your kombucha and begin tasting on day 8. 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!*
Kombucha tastes just right? 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. A mason jar or mug works well for this
You will be brewing fresh sweet tea for your SCOBYs and starter tea shortly; keep them at room temperature in your mason jar or mug for the time being. Covered with a coffee filter and rubber band.
If you choose to SKIP Second Fermentation (flavoring & carbonation): 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" in the recipe notes
If you choose to carbonate and/or flavor your kombucha, split 1.5 cups of fruit juice between 6 16 oz flip-top bottles*
Add the remainder of your first batch of fermented kombucha to the bottles, leaving one inch of headspace at the top of each bottle.
Seal the bottles, and leave them at room temperature for 2-7 days. 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.

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.

Here's how you can use a straw or spoon to gently push the new SCOBY aside and extract kombucha:

Don’t have flip-top bottles yet? No problem. We recommend getting them for your next batch, but these alternative options can work in a pinch.

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.