Home Made Kombucha
Immune boosting Kombucha tea is packed with healthy live enzymes and probiotics and is easy to make. Enjoy it plain or add a flavor to create your own favorite kombucha.
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Home Made Kombucha
Immune boosting Kombucha tea is packed with healthy live enzymes and probiotics and is easy to make. Enjoy it plain or add a flavor to create your own favorite kombucha.
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| Servings |
| 51-liter bottles |
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Ingredients
- 1/3cup organic black loose leaf tea
- 3 cups organic cane sugar
- 12cups filtered waterfor boiling
- 20cups cold filtered wateradditional water for the jar
- 2gallon glass jar
- 1 cotton towel
- 1 elastic band for around the jar top
- 1 plastic funnel
- 6 glass bottles with toppers
Instructions
Brewing Kombucha
- In medium pot, bring 12 cups of water to a boil. Remove pot from heat and stir in tea leaves. Let steep for 5 minutes.
- While tea is steeping, add sugar to a clean glass 2 gallon jar.
- Place mesh strainer over top of the glass jar, pour the tea into strainer allowing liquid to drain into glass jar. Using spoon, press down on tea leaves to extract any remaining liquid. Discard tea leaves.
- Stir sugar and tea together until sugar is dissolved. Pour 20 cups cold water into the jar and stir contents. Allow the tea to cool to 78 degrees or cooler before adding Scoby to the jar. Be sure to add at least 2 cups of kombucha starter into the jar. You can begin by using a store-bought plain kombucha.
- Cover jar with cloth and elastic band. Place jar in a cool room to ferment for 15-45 days depending on how you prefer the taste. Taste test the kombucha to decide when to bottle your brew.
Bottling Kombucha
- When your kombucha is ready to bottle, create a clean work space on your counter top near the sink.
- Wash your hands to remove any dirt or oil. Using a large glass or wooden bowl, (not metal) remove the scoby from the jar and set into bowl. Pour 2 cups of kombucha over the scoby for later use.
- Using a large 4-cup measuring cup with spout, carefully pour the kombucha from the 2 gallon jar into the measuring cup to just below the top.
- Place one glass bottle into the sink with the funnel in the top of the bottle. Slowly pour the kombucha from the measuring cup into the funnel until the bottle is almost full. Allow the fizz to settle down before filling the bottle just 2-inches below the top.
- Cap the bottle and set it aside, repeating the same process until your kombucha is bottled.
- You can choose to do a second ferment by leaving the bottles on the counter for one week. This will continue to ferment your kombucha, or you can refrigerate immediately if you like the taste as it is.
- Clean out your 2-gallon jar, and prepare it for a new batch.
Recipe Notes
Recipe Notes:
- You can flavor your kombucha when you bottle it, by reserving 1 cup of kombucha, adding your favorite flavor and pouring that into the empty bottle before topping it off with the plain kombucha.
- I like to use ginger, tart cherry, mango, or any fresh fruit I may have on hand.
- Aldi grocery store sells a bottled lemonade. Those bottles are inexpensive and perfect for bottling your kombucha.
Note: The longer kombucha ferments the less sweet it will become. Taste test your batch and bottle when the taste is to our liking. Some people bottle their kombucha after only a few weeks of fermenting.
Recipe by Laurie Kerkinni for www.culinarybutterfly.com