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OfflineDeadPhan
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Registered: 05/05/04
Posts: 5,260
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How do i cultivate my own Kombucha Scoby?
    #19119922 - 11/11/13 10:55 AM (10 years, 3 months ago)

im gonna look around on google.  but im curious if anyone here has made one, if its anything like growing mushrooms?

can i get a culture and start on agar or something>  anyway, i have no idea so im about to read up on it.  anyone have any good sources for acquiring a culture?


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Big Gulps!  Alright!  Well,  See ya later!
And if i claim to be a wise man, well, it surely means that i dont know!


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InvisibleFrozenHappiness
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Registered: 03/01/01
Posts: 5,330
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Re: How do i cultivate my own Kombucha Scoby? [Re: DeadPhan]
    #19120183 - 11/11/13 11:54 AM (10 years, 3 months ago)

I've successfully done it a couple of times. It is nothing like growing mushrooms; in fact, it is much easier.

It takes a while to get a good strong culture going when you are starting from scratch, but it is a rewarding thing to do if you're a kombucha junkie like I am.

Here's how I did it,

Step 1: Purchase an unpasturized bottle of commercial kombucha, GT's is good, so is Dave's. I don't know about any others. If they say 'raw' or 'live' on the bottle they are likely to work. Ideally you want an unflavored variety, but that isn't absolutly critical.

Step 2: Make 1 quart of strong sweet tea using 2 black tea bags, 1 green tea bag, and a quarter cup of white sugar. Allow this tea to cool to room temperature before removing the tea bags. Then divide the tea equally among two 1-quart mason jars.

Step 3: Divide the contents of the bottle of commercial kombucha equally among the two jars conataining sweet tea. Cover the jars with a piece of cloth and secure with a rubber band. Place the jars somewhere out of the way and wait.

After a while a skin will form on top of the tea, this is the pellicle (or mother, or SCOBY). Allow the pellicle to thicken up, and let the tea get overly sour. This part can take 2 weeks to over a month depending on ambient temperatures. I like to taste test the brew every 3 or four days after I get past the 10 day mark.

Step 4: Once the tea has become almost distgustingly sour, and the pellicle has thickend up a bit, and there are a bunch of stringy yeasty nasty-lookin' boogery bits in the brew it is time to make more tea. This time make 2 quarts of tea with 1 cup of white sugar and 4-6 tea bags. Using half black tea and half green tea. Put this tea in a one gallon jar, and when it has cooled to room temp pour in the sour overly done kombucha, pellicles, yeast sediment and all from step 3. Cover the one gallon jar with a cloth and secure it with a ruber band. Wait 10-14 days.

Step 5: after 10-14 days there should be another pellicle floating on the top of the brew, and the tea should be fermented into kombucha by now, or maybe even overly so. The first brew is usually a bit strong. Anyway, if you like the brew bottle it and drink it. If not then pour it out, BUT SAVE THE PELLICLE and a cup or so of the liquid-- this will be your starter for subsequent batches.

Each time you bew after this use 1 cup of sugar, ~1 gallon of water, and 4-6 tea bags for the tea. When the tea is cool plop in the pellicle and pour in the one cup of finished kombucha. Depending on ambient temperatures and size of you mother the brew will be done in 7-14 days. Each time you brew the pellicle will get thicker and thicker, and eventually layers can be peeled off and given to friends who want to ferment their own kombucha.

Cheers!


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InvisibleShroomismM
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Re: How do i cultivate my own Kombucha Scoby? [Re: FrozenHappiness]
    #19123634 - 11/11/13 09:46 PM (10 years, 3 months ago)

Wow, I use like 10-12 tea bags. I like it super dark. I also let it steep overnight.

But good advice there. And yeah that scoby gets thicker and thicker with each batch.

Here's our monster mother after about 4 brews



Someone donated a culture to us to begin, so we didn't have to start from store bought kombucha.
We brew in a 3 gallon glass container.. that's why that fucker is so wide.

It should also be mentioned that once you have a mother..not only can you peel layers off... but you can also cut it up into pieces... or even run it through a blender and use little chunks to start a new culture.

It's also a good idea to save backup scoby or three in the very rare off chance that something happen to the mother culture. To do that it's basically the exact same process.. but you just use like a quart mason jar, brew your sugar tea super strong and put it in there.. and can keep it in the fridge to preserve it/stunt the growth.. they go into hibernation mode or something.

Also if you use a mason jar... DO NOT use the metal lids.. they WILL rust like crazy in short time. Best to get some plastic lids for that.
For the cultures I store, I just use my plastic lids from mycology... with holes cut in them and a filter disc on it :grin:

For the main batch in the 3 gallon brewing container.. just wrap a couple layers of cheese cloth over top and seal it with a rubberband or two. You don't want flies or any insects getting in there and they are super attracted to kombucha. Even if your house is super clean... fruit flies and whatnot will be attracted to it from outside.. We had a batch ruined by maggots once..  I think they managed to lay eggs on the cheesecloth, and it dipped down and touched the kombucha so it was soaked and they managed to get through breed inside. 

But since then, I've used multiple layers.. a couple layers of cheesecloth, and then a paper towel or handkerchief over top, wrapped in a couple rubberband, and we store it in a big rubbermaid container. And making sure the vessel isn't TOO full so the cloth never touches the liquid.

My recipe is basically:
10-12 tea bags, mostly black tea and a couple green
1 1/2 cups of sugar
STARTER: 1/4 cup of white vinegar (if you are just starting) - all subsequent batches I would use about a cup or two of previous batch of kombucha.

I boil the tea for a couple minutes, remove from heat.. cover it and let it steep overnight.
Next day remove tea bags, bring to a quick boil... add the sugar and boil for about a minute (just long enough to dissolve all the sugar)
Then pour the super sweet, super dark tea in the large container, fill the rest up with water.. and then add your starter liquid (either ~1/4 cup of white vinegar or a cup or two of kombucha)
Make sure it's room temp or cooler before adding the mother.
Cover with several layers of tightly wrapped cheesecloth, seal it good.. and store it in a dark place for 2-4 weeks. (Depending how sour you like it). The more sugar you have, the longer it takes to get sour.
My sweet spot was around 3 weeks. Like said, taste it every couple days after about the 10 day mark until it gets to where you like it.

That was for 3 gallons of kombucha, so adjust accordingly depending on the size of your container. But it's not really rocket science.

Then when finished, start a new batch... transfer the mother... and then either add flavor and bottle it up or just put in your drinking container..

Before bottling we usually add flavors. Mango nectar and lemon and cinnamon and fresh ginger are popular.
We just pour the kombucha into a pitcher... add our flavors... then bottle it up.

With some of the flavors (ginger especially) after bottling, it will get carbonated. Bottling is key if you want some carbonation. If you bottle it up with some flavors make leave a tiny bit of room for air or bottles can break when they start to get carbonated.
Bottling for about 1-2 weeks after the brew is complete gives the perfect amount of carbonation I find... leave in room temperature while bottling. When finished put in the fridge.

Or if you like it unflavored just pure kombucha.. use as is.


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Invisiblefoodsgoodtoo
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Re: How do i cultivate my own Kombucha Scoby? [Re: Shroomism]
    #20596727 - 09/21/14 11:32 AM (9 years, 5 months ago)

got a good pickle jar going almost four liters.

K O M B u C h A

kind people gave away the baby! Had other techniques going one with milk the other with coffee.

Got pics will upload later.

K O M B U C h A


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