tea

Welcome back to Part II of my kombucha post!  Today I’m sharing details on how I flavored my kombucha, my experience with a second fermentation which adds the effervescence, as well as a few tips I learned throughout the process.

If you just landed here and you’re looking for Part I where I discuss kombucha brewing resources, choosing a SCOBY, and the first fermentation, head over this way to start then join me back here once you get a base understanding.

Let’s just skip the chit-chat and jump right into where we left off yesterday.

Flavoring Your Kombucha

First thing, remove your SCOBY and place it in a clean, sanitized container. Then remove 8 ounces of your brewed tea (or enough to cover your SCOBY) and add the starter tea to the SCOBY container. This will be your starter tea for next time.  You may also have a second SCOBY that formed on top of the first, it’s likely small and thin. It’s okay to combine the two SCOBYs until the second is larger.

Next, pour the remaining kombucha into clean, sanitized mason jars leaving about 1 inch of air at the mouth. This is important because you will need a small amount of space to create the effervesence.

When it comes to flavoring, it’s totally up to you and what you prefer. I like ginger and lemon flavored kombucha as well as raspberry and blueberry so those are the flavors I chose to use in my tea.  When flavoring with fruit, you should use fresh juice. I did this by defrosting frozen blueberries and raspberries and squeezing the juice (discarding the pulp). Same thing with the lemon.

For Blueberry Lemon: add 2 tablespoons blueberry juice and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to 1 jar and cap tightly with a lid

For Raspberry Ginger: add 2 tablespoons raspberry juice and 3 slices of peeled ginger to 1 jar and cap tightly with a lid

For Lemon Ginger Zinger: add 3 peeled ginger slices and 2 tablespoons lemon juice to 1 jar and cap tightly with a lid

Add Some Bubbles

For bubbly kombucha, you need to let the tea brew a second time, this is called a second fermentation. Just place the capped tea back into your dark, quite place and let it sit one about week.

After a week, put your kombucha in the fridge and this will stop the fermentation process. Let it chill and you’re ready to drink it!  If you taste it and want more bubbles in the future, try letting it sit up to 10 days before refrigerating.

Drink Up!

I found my kombucha was a bit cloudier than the kind I typically buy at the store — and THAT’S OKAY! It’s totally dependent on the SCOBY, what you add to it, how long you let it ferment.

I also found my kombucha was stronger than store-bought.  Because of this, I recommend drinking only a half-cup at a time until your body adjusts. Remember, kombucha is full of probiotics and healthy bacteria but that doesn’t mean your body can instantly digest all of it.  Your kombucha should last for up to a month if sealed and refrigerated.

When you’re ready to brew again, start the process all over.  If you want to wait a while, learn how to keep your SCOBY happy until you’re ready to start your next fermentation.

A Few Tips

• When determining your first fermentation time, take into consideration whether or not you’ll do a second ferment. If you do, remember your kombucha will continue to brew during the second fermentation — meaning it will become more vinegary.
  • My recommendation is to lessen the time of your first fermentation to counteract the additional time during your second fermentation.
• Your kombucha and SCOBY may look a little weird. It’s okay, you’re going to see stuff happening to your SCOBY — it’s made of bacteria and yeast, it’s a living organism.  You will likely see the mother of the SCOBY (brown stringy stuff), don’t be alarmed — it’s totally okay!
  • If you get really nervous, check out the Kombucha Kamp site to compare healthy SCOBYs to your own.
• When you open your kombucha to drink it, you may have a few baby SCOBYs floating around in the jar. Just skim them off the top and toss them (at least that’s what I did). They formed during the second fermentation and it’s 100% expected.  If you put peeled ginger into your kombucha, also discard that.
• If your kombucha was too sweet, try adjusting the initial sugar amount added during the first brew — but remember the SCOBY is made of yeast and yeast need sugar to grow so too little sugar can kill your SCOBY.
  • Or try adjusting your fermentation time, the longer it ferments the less sweet your tea will be!
• After each fermentation, your SCOBY will have a buddy growing along side it (sometimes even a few) once they reach the size of your original SCOBY, it’s a good idea to separate the two or give the spare to a friend. You wouldn’t want your SCOBYs competing for resources!

Have you ever made kombucha? Do you have any special tips to add?