Kombucha Gingerale

It's been over a year since my dear friend Mandy was offering up some SCOBYs.  My husband has a little thing for kombucha, but I never got on the bandwagon until we started making our own.  I thought this might be a nice thing to do for him and this is the kind of thing I do.  So, I picked up the "Mothers" from her and set to work.  There's a lot of variation about making 'buch on the interwebs, so at some point you just have to take a stab at it and see how it goes.  After making it for over a year, we have found our method that is tried and true.

Update: we had some trouble after the hot some with imbalanced SCOBYs, so I've updated the recipe with less sugar and more flexibility.  5-days worked for us for a long time, but then just started not working anymore.  One of the most important things you can know about making kombucha is that it's not a static process.  Sometimes you'll need more time to ferment, sometimes less.  Sometimes more sugar, sometimes less.  Keep experimenting until you find the right balance for you!

For each SCOBY you will need:

• 2 - 4.2 qt Hermetic Jars ($13 at Container Store) 
• 1 C. White sugar (most of it converts during the process, but sugar is necessary) 
• 5 Irish Breakfast tea bags (any black tea will do, research if you'd like to use green or herbal as I believe you need to modify the recipe.) 
• Water 
• SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast)  or "Mother."  Search around because most kombucha makers have an excess.  I've been known to advertise them on freecycle and craigslist for free.  If you live in LA, contact me. I'll give you one.  
• Ginger (lots) - we buy several pounds at a time from the chinese market.  It is fresher and much less expensive than the regular store.  Process it in the food processor, skin and all, until nicely chopped.  I use a mini loaf pan to mold the ginger into 1/4 C. portions and then freeze.  Once they are frozen I transfer them to a freezer safe container.  If you don't want to use ginger you can use anything that has sugar in it - fruit, juices, etc.  Although, I've heard citrus juices have extra conditions, so read up on it if you want to use citrus.
• Rubber band 
• Wooden spoon 
• Mesh strainer 
• Funnel
• Iced Tea pitcher and extra glass or plastic jars for storage of finished kombucha.  Be cautious with glass containers as they have the ability to explode if they are stored too long.  

Directions for First Ferment:

1. In your glass jar pour 1 C. sugar and 5 tea bags. 
2. Boil water and pour into jar about 2 inches full so it is enough to dissolve sugar and steep tea. 
3. Stir tea and sugar with a wooden spoon and let it sit for 10 minutes. 
4. Fill up the rest of the jar with cool water and take tea bags out. 
5. Place SCOBY on top. 
6. Cover top of the jar with a dishcloth or cloth napkin and fasten with a rubber band.
7. Set in a dark place at room temperature for 5 days (this is really a minimum time - most important is that you notice a sour, vinegar-like smell).  The balance of a SCOBY can be disrupted by a number of factors, so you will want to pay more attention to the color (golden brown) and smell than the number of days.  
8. At the end of 5 days (or however long it takes to achieve your brew), prepare your second jar (repeating steps 1-4). 
9. Transfer SCOBY from your 5-day batch into the newly prepared Jar.

This is what it should look like after 5 days.  The color will change to a light golden brown.  Notice all the things dangling from the SCOBY - this is good.

Directions for Second Ferment:

In your first jar with the completed first ferment add 1/2 c. grated ginger or other flavoring.

Seal the jar with the air-tight lid and let it sit for at least 2 days minimum - Usually we let ours sit for five days and do both steps together.

Directions for Storage:

This is what the 'buch looks like when the second ferment is done.

Strain out the fruit or whatever you added with a mesh drain and use funnel to transfer to storage bottles.  Store in a cool dark place until needed.  We usually keep an iced tea pitcher in the refrigerator and replenish with the stored 'buch as needed.

These are some of the jars we use for storage.  The Arizona Tea jar is awesome.

A word to the wise: 

Be careful when you open your air-tight container. The longer the kombucha sits, the fizzier it gets. I have had kombucha sprayed all over my ceiling twice.  Twice.  So, go slow when you open.

Another Word: 

A new SCOBY forms with each step in the process.  You can separate the SCOBY from the larger SCOBY in the first batch and share with friends. The ginger will usually get caught in the SCOBY from the second stage and should be discarded.  In the final storage containers there will be a very small SCOBY-like formation that can easily slip into your drink undetected.  I speak from experience when I say it can even be slurped up through a straw.  Do yourself a favor and look for it before you get it accidentally.  I call it a slug.  And, well, you can imagine what it's like to get that thing in your mouth.