My advice for creating a new starter culture from scratch is to gradually increase the volume of starter liquid over 2-4 weeks because it will likely take several brews to create an active scoby.

It is crucial you sanitize your container and have a breathable cover, and let both the hot sweet tea and container cool down before use; bonus points if you choose a container that has a large surface area to increase fermentation activity, and store this in a dark place away from light at a temperature between 60°F and 85°F (16°C and 29°C). Sugar amount per 8 oz/250 mL tea is 12.5 grams (1 tbsp).

I usually start with a 1:1 ratio of 1/2 cup of store bought kombucha to 1/2 cup of brewed sweet tea and make sure the pH is below 4.5, then let ferment for 1 week. Next I add 1 cup of brewed sweet tea while still following the 1:1 ratio, and wait another week. Check periodically if pellicle formation is healthy with no contamination. 2 cups worth of starter is enough for 1 gallon batch brewing, and if you plan to brew 2 gallons then you can follow up with another 1:1 ratio with another week to create 4 cups worth. If your desired amount of starter is still weak then you can continue to either add or remove/replace 25-50% with brewed sweet tea for another week of fermentation. Batch brewing usually requires at least 10% kombucha starter liquid, and continuous flow through brewing requires 30% kombucha starter liquid.

When you officially start making kombucha for 1st fermentation (F1) it will likely take around two weeks to finish before second fermentation (F2) to flavor and bottle for carbonation (2-3 days). Refrigerate afterwards to slow down F2 and maintain bubbly carbonation.

This is my recommendation of sugar amounts for F2 carbonation and flavoring per 16oz bottle suggestions:

• Simple sugars or syrup: 2-6 grams (½-1.5 teaspoons; 2.5-7.5 mL)

• Juice: 28-56 grams (4-8 tbsp; 2-4 fl.oz.; 60-120 mL)

• Blended fruit puree:

14-28 grams of carbohydrates (1-2 tbsp carbohydrates; ½-1 fl.oz.; 15-30 mL). This can depend on how fleshy versus fibrous the fruit is, or how much citric acid is concentrated for flavoring.

What should I expect? I'm assuming it would taste like some flavoured soda 🥤 Would there be more than that? Either way I'm very excited!!! I'll update my after thoughts soon 💭

I just picked the bottles off of the styrofoam packaging so ignore the snow over the bottles ❄️

Restarting after leaving the mother mostly untouched for 2 years. Mixed up some sweet tea and poured in Some GTs and this is what we have after ~9 days in the basement. Dry and coolish.

I am making my 2nd fermentation. A part of the recipe needs to be clarified for me. It quotes: "16 bags black or green tea or 2 Tbsp loose leaf." Sixteen bags of tea is a lot. But ratio-wise, to loose tea, seems like A LOT more. Doesn't the 2 Tbsp of loose seem a lot less?

The recipe is for 1.6 L of water to start (not including the kombucha from previous batch)

What amount of tea bags do you use?

It’s coming up on the end of 1F for my restarted-after-mold-failure first batch. Most of it is going to go into an expansion batch (starter tea for a larger 1F batch), but I’m going to try a small 2F so I can be prepared when it’s time to do 2F on the larger batch. So what ratio of flavoring/sugar do I add to have a decent result?

I realize the answer is somewhat subjective. I want carbonation, but don’t like things sweet. I have some peach juice leftover from eating some canned peaches (good ones, not the commercial corn syrup variety), and was thinking of adding some ginger to it to give it a bit of spice. I presume the yeast will consume most of the sugar, reducing sweetness.

I made this starter with several pints of GTs, and retained the bottles, which is what I’ll do the 2F in for this sample run.

Hello everyone, first I'd like to say I really enjoy reading everyone's posts here. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. I am attempting my first homemade Kombucha. I am using a Sencha green tea, which I heated and sweetened, and when it cooled down, I added a SCOBY, which I bought at a local fermentation shop (I also added some of the mother SCOBY liquid, and about a 200ml of another ready to drink Kombucha from the same shop). It's been fermenting in a jar (with a cloth cover) for 6 full days (this is day 7) in a cabinet where it's consistently 20-21 C and I checked it yesterday and this is what it looks like. A new baby SCOBY has not yet formed at the top, it's more like a thin film with a spoon can pierce right through, and I tasted and it's gone from very sweet (right before I added SCOBY) to fairly bitter (not carbonated at all). Anyone got any tips? I've now moved it out of the cabinet, assuming it may not have been getting enough air and it's now in a room where it's about 18-19 C. Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you!

https://preview.redd.it/49gw73s306yd1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b74ab3de5ef3e3d04b318c42d5742edc4d4f636

I haven’t fed or paid any attention to this mother for over 6 months. I just poured a cup of sweetened black tea into the jar and have 2 questions:

1. What are the chances she’s still alive?
2. How can I tell?

Wondering if anyone has tried substituting maple sugar for cane sugar. Looks like maple sugar has 3 g less sugar than cane sugar per tablespoons.

Hiya, I'm still new to brewing booch and I'm on my 2nd batch. So whilst squeezing out one of my teabags, it burst and small flecks of tea ended up in my 1F. Would this be problematic, or would I need to throw the whole lot out and start afresh?

Hello,
I recently came across the Everydaze Reset Kombucha (pre+ probiotics) packets on Amazon and was curious if anyone has tried it. I'd love to hear about your experience with it and whether you'd recommend any other brands.

For context, I’m currently on a calorie deficit and have been researching kombucha. I've read that it can benefit gut health, inflammation, and the immune system. Is it advisable to drink it daily?

Any input would be appreciated. Thank you!

This has got to be one of the best health tonics around for the gut. Also delicious, that helps.

Hiya, as mentioned in the title this is my first time trying to brew kombucha.

Bought a starter tea jar that had a very thin strip of what looked like transparent paper in it - I'm guessing this was a piece of pellicle? However it was really thin, like maybe 1mm so I'm not sure.

The instructions said it should be mixed with 1 liter of sugared tea but I prepared it with 2. It's been a week now of it sitting out of sight and I'm not sure anything is happening. I'm pretty sure I gave it enough sugar and followed the instructions right. There is nothing forming at the top. I think the thin strip has grown larger (but not in it's thickness) but I'm not sure, it's hard to see. It lays on the bottom of the big jar and looks like crumpled paper - I can see it folding sharply at one point. There also be some strings growing from the crumpled strip and I think there are some white spots that look almost like tiny bubbles but it's very difficult to see.

I used a straw to taste it but given the fact that I don't know what kombucha should taste like I've no idea if it's any good. If anything it tastes a lot like apple juice to me. It's still sweet with a slight hint of sourness.

So does it look like this thing's growing? Should I leave it sit for a while longer? Is it because I tried to prepare 2 L instead of 1? Here are some pictures of the strip

https://imgur.com/a/twcLEaq

I see a lot of ppl post about phase 2 or F2, how do you do that? How do you know when to move on to a new phase? And please correct me on the verbiage, total newb here. TIA!

I've recently started drinking kombucha and I've noted when I wake up every morning I have no brain fog and feel energized/refreshed. Not sure if this is a placebo or real benefit

Can mold grow in 3.0 PH? I was on my second fermentation, and I didn’t think it was carbonated enough, so I put it back in the cabinet and then there was some white stuff at the top. It might’ve been a Scoby when I checked the pH it’s stuck to the stick and now it’s out, but it was 3.0…. it’s safe to drink lol wondering if it is safe to drink

I’ve never really thought about it much, usually kept little air (for more juice) but got curious.

Does it matter? And if it does why? Does more air allow it to get done quicker or something?

https://preview.redd.it/e1lv8gretxxd1.png?width=1062&format=png&auto=webp&s=35b0cccd2016a6e350d2b25b1572e28ee2db54da

Was wondering if anyone had experience using a 2 liter muster growler for f2

This is my new scoby that I’m trying to use for making a brew. It’s fermenting very slow since it’s been colder here, it’s a jelly like looking scoby and smells like vinegar. Doesn’t look moldy at all either. Is it ready for a batch?

I know there's a couple on this sub and I tried one but it wasn't too great. Maybe it was my fault.

I so desperately want to be able to make my own. I would pay a lot of money for an accurate recipe. I just never had a kombucha that tasted nearly as good at GT's Trilogy, but I am going broke buying it ☹️

https://preview.redd.it/rluaejlpdxxd1.jpg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd1893b10440fbb80d401b963732955170f1add4

https://preview.redd.it/kp6tsbeqdxxd1.jpg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aec168df08916ac595548177034d729adb9097fb

I posted a couple weeks ago about what I thought might have been mold from my apartment not having heat turned on when it was colder. Both batches look pretty good now and I just wanted to post the one I was suspicious of before to sanity check myself. Thank you kombucha community. Both pictures are the same batch.

This is with frozen berry puree and it turned out pretty damn awesome. I might gonna little longer for more carbonation. I did 3.5 days with no burping despite being nervous about it. It good carbonation, but it could use a touch more. I'll probably do 4 days on my next batch. Overall, this was quite a success and it taste better than commercial brands. Y'all are awesome and had great tops along the way.