Thanks for joining us for our homemade Kombucha Brewing Class for Beginners!
We love talking about kombucha and sharing all of the tips and tricks we’ve learned since we started brewing kombucha at home. We created this post as a permanent resource containing all the information that we cover in workshops. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions, we’re happy to help. Happy Brewing!
Basic One Gallon Homemade Kombucha Recipe
3 tbsp. loose leaf tea or 8 tea bags
14 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 cups starter tea
1 SCOBY
Bring 14 cups water to a boil. Remove from heat and steep tea for 10 minutes. Remove tea and stir in 1 cup sugar until dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Add SCOBY, starter tea, and sweet tea to a 1 gallon container and cover with a tight-weave cloth, secured with a rubber band. Allow to ferment for approximately 10-14 days.
Here is our in-depth post about batch brew kombucha.
Kombucha Brewing Kit
We use the Kombucha Brewing Kit from The Kombucha Shop in our workshops. This is an easy way to make sure you have everything you need to get started brewing kombucha. Plus, you can feel extra good supporting a Wisconsin-based company!
Types of sugar
We recommend using organic white cane sugar. You can find it at most stores including Aldi, Costco and Target.
Types of tea
For best results stick to black, green, white or oolong tea. Once you become comfortable with the brewing process, you can start experimenting with herbal teas. We still recommend using some black tea with herbal teas to keep your SCOBY happy and healthy. It’s best to avoid any teas that contain oils, like earl grey or artificially flavored teas, as those can weaken your SCOBY.
We mention this loose leaf tea and these tea bags in class.
We do receive questions about whether or not decaf tea can be used. This post does a great job of explaining your options if you are sensitive to caffeine.
Water
If you’d like to find natural spring water for brewing kombucha, use Find A Spring.
Glass bottles for second fermentation
We use and recommend these swing top grolsch style glass bottles. We’ve tested several of the top selling bottles on Amazon and will only recommend this brand. They are also available in this amber color.
Handmade brewing vessel caps
The owner of this Etsy shop was so kind to send me samples of her kombucha “caps.” These handmade covers for your brewing vessels can be personalized and come in different colors and patterns.
Heat Wraps and Fermometers
To keep your kombucha warm in the winter, these heat wraps are helpful and you can monitor the temperature of your brew with a stick-on fermometer.
Recommended books
The Big Book of Kombucha – This book is a fantastic resource for all things kombucha
The Art of Fermentation – This book is written by Sandor Katz who we mention in class. It’s a must-have resource if you want to explore the world of fermentation.
The Good Gut – This has been one of our favorite books about gut health. We love that it presents the information in a way that people outside the science and medical fields (like us) can easily understand.
Other notes
If you are looking for recipes for flavoring kombucha, our recipes can be accessed by clicking over to our kombucha category. We’re also very active on Pinterest and have a board dedicated to kombucha.
We also mentioned the annual Fermentation Fest that takes place in Wisconsin every fall. I recommended signing up for their email list so you are the first to know when their class schedule is released. The popular classes do sell out quickly! Make a weekend of it and stop by the food chain and take part in the art/farm tour. Ferm Fest is a great event and that area of Wisconsin should be bursting with fall colors!
Thanks again to everyone who’ve joined us!
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