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How to grow your own kombucha mother?!

Hello Everyone! Ok I have some questions.

My husband & I have become completely & utterly ADDICTED to GT's Kombucha. (Which is Raw & organic) Not only does it taste amazing & it makes us feel great. I know There are plenty of old threads on here about making your own kombucha but I thought it would be easier to address my specific questions here.

Anyways. I discovered you can make a big batch of your own kombucha with: water, tea, sugar, and 1 bottle of GT's original kombucha.

Please correct me if I misunderstood but from my understanding you:

Add half a gallon of water into a steal pot over the stove. Bring it to a boil. Add sugar. Stir. Add black or green tea bags. Let it steep.

remove tea bags. Let the tea cool.

Poor the tea into a one gallon glass jar and then add the bottle of Kombucha. Fill the jar with the rest of the water.

Cover with cheese cloth and tie with a rubber band.

Ok so first of all, around what temperature do I store this.

How long do i store this.

Where can I get a 1 gallon glass jar? lol

Can I use raw cane sugar? & how much sugar.

Anyone with any advice with be greatly appreciated. Thank you

-megan

Comments

  • Oh, also. Can you drink too much kombucha?

    and how much is a serving? Because i really enjoy my 1 bottle a day which is 2 servings. (8 oz. per serving) and if i could get away with drinking more I would lol

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    Make sure everything is *sterile* before use. Jars, spoon, anything you use. & Do not use a wooden spoon! & Don't put your hands in it, either.

    From what I have read, you should only use regular white sugar. It will be eaten up by the scoby, so you won't be consuming the sugar.

    I'm thinking the temp is about 72 degrees....but someone else should speak up if that's incorrect! I may be off on that.

  • Thank you. Another thing i was confused about was....once the mother is grown, can i store the kombucha i made in the fridge or should out? and can i take the mother Out and put it in another jar and make more kombucha with it? If so, how long would that take to ferment? and how long can i use that same mother?

    Also is it ok to eat the mother. I read you could.

    I mean in my GT's Kombucha, it says on the label. "This is a raw food. Strands of the culture map appear. these are natural, normal & only occur in raw kombucha" and I know in the origional flavor that i just drank had about 3 table spoons of it in there. (yummy i might add) lol

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    The strands are ok...but once you get an actual "mother" I personally would not eat it. I won't say you *can't*, as I really don't know.

    From my understanding, you just keep reusing it on new batches. You will get babies, too...each batch, once you have an established mother. I have heard both- and against both- for keeping it out, vs keeping it in the fridge (the mother). Seems best is to keep it going with a new batch, and not let it get dormant. As for the kombucha (drink part), it will continue to ferment, and can get over-fermented. Refrigeration will slow that down, once you get it where you want it.

    You can learn quite a bit from this guy's 7 day mini course (yes, he sells stuff too, but the course is informative. You don't have to buy from him.):

    http://site.getkombucha.com/L7DayMiniCourse.html

  • Thank you pixx! Your a great help. I want to make this tomorrow im so excited haha I just need to find a place that sells big glass jars that i KNOW will not have lead in them...i really don't want to die haha

    I don'tst got health insurance :P

  • wichtenwichten Raw Newbie

    Keep the culture in a warm place. the colder it gets the more dormant the culture gets. When you harvest your tea, keep that in the fridge so it wont keep culturing. Wash all your utensils in vinegar- don't use soap- the residue can contaminate your mix. If you see mold- throw it all away- there is no saving it- and start over with a new culture. Your culture will continue to get bigger as you keep making tea. When it doubles in size you need to separate your culture- you can start another brewing jar or give it away. If you don't separate the scoby it will start to ruin your tea. Separate the culture by peeling it apart like a layered biscuit. Make sure you wash your hands with vinegar only.

    Brewing kombucha is easy to do- it just takes diligent efforts.

  • I have always used raw cane sugar. Works great!

    Em

     

  • have_merseyhave_mersey Raw Newbie

    "Poor the tea into a one gallon glass jar and then add the bottle of Kombucha. Fill the jar with the rest of the water."

    No, put the GT's kombucha on top. The good bacteria and yeast should be on top so they can protect it from airborne and/or bad bacteria infiltrating until the filmy mother forms. :)

    -Temp. should be between 67-75 F it can take a bit warmer or cooler, but then it might throw the culture off balance and you would have more yeast and/or certain types of yeast and bacteria might go dormant etc. 73 is best.

    -1 Gallon jars...try looking at killyourlocalbussiness-MART. I bought a 2 gallon jar there for 12ish$. Meant to be a large storage container, but I just use it without the lid and there you have it..perfect Kombucha jar (mine takes a month to brew, so I have a few smaller jars going too, and althought this seems a very long time, it tastes best, and has the most beneficial bacteria the longer it brews. :)

    -Raw cane sugar is not really raw, but it doesn't matter because we are boiling water and using the leaves of a plant that have been steamed and curled (TEA). The finished product is raw. Use organic white sugar. It prefers it, and makes it carbonate/bubble quicker...

    -For half a gallon you want to know how much sugar.. that all depends. It can work with a little or a lot. For my 2.8 L jars I think I do roughly 3/4 c. sugar. But you can vary that. Just think about 1/4 -1/3 (2-3 oz.) sugar per qt / liter.

    -Keep everything washed, but rinse with vinegar to get rid of soap residue which will kill the mother. Vinegar is also acidic, which kills germs and keeps things at the right PH for the scoby. I'm talking about heat-treated distilled etc. vinegar. NOT raw because it has it's own mother which might over-take your kombucha. okay?

    -I always start a new batch immediately after I make one. No storing of the mother necessary. But If you had to store it, I'd store it in a dark place with some kombucha which is already done. The fridge makes it sluggish and sometimes kills the mother. So unless it will be sitting 3 weeks or longer, store it out of the fridge. But I'd rather make "more than I can drink" and keep the mother going. I can either store the finished product in the fridge or let it set in an airtight container to get more carbonated for a few days. You can always give spare away or drink it. Ha spares! HA! ;)

    You can use the mother infinitely. Each time you make a new batch there is a new layer grown either directly on top of her, or on the surface of the sweet tea. After a few batches, I peel off the layers on the bottom of her that are getting dicoloured from the tea, and put that in the compost bin.

    It is my understanding you can drink up to a liter/quart a day but it should be spaced throughout the day.

    You can TRY to eat the mother but it would be immensely tough. They get to be strong and leathery. (ask my scoby. She was the size of a quarter from the GT's bottle, and now she is 6-7 inches wide an inch thick, and TOUGH. ) It might be possible to eat one if it was a few days old on the top. Although I have heard people have blended them. Be warned you'd probably detox fast though/get a "healing crisis".

    Did I cover everything you asked? I hope. If not ask again or more. I'm a Kombucha freak. :D

  • oh jesus thank you guys! :)

    Especially Have_mersey. Thank you so much. I'll be sure to ask you if I have any more questions

  • I have to comment on this again have_mersey.

    simply amazing advice. Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO so so so so so so much!

  • wichtenwichten Raw Newbie

    what type of tea do you use to make your kombucha, have mersey? are there better ones than others?

    Ive always used a basic organic green, but maybe others taste better...

  • have_merseyhave_mersey Raw Newbie

    I have tried different blacks, greens, whites, and a self made blend. I think green tends to taste the best, and it does produce a better carbonation and thicker scoby. It just depends on what you are in the mood for really as far as taste goes. Be forewarned a full-black DOES make the yeast a bit excited (especially if of malty indian origin). So generally if I want a black flavor, I do a near half-half mix of black and green (reminds me of Oolong tea, which I haven't used yet, despite it being my favorite for drinking, because most are scented). Also, I keep all tea weaker (max 3 bags or 3ish tsp per qt), or it gets on the yeasty side. However, you may prefer the flavor of it. A friend of mine, liked my strong-black batch I made a month ago(very yeasty), so I am starting a big jar for that purpose. Still keeping it in-check, however, tipping towards the yeast. wow I talk a lot... I liked the dragonwell-green tea batch I made. But..Well, if you know tea, you know how origin, time of year, estate etc. can vary teas. But as a general rule I think Dragonwell is predictable, nice, not too expensive, fairly easily brewed, and I generally like the taste. I just haven't had any in a few months. I've been using some broken-leaf organic green bags for the everyday kombucha.

    I did make some white tea kombucha that was a little too lite, so when I went to bottle it, I brewed and cooled some Jasmine Pearl tea and added a little for taste and promotion of bubbles. :) I liked that one... That's another hard-learned hint.. If you get a batch that isn't carbonating well, adding a little brewed and cooled (unsweetened) tea to it before capping, helps. :)

    oh! megan lyne, once you harvest, I wanted to make it clear, so long as you immediately start a new batch you don't have to completely rewash the jar, just rinse with vinegar. I do wash-wash some of the utensils I use because I live with other people and I don't know how clean they are. So I pre-wash the stirring spoon etc, and rinse it with vinegar. But if you are sure all is clean before, just use vinegar to disinfect and don't worry about soap-washing each thing beforehand. I just wanted to make that clear. Kombucha is so easy-going. :) It can sound daunting sometimes, but it's easy. :)

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    Ever use red tea? Rioobos? If I ever get around to doing it, that's what I'd use; it's caffeine free.

  • wichtenwichten Raw Newbie

    thanks have mersey- you rock! so helpful. I want to restart my kombucha brewing again!

  • Thank you :D

    Im gonna go out and get me a couple jars today. i got the sugar & green tea yesterday I'll also pick up the main ingredient lol I'm So excited

  • I use organic cane sugar with a lot of success. I'm interested if anyone has tried to brew kombucha with yerba mate?

  • I don't think Rooibos would work. It's an herbal tea, so it could be added to the brew, but the cultures require actual tea. Here's a link with some info on tea selection:

    http://www.seedsofhealth.co.uk/fermenting/kombucha_teas.shtml

    And this is a great guide on brewing Kombucha from a store-bought bottle:

    http://www.paprikahead.com/2009/07/how-to-brew-your-own-kombucha-from.html

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    Um, actually, there is a kombucha company that sells rooibos, as well as several others, specifically for brewing kombucha:

    http://getkombucha.com/reforkobr.html

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    Hey guys, what about the Sun Tea jars, they are glass and a gallon in size... I see them for sale at a lot of different places including that awful killthelocalbusiness -Mart... GREAT name for it!!!

    Also, Ball makes a gallon and half gallon size canning jar, Kerr may as well...

    I too am a kombucha freek but haven't made any yet, YOU have been very inspiring for me... Thanks all!!! smile

  • emtpdmomemtpdmom Raw Newbie

    GALLON GLASS JARS . . . If you know anyone who works in food service (like a school lunchroom), ask if they get condiments in gallon glass jars. I needed some for a science experiment in my classroom a couple of years ago, and was able to get more than I needed just for the asking.

  • i found a two gallon glass jar at walmart yesterday. so yay!! im calling the manufacturer today just to make sure it doesn't have lead in it or something hahah

    call me paranoid but... ahah

    Anyways im gonna be making my boocha tonight :D

  • have_merseyhave_mersey Raw Newbie

    I do have a jar going with Rooibos. But I add 1-2 tsp. regular tea per half gallon because the yeast need a little to live off of. It would have such a minute amount of caffiene that it isn't even worth mentioning really. :)

    Watch out for jars that are too narrow at the top. From experience I know that too narrow on top = strong beer-y taste/high alcohol and not good.

    I have wanted to try yerba mate with it. I keep forgetting! It's in a different area than the tea I usually buy.

  • I do Rooibos. It has the relevant acids, which is what's important. I have 2 2.5 gallon continuous brew processes going - one red and one black. They don't make babies, so I also have 2 incubators going. One is currently black to make babies to share with friends. One is white. I will attempt to flavor the white to be more like GT Dave's as my 15 year-old likes Trilogy flavor and won't drink the homemade KT yet.

    I always use just over 3 qts of strong-ish tea, like 6 bags or 3 Tbsp loose and 1 cup of sugar. Wash everything that the tea is going to touch with distilled white vinegar instead of soap and water, including your hands if you have to touch the SCOBY. Secure the jar covering - I learned that one the hard way! Gaps allow contamination.

    I use a heater mat and try to keep the brew around 80F for about 9 days on a new batch. Continuous brew is obviously more appropriate if you're an addict. You can read about it or buy supplies at www.happyherbalist.com. (no connection to me - just who I use).

    I do not attempt secondary fermentation. I find the carbonation a bit much, plus who wants to wait that long???

    Here are the price comparisons:

    1 bottle GT Dave's - $3.60 in my stores (good luck growing a scoby from this)

    1 SCOBY online - about $24, including shipping

    tea, sugar, water, heat, etc. - less than $5/gallon of KT produced

    Oh, and the taste? As we jokingly say at my house, NOT BAD FOR HEALTH FOOD! Serve in champaign flutes for added ambiance!

  • Oh, and every week or so, I add some Buckwheat Honey to the Rooibos container to give it a lovely floral finish. Aaahhhh!

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    Thank you, jenoz! I am (somewhat) familiar with "continuous brewing", as it is the way that guy at that link I gave does it. (I've never done it.) Is the fact that they are continuous brew the reason they don't make babies? So, is disturbing the scoby, as in traditional (non-continuous) brewing, what causes it to make a baby?

  • Disturbing it causes it NOT to make a baby, but the mother is healthy is supposedly can be pulled out of the continuous jar and placed in a regular gallon and become fecund(?) again??? I am trying that now.

    From what I've read and experienced, babies happen when undisturbed.

  • Get guyyyyyyyyys :D

    I started my kombucha froma bottle of GT's 4 days ago and Its already growing :D

    Im SO EXCITED!

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    jenoz... Hmmm, I'm even more confused! (Thanks for trying!) So, if "babies happen when undisturbed" why are your continuous brews not making babies? ("They don't make babies, so I also have 2 incubators going." near top of post #23.)

    Part of what I have read about continuous brews is that they are done in a jar with a tap, so that the scoby would not be disturbed. This is why I am confused by your post. Do you do it differently?

  • In the continuous brew process, you pour the fresh tea in the top of the jar and the detritus swirls all around. That is how the SCOBY is disturbed. In the batch method (my incubators), everything just sits still for 7-10 days.

  • pixxpixx Raw Master

    Thanks. :~)

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