How to Make Kombucha at Home

We know that many of you have been dying to know how to make your own kombucha, especially now you’ve got a little more time on your hands! Even though we feel we have honed this into a fine art at Equinox, we always encourage you to try your own ‘craft’ brews and compare them to ours! We’ve created this simple recipe for you to experiment with, which provides you with everything you need to know from our master brewers on how to make your own kombucha. Good luck!

You will need:

• A Kombucha Culture (or SCOBY – “Symbiotic Culture/Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast) with approx 10% volume of starter (unless its super strong then less is needed – meaning a very low pH) e.g: 900ml tea to 100ml starter.
• A glass container/jar: We use jars that hold approx 2 litres and all the information below is geared towards brewing in a 2 litre container.
• Tea bags or loose tea at 5g per tea bag: We use organic tea. It is imperative that all brewing is done using a base of ‘real’ tea, be it green, black, white etc.
• Granulated sugar
• A tight weave cotton or muslin cloth
• An elastic band to cover your jar
• A warm room or airing cupboard: Kombucha brews best at a constant room temperature of approx 20-23C (70F)

Method:

Step 1 – Make the tea

Boil a kettle full of water. Put six tea bags (30g of tea in total) into a heat proof container to make the tea. This can be made of metal (as you have not added the SCOBY yet) so a pan is fine or a large teapot. Take care if you are using plastic as it can become quite flexible when hot.

Step 2 – Add the sugar

Then add between 160 and 200 grams of sugar to the container. We usually go for nearer 170 grams, but this is preference. Stir your boiling hot container full of tea and sugar, then wait half an hour before removing your tea bags, and then leave to cool.

Step 3 – Add the SCOBY

Wait until the container’s liquid is cool to touch, by that we mean, if you stick your little finger in, it feels no more than barely warm, and closer to cold. Cold is best, but not too cold as fermentation happens most effectively above 20 degrees. With the tea bags removed, place your SCOBY in the top of your container, the lightest side upwards (don’t worry too much if this is hard to gauge). The SCOBY will either float, sink or something in between, all good. If the tea starts to seep over the side of your container with the addition of your Kombucha, it’s fine to let some of the tea out.

Step 4 – Attach the cotton or muslin cloth

With your SCOBY floating in the tea, put a piece of cotton or muslin over the container top, like you do with homemade jam, securing it with an elastic band. Then find a spot for your container, this should be somewhere out of direct sunlight but in a room of a relatively balanced temperature.

Step 5 – Be patient

Now, judging the readiness of your Kombucha drink is not a scientific process. You will come to ‘know’ when it is brewed as you gain more experience, but as a rough guide, it will take between 6 to 14 days to brew. Take a look at the darkness of the tea when you first put your SCOBY into it, then note how the liquid changes colour over the passing days. The colour will change, to a degree, and the liquid will become slightly cloudier.

Step 6 – Test it

Our recommendation is that, after three days you pour a very small amount into a glass and have a sip. If the brew tastes fruity and not tea like, it’s ready, if not, leave it another day and try again. As you get more experienced you will come to learn the brew duration that best suits your taste buds and palette.

Step 7 – Pour out and enjoy!

When you feel your brew is ready, pour your brew into the container you plan to keep your ready made drink in, but remember to leave the SCOBY sitting in a small amount of the brew in its brewing jar. Put your ready made drink into the fridge, leave it for a few hours and then drink! The longer you leave it in the fridge, the fizzier it will get, and it can be left without going off so drink at whatever pace suits. While your SCOBY sits in its jar in the small amount of its own juice, either boil the kettle to brew another batch (that way more should be ready by the time you have drunk your first lot), or if you are not ready to brew some more, cover the top of the jar and leave your SCOBY sitting in its juice for next time.

So, there you have it! A booch-brewing masterclass from us to you, all from the comfort of your kitchen. Our very own Daniel Spayne ran a booch brewing masterclass live for National Tea day on the 21st April and you can view the recording here for extra information or to follow along as he brews! Have a go and tag us in your pics (booch successes and booch fails!) on Instagram using @equinoxkombucha – we’d love to see how you get on! And if it doesn’t work out, don’t worry – we’re still delivering so you can still get your booch fix. Order online here.