Kombucha

Clean everything, and I mean everything! In the early stages of fermentation your brew will be very sensitive to contaminants and can easily spoil. BioD home and garden sanitiser works perfectly and is food safe. You can also use boiling water. Let the brewing vessel air dry before moving onto the next step.

Brew the tea. I would recommend using one tea bag per 250ml of water. Brew it in a separate container to your brewing vessel and allow it to cool to room temperature before moving onto step three.

Add the tea and SCOBY to your brewing vessel and then add your desired amount of sweetener. I would recommend one tablespoon for each tea bag. White table sugar will result in a more well-fermented kombucha as the sugars are more easily consumed by the yeast. Unrefined sugar and syrups contain unfermentable sugars which will stay behind in the finished kombucha and produce a sweeter drink with more depth of flavour.

Leave to ferment for upto two weeks, depending on temperature and amount of sweetener added. Ideal fermentation temperature is 20-25 degrees celsius. If using a demi-john, plug up the top with an air lock. If using a mason jar or similar, cover the top with a clean tea towel and don’t fix the lid. This will allow the carbon dioxide created by the yeast to escape the vessel, otherwise you may have a mess on your hands when the pressure builds and pops the top off!

Decant your finished kombucha through a strainer into a bottle or another jar and store it in the fridge for up to four weeks. If you plan to brew again, keep a small amount of this batch in your sealed vessel to aid in future fermentation. The SCOBY will live on in this.