A step by step kombucha tutorial with the Pidel ladies: spring 2020.
Hat tip to Emma, talented video editor…she wanted to start you with a trailer to give you a sense of the magnitude of this adventure.
And here’s the full tutorial–taking you from day 1, making the tea with scobys, to day 14, when we add the final goodies, taste, and pronounce it good.
Cheers! Thanks for indulging us.
(Let me know if you want more scenes from our kitchen & zany projects we’re up to 🙂 The girls share my love for a good project that comes with a joyful mess.)
Kombucha recipe and details.
DAY 1
*1 or 2 scobys (we got our from a neighbor—find someone local and you’re all set)
*1 gallon water (bring to a boil as you’re making tea)
*2-3 bags of iced tea, we used harney and sons peach and it turned out amazing! (or 8-9 tea bags, can be a variety, if normal sized tea bags)
*1 cup sugar–we used raw sugar, it dissolves in the hot water so matters not what kind you use (coconut sugar could work too!)
Step 1: Heat water to boil, let tea steep 30 min, as you let it cool to room temp. Add sugar during this time. (We put ours outside with a dish towel to allow it to cool faster)
Step 2: Add your scobys to the brew!
Step 3: Cover with a cloth (and rubberband) and then put it in a warm place, ideally 70-80, and out of the way (we have a small cupboard right next to our oven that served nicely ;))
Step 4: Let the scoby do its thing. Wait!
DAY 7: You can check it each day to monitor the scoby growth.
You can stick a straw in and taste it on day 7. We waited until day 10 until it smelled a bit differently (nice yeasty smell!), and then tasted.
DAY 11 or 12: when it feels like fermentation is at a good point, you can take the scobys out, bottle it (put in fridge after to slow the process from this point on) and you can also add berries. We added some frozen raspberries and blackberries but I honestly think we preferred the taste without this.
Then you take the scobys out, store them in a bit of the kombucha, and you’re ready for your next batch! We enjoyed making 2 to start with, to compare the fermentation process with them, and to puzzle about why they ended up with different taste, timeline of reaching bubbles, etc.
Cheers!
