Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage popular in Russia, China, and elsewhere.
The culture forms a leathery skin called the "mother" that floats on top.
This week's Instructables TV episode shows how to wrangle the jellyfish-like "Mother" and make Kombucha 5 gallons at a time. This method produces a fizzy carbonated kombucha that tastes very much like hard apple cider.
For background on this bizarre beverage, read Arwen's Making Kombucha Instructable and the Wikipedia Kombucha article. Some confusion arises from the existence of a Japanese kelp tea also called "kombucha".
Back to the blob:
For me it all started when my friend Anne Harley went to Russia, made herself fluent in the language, joined a band of gypsy musicians, and went on tour with them.
Did you know Russian Gypsies have a caste system that dates back to their origins in India?
That was news to me. So was the fact that Kombucha exists. Anne brought a very fine Kombucha culture back with her and taught me how to make it.
Since then I've made hundreds of gallons of Kombucha for my friends and myself. I've done a great deal of experimentation and had some serious mishaps. I've killed the culture several times, coaxed it back when it got out of balance, and had a couple of explosions that splattered kombucha far and wide and could have seriously injured someone.
Between the mistakes, mishaps and disasters, actual Russians and new-age fruitcakes have tasted my Kombucha and told me it's the best they've ever had. I work with my culture until I get it tasting like apple cider. So much so that you'll try to figure out what varieties of apples it's from. But there's really nothing in it but tea, sugar, and a festering mass of microbes.
We'll be going step-by step through the process later, but for reference, here is how to make the sweet tea to be fermented.
Anne's Recipe:
6 tsp tea
6 cups h2o = 1.5 quarts
1 cup sugar
same recipe for 4 gallons
64 tsp tea = 1.3 cups
4 gallons h2o = 64 cups
10.66 cups sugar
same recipe for 5 gallons
Just under 5lbs sugar
5 gallons water
1.5 cups dry tea
Here is part 1 of the Kombucha making video - tea brewing and mixing in the mother
And here is part 2 of the video - fermentation and bottling
You can download the .m4v ipod formatted videos from blip.tv
Kombucha Part 1
Kombucha Part 2
Do you like this instructable? Digg It!
The culture forms a leathery skin called the "mother" that floats on top.
This week's Instructables TV episode shows how to wrangle the jellyfish-like "Mother" and make Kombucha 5 gallons at a time. This method produces a fizzy carbonated kombucha that tastes very much like hard apple cider.
For background on this bizarre beverage, read Arwen's Making Kombucha Instructable and the Wikipedia Kombucha article. Some confusion arises from the existence of a Japanese kelp tea also called "kombucha".
Back to the blob:
For me it all started when my friend Anne Harley went to Russia, made herself fluent in the language, joined a band of gypsy musicians, and went on tour with them.
Did you know Russian Gypsies have a caste system that dates back to their origins in India?
That was news to me. So was the fact that Kombucha exists. Anne brought a very fine Kombucha culture back with her and taught me how to make it.
Since then I've made hundreds of gallons of Kombucha for my friends and myself. I've done a great deal of experimentation and had some serious mishaps. I've killed the culture several times, coaxed it back when it got out of balance, and had a couple of explosions that splattered kombucha far and wide and could have seriously injured someone.
Between the mistakes, mishaps and disasters, actual Russians and new-age fruitcakes have tasted my Kombucha and told me it's the best they've ever had. I work with my culture until I get it tasting like apple cider. So much so that you'll try to figure out what varieties of apples it's from. But there's really nothing in it but tea, sugar, and a festering mass of microbes.
We'll be going step-by step through the process later, but for reference, here is how to make the sweet tea to be fermented.
Anne's Recipe:
6 tsp tea
6 cups h2o = 1.5 quarts
1 cup sugar
same recipe for 4 gallons
64 tsp tea = 1.3 cups
4 gallons h2o = 64 cups
10.66 cups sugar
same recipe for 5 gallons
Just under 5lbs sugar
5 gallons water
1.5 cups dry tea
Here is part 1 of the Kombucha making video - tea brewing and mixing in the mother
And here is part 2 of the video - fermentation and bottling
You can download the .m4v ipod formatted videos from blip.tv
Kombucha Part 1
Kombucha Part 2
Do you like this instructable? Digg It!
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Signing UpStep 1: Get a Pound of Tea Leaves
Don't ever use Earl Grey tea. The bergamot in it will injure your culture and you'll need to get a new starter. This has happened to me. Anything with citrus in it is bad.
Buy your tea in Chinatown or an Indian grocery store. I pay between a dollar and four dollars for a pound of tea, which will make two or more 5 gallon batches. I've bought many a 6lb bag of tea, which is very satisfying, walking out with a couple of suitcase-sized bags of tea.
Assam tea, Mamri, or Green tea such as "Special Gunpowder" are safe choices.
"Pu Er" tea smells pretty bad at first but makes good kombucha. (The name Pu Er is actually English, get it? "Poo Air" :) )
Don't risk your whole culture with saffron tea, but it can turn out ok.
Early in the fermentation process you'll be able to clearly taste what type of tea it is, but when the fermentation is more advanced the apple flavors of kombucha will dominate and the flavor of the tea leaf recedes.
Don't use teabags. You'll be shucking them for hours, dealing with lots of teabags and unsure of how strong your tea really is. You'll also not know for sure what's in the teabag, maybe something as bad as Earl Grey.
Here's my giant teabag, which I made from a piece of cotton bed sheet.
Types of Tea that have worked for me:
Assam
Mamri
Green (very slow unless you use some brown sugar)
Jasmine (marginal)
Coffee (eventually it barely tastes like coffee)
Mother-Killers
Earl Grey
Orange Spice
Citrus Anything
Cocoa Mix
Synthetic Fruit Punch
Star likes herbal teas, and has successfully tried:
Peppermint (mother was depressed for a long time, but eventually rallied)
Peppermint-Chamomile
Chamomile-Echinacea
Buy your tea in Chinatown or an Indian grocery store. I pay between a dollar and four dollars for a pound of tea, which will make two or more 5 gallon batches. I've bought many a 6lb bag of tea, which is very satisfying, walking out with a couple of suitcase-sized bags of tea.
Assam tea, Mamri, or Green tea such as "Special Gunpowder" are safe choices.
"Pu Er" tea smells pretty bad at first but makes good kombucha. (The name Pu Er is actually English, get it? "Poo Air" :) )
Don't risk your whole culture with saffron tea, but it can turn out ok.
Early in the fermentation process you'll be able to clearly taste what type of tea it is, but when the fermentation is more advanced the apple flavors of kombucha will dominate and the flavor of the tea leaf recedes.
Don't use teabags. You'll be shucking them for hours, dealing with lots of teabags and unsure of how strong your tea really is. You'll also not know for sure what's in the teabag, maybe something as bad as Earl Grey.
Here's my giant teabag, which I made from a piece of cotton bed sheet.
Types of Tea that have worked for me:
Assam
Mamri
Green (very slow unless you use some brown sugar)
Jasmine (marginal)
Coffee (eventually it barely tastes like coffee)
Mother-Killers
Earl Grey
Orange Spice
Citrus Anything
Cocoa Mix
Synthetic Fruit Punch
Star likes herbal teas, and has successfully tried:
Peppermint (mother was depressed for a long time, but eventually rallied)
Peppermint-Chamomile
Chamomile-Echinacea
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My first concern: Mobilization. It is my understanding that Kombucha is very effective at not only helping your liver process toxins much more effectively, but that if you have amassed a good deal of toxins in your system over the years that they can be 'mobilized'. This raises serious concerns for those who might have a sizable quantity of such things as heavy metals like mercury. After being mobilized, they may not be rapidly expelled from your body, as was the case that caused them to build up in the first place, subsequently redistributing in other soft tissue of the body such as the brain. I believe very little is discussed about this the average consumer has no clue just how effective Kombucha can be at mobilizing toxins and super charging your liver. Clearly this is a double edged sword and something that should be regarding in much the same way any sensible person would look at vitamins. Proper dosage is key. It bothers me that commercial products say little about the dangers of over consumption. Given that Kombucha mobilizes so well, it is highly recommended that you DO NOT drink it when pregnant or breastfeeding as the fetus/infant will be subject excessive toxins. It is also discouraged for use by children. I don't want people doing damage to themselves out of ignorance, and I don't want the drink I've grown to enjoy greatly to face regulation or worse.
My second concern: Carbonation and storage. In Alana Pascal's book, she informs that when Kombucha is capped, and anaerobic fermentation occurs, toxic by product is created namely in the form of acetone (think paint thinner or nail polish remover). Acetone is a ketone that is very destructive to the kidneys. She indicates that Kombucha should not be stored capped in the refrigerator for more than an astonishingly conservative 3 days or there is the risk acetone production. This is troubling. Most people will tell you, Kombucha is much more palatable when carbonated. This is where I am uncertain. Small amounts of acetone are present in commercial foods we consume and such trace amounts have been deemed relatively safe. Thinking back, I purchased dozens of bottles of commercially available RAW Kombucha. That means, unpasteurized and while I know there are chemical compounds that can be added which do not kill the culture but prohibit it from continued fermentation, I have serious doubt those would have been used. Of those many bottles, several were near there expiration date, and even more of them when opened exhibited vast over-carbonation. This would seem to indicate that shipping and handling practices during the life of that product did not include continuous refrigeration. Suspecting heavily now that this may have contributed greatly to my headaches. To pasteurize or not to pasteurize. Many of the health benefits remain after pasteurization but it certainly isn't the most desirable option. I'd love to hear thoughts on carbonation options, and the risk of prolonged anaerobic fermentation.
Thanks for your great instructable! Your videos really helped me make my first kombucha. I got the starter culture from a colleague and started with green tea. The taste is really interesting and nothing like the kombucha I bought at our supermarket. The kombucha tastes a little bit like peach, what I didn't expect at all.
I will make the next batch with black tea to see what it tastes like.
Greetings from germany,
majjuss
Anyone know where I could get some.
I like the Big Mother potential they have too.
http://www.ecouterre.com/u-k-designer-grows-an-entire-wardrobe%20from-tea-fermenting-bacteria
I think MOV would work as well. I've used them interchangeably for bandages & they both turn out like leather when dried. The pics show it looking to me, at least, like native brain-tanned leather. It can be dyed with natural dyes they say.
So not too good if your motercycle jacket would met when you splash in a puddle :) . hope somebody combines it with beeswax or something like that to improve water resistance
I would try adding some STEVIA leaves to the bottle as a sugar substitute that would increase the fizz.. Stevia leaves are good because, though not as sweet as sugar work well as a natural substitute and helps diabetic persons with their illness.
I noticed that when preparing any sweet fruit juice with water and stevia leaves, after bottling it and keeping it for a week, it starts fermenting and becoming alcoholic. As if stevia would be eating the sugar of the fruit and transforming it into alcohol...
I must try kombucha!
THXs!
Alberto
While it's a great idea, i don't think stevia would be an adequate fermenter for adding fizz... sweetness yes, fizz no...
Though it can't hurt to try and prove me wrong ;)
Lorsque la boisson kombucha est acide, à l'odeur et au goût :
Peut-on la boire ? Peut-on s'en servir comme d'un vrai vinaigre ? Si oui, se conserve-il comme un vrai vinaigre ?
Hello.
When the kombucha beverage is acidic, smell and taste:
Can we drink it? Can we use it as a real vinegar? If yes, will keep it as a real vinegar?
Aussi, on peut l'utiliser comme d'un vrai vinaigre quand elle est devenu comme ça.
J'espere que je vous ai aidé! (Je suis desolé que je suis un peut rouillé avec le français)
Hi. Yes, you can drink it when it has become very acidic, if you want.
Also, it can be used as real vinegar when it has become as such.
Hope this helps! (Sorry that my french is a bit rusty.)
Do you know these sugars used in France and Belgium? If so, can they be used in the production of Kombucha?
- Vergeoise blonde or brunette, or the link in French http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergeoise
- Brown sugar, brown sugar kind.
Bonjour.
Connaissez-vous ces sucres utilisés en France et en Belgique? Si oui, peut-on les utiliser dans la fabrication du kombucha ?
- Vergeoise blonde ou brune, voire le lien en français http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergeoise
- La cassonade, sorte de sucre roux.
Soda has the same PH as Kombucha and it will not WILL NOT leach killer chemicals into the brew. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/petbottles.asp