Kombucha in Large Batches

Posted on October 4, 2019 by J.M. Ney-Grimm

My SCOBY is healthy!

How do I know? Because it keeps making babies. The workhorse SCOBY nestles down in the bosom of the rich brown tea, turning it into kombucha, while a new SCOBY forms on the surface of the batch.

When my first SCOBY made a baby in its brewing jar, I made two jars of kombucha for my second batch. Now I’m increasing my batch size.

From my reading, I learned that one shouldn’t increase the size of the batch too rapidly. The amount of liquid needs to be matched to the strength of the SCOBY.

My first batch was 1 quart. My next batch, because I had two SCOBYs, was two 1-quart jars. Now I’m tackling two 2-quart jars. (I put one workhorse SCOBY and one baby SCOBY in each jar, because four jars with one SCOBY each just seemed too complicated.)

I plan to do another two 2-quart jars next, and then…more!

I’d hoped to try a full gallon, figuring that the jars currently holding 2 quarts each would easily hold double that. But when I poured 2 quarts into each, I saw that I was wrong. Because the jars need to breathe—there’s no lid to prevent spills when I carry the jar from its brewing spot to the kitchen counter for bottling—I can’t fill the vessel to its brim.

So I’ll do two 3-quart batches when I’m ready to increase.

As the volume of liquid increases, the amount of the other ingredients must increase also. I’ll set out the measurements here, in case you are accompanying me with your own kombucha adventure. 😀

Kombucha—1 quart

2 tea bags
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
3 cups filtered water
1/2 cup kombucha from previous batch

Kombucha—2 quarts

4 tea bags
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice
7 cups filtered water
1 cup kombucha from previous batch

Kombucha—3 quarts

6 tea bags
3/4 cup evaporated cane juice
10-1/2 cups filtered water
1-1/2 cups kombucha from previous batch

Kombucha—1 gallon

8 tea bags
1 cup evaporated cane juice
14 cups filtered water
2 cups kombucha from previous batch

I’m looking forward to the larger batches! The first 1-quart batch disappeared almost instantaneously, especially since I had to reserve 1/2 cup for the next batch. I can see that the second batch isn’t going to last very long either. I may have to see about finding larger vessels, so that I can go for that full gallon!

For the full process of brewing kombucha, see:
Make Your Own SCOBY

Make Your Own SCOBY

Posted on September 20, 2019 by J.M. Ney-Grimm

With my goal of eating more foods with live cultures and active enzymes came the intention of drinking more kombucha.

But if I was going to drink kombucha, I was going to need to learn how to make it myself, because it was too expensive to keep Casa Ney-Grimm supplied from the grocery store. Especially since my kids like the stuff and will empty the refrigerator of it in no time flat. 😀

The key to making kombucha is the SCOBY.

Symbiotic
Colony
Of
Bacteria and
Yeast

The SCOBY is the living element that turns the other ingredients into kombucha.

There are three ways to obtain a SCOBY.

1 • If you know anyone who makes kombucha, they are likely to have a spare which they will gift you.

2 • You can buy a dehydrated SCOBY through the mail as part of a kombucha starter kit, and then rehydrate the SCOBY.

3 • Or you can make your own SCOBY.

Until just a few weeks ago, I knew about only the first two ways. None of my friends or acquaintances makes kombucha, so I couldn’t get one that way. And Casa Ney-Grimm is currently in the midst of an employment drought, so I didn’t want to spend the money on a starter kit.

Luckily I stumbled across a website that gave instructions on how to make your own SCOBY! Yay!

The site is CulturesForHealth.com, and it’s got a lot of really excellent how-to stuff on it, if you are interested.

To make your own SCOBY, you do have to buy a bottle of kombucha with live cultures in it. That’s $3 at the grocery store. I could handle that.

So…how do you make your own SCOBY?

I’d going to chronicle my experience right here.

I almost said ‘adventure,’ except that I’ve been known to use that word when I encounter problems, and—so far—my SCOBY-making has been very smooth. Although I did find it exciting, in a good way. But I digress.

The first thing to do is collect all your ingredients, which includes some equipment, so I think I’ll set the process forth like a recipe.

SCOBY

Ingredients

1 wide-mouth canning jar (1 quart size)
1 sturdy paper napkin (or coffee filter or paper towel)
rubber band
filtered water
1 tea bag (black tea)
2 tablespoons evaporated cane juice
1 bottle live kombucha (16 oz)
1 spray bottle filled with white vinegar

Directions

1 • Brew 1 cup of black tea using filtered water. Let the tea bag stay in the hot water for 10 minutes, instead of the usual 4 or 5 minutes.

If the water has chlorine or chloramine in it, it will kill the SCOBY and hinder the fermentation process. If the water has other contaminates in it, they will harm the SCOBY, hinder the fermentation process, and possibly produce unpleasant sidenotes in the taste. Make sure your water is pure.

2 • Stir the evaporated cane juice into the hot tea until it is dissolved.

3 • Let the tea cool to room temperature.

If the tea is too hot, it will kill the living organisms in the kombucha, and no SCOBY will grow.

4 • Pour the tea into the canning jar.

5 • Add the kombucha from the purchased bottle.

Wash that bottle (and lid), and save it! You’ll need it later.

6 • Cover the canning jar with the paper napkin and secure it with the rubber band.

This will keep dust and debris out, but will allow the mixture to breath.

7 • Spray the paper napkin with the white vinegar. It should be damp, but not soaking.

This will prevent any mold from growing.

8 • Put the jar in a sheltered corner, out of direct sunlight.

9 • Spray the paper napkin once per day.

After 2 days, I saw a small fragment on the top of the liquid that I thought might be the beginnings of a new SCOBY. (It was!)

On day 4, that fragment had expanded to cover the entire surface of the liquid! (I found this super exciting.)

By day 7, the new SCOBY had thickened to become a pancake 1/8-inch thick.

10 • Once your new SCOBY is present, taste a spoonful of the kombucha.

Mine tasted too sweet on day 7, so I carried on letting it ferment and spraying the paper napkin every day until day 10, when it seemed about right. By that time, my SCOBY was a healthy 1/4-inch thick!

11 • Pour the liquid out into a generous glass bowl, letting the SCOBY flow out with it.

12 • Rinse and dry the canning jar.

Now you have your SCOBY!

Which means you need the recipe for a standard batch of kombucha, because you immediately make a new batch with that SCOBY.

But first, what do you do with the kombucha you made while making your SCOBY?

You bottle all but 1/2 cup of it.

Remember the bottle (and lid) I told you to wash and save? Get it now. Put 1/2 teaspoon of evaporated cane juice in it. Pour your newly made kombucha into the bottle. Leave about a 1/2 inch of head room. Screw the lid on tightly.

Set the bottle in a sheltered corner out of direct sunlight for 2-7 days. It will be getting fizzy.

I’m in the middle of this phase right now with the kombucha I made in the process of making my SCOBY.

I saved several bottles from storebought kombucha, so I used two of them, because I had 24 oz of kombucha. Reserving 4 oz (1/2 cup) for my next batch left 20 oz to bottle, which would not fit in one 16-oz bottle. I added a teaspoon of minced ginger to each bottle, because I like ginger-flavored kombucha.

The instructions on CulturesForHealth.com say to ‘burp’ the bottle(s) every day, so that the fizz does not build up too much and shatter the bottle. The first day I did this, I heard a tiny pop from the escaping fizz. But there was nothing on day 2 or 3, so I think I will ‘burp’ mine less frequently. I want more fizz!

Edited to add: When I drank my first batch of kombucha, it was delicious, but not as fizzy as I like.

Since the SCOBY ‘eats’ the evaporated cane juice in order to ferment the tea and to produce the fizz, I decided to increase the amount in each bottle of my second batch from 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon. Also, I did not burp the bottles.

The result was perfect! More fizz, yet my bottles did not explode, despite the lack of burping. I suspect each kombucha brewer must fine-tune such things.

Okay. So you’ve bottled your kombucha and now need to start your next batch. Let’s do it!

Kombucha

Ingredients

3 cups filtered water
2 tea bags (black tea)
1/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup live kombucha (from previous batch)
1 SCOBY

Directions

1 • Brew 3 cups of black tea using filtered water. Let the tea bag stay in the hot water for 10 minutes, instead of the usual 4 or 5 minutes.

2 • Stir the evaporated cane juice into the hot tea until it is dissolved.

3 • Let the tea cool to room temperature.

4 • Pour the tea into a canning jar.

5 • Add the kombucha from the previous batch.

6 • Add the SCOBY.

7 • Cover the canning jar with a paper napkin and secure it with the rubber band.

8 • Spray the paper napkin with the white vinegar. It should be damp, but not soaking.

9 • Put the jar in a sheltered corner, out of direct sunlight.

10 • Spray the paper napkin once per day.

11 • On day 7, start tasting the kombucha. It will be ready anywhere between day 7 and day 28.

It will taste sweeter in the earlier days (too sweet for me), and more sour in the later days. I’m still experimenting to see what produces the result I like best. 😀

12 • When the kombucha tastes right, bottle all except 1/2 cup. Use that 1/2 cup to start a new batch!

My understanding is that often (but not always) each batch creates a new SCOBY. No wonder kombucha makers are happy to give one away!

I gather that after 3 batches, it is possible to increase the size of your batch from 1 quart to 2 quarts. And after you’ve made 3 batches at the 2-quart size, your SCOBY will be strong, able to handle a gallon.

One other note…my first attempt at making a SCOBY succeeded beautifully, but apparently this is not always the case. Living organisms are unpredictable. If 3 weeks go by with nary a sign of any SCOBY, you’ll need to toss that attempt and try again with fresh ingredients.

For more about foods with live cultures, see:
Lacto-fermented Sauerkraut
Lacto-fermented Corn
Pickled Greens
Beet Kvass

Post-surgery Reflections on Food

Posted on August 30, 2019 by J.M. Ney-Grimm

I found myself thinking a lot about food in the aftermath of my latest oral surgery.

Beet kvass preoccupied me first.

What is beet kvass?

It’s a lacto-fermented beverage made from beets. Lacto-fermentation is the process whereby milk is turned into yogurt. But you can lacto-ferment many other foods besides milk. Lacto-fermentation makes foods more digestible, preserves them from spoilage, and makes the vitamins and minerals in them much more bio-available.

I first discovered beet kvass several years ago, and I loved the taste.

I’d lapsed in making it, but decided that it would be especially good for me in the aftermath of surgery.

I made a point of drinking beet kvass after my May surgery.

After my August surgery, I was unable to drink anything for the first several days. When I became able to swallow, I dove for the beet kvass. Not only did it taste good, but it felt as though each mouthful was an elixir from a magical healing spring.

I couldn’t help thinking about the progression of my healing and beet kvass.

The May surgery was on a Wednesday, and when my surgeon saw me 5 days later on Monday, he expressed surprise at how good my mouth looked. He said he had expected everything to be much more swollen. Instead, the swelling was minimal.

My August surgery was on a Thursday. Because of the surgical and post-surgical complications, my surgeon saw me on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, when my mouth was looking very poor indeed. When he saw me that Monday (4 days after the surgery), he actually winced, because it still looked so bad.

But a week later, he repeated what he’d said at the May surgery: that he was surprised at how good my mouth looked.

I am convinced it was the beet kvass.

Of course, there is no proof. My experience is purely anecdotal. But in my heart of hearts, I’m convinced.

(You can read more about beet kvass in this blog post.)

My post-surgery beet kvass experience led to further thoughts about food.

I watched an episode of The Paleo Way on Netflix. I re-read Nourishing Traditions from cover to cover. I started a list of recipes I wanted to try once I was recovered enough to cook (and to eat things other than liquids).

At first I explained my pre-occupation with food as the natural re-assessment of life one might do after a crisis. What are my priorities? Should I be doing something different? How do I want to go forward once I’m well again?

That was one facet of it.

But while chatting with my daughter I discovered that she, too, had been focused on food in the aftermath of having all four of her wisdom teeth out in June. She’d watched cooking shows non-stop.

We both realized that when you are on a liquid diet, you get so hungry!

So, yes, I was re-assessing as one does. But my re-assessment was probably focused on food because I was hungry. 😀

What results did my re-assessing deliver?

I was reminded of something a friend of mine said to me a couple years ago. She realized she was good at avoiding foods that were bad for her, but that she needed to put more effort toward seeking out foods that were especially good for her.

That was my own conclusion for myself.

I avoid processed foods, seed oils, sugar, grains, and legumes. But I’m not getting enough of the nutrient-dense foods that promote well-being and vibrant health. I made a list.

1) I need more healthy fats in my diet.

Saturated fats provide the building blocks for the cell membrane of every cell in my body and the building blocks for most of the hormones and hormone-like workhorses in my body. And fats alone permit the assimilation of the fat-soluble vitamins.

My husband has been doing more of the cooking lately, and he simply does not use as much butter as I do. Nor does he make sauces. Of course, I’d not created as many sauces as would be ideal, when I was doing more of the cooking. But this was something I could improve on.

I hope to create homemade mayonnaise regularly. To drizzle butter over baked vegetables. To dive into the world of sauces and make them a regular part of my cooking repertoire. (I’ve made two batches of mayo so far.)

2) I need to ingest bone broth nearly every day.

Bone broth heals the intestinal wall, makes vitamins and minerals more readily assimilable, and provides a catalyst affect for stronger bones.

I don’t know what I was thinking in not drinking bone broth regularly for the last few years. The instant I was diagnosed with osteopenia (and then osteoporosis), I should have been on the bone broth wagon.

Actually, I think I did start off with that intention, but I somehow lost track of it.

It is time to get serious about bone broth. I’ve made two big pots of it during my convalescence, and I hope to continue indefinitely. Not only will I drink the broth plain, but I’ll make soups with it. It serves as the basis for many sauces as well.

3) I need to eat lacto-fermented foods every day.

Lacto-fermented foods have live enzymes in them that supplement the digestive enzymes made by the body. Additionally, they produce lactic acid, which encourages the growth of the symbiotic flora that humans need in their intestines. Some of the longest lived people in the world—those in the Caucasus Mountains—eat generous helpings of kefir and yogurt (both lacto-fermented milk).

Which means I need to make lacto-fermented foods regularly. Lacto-fermentation usually takes 2 – 4 days, so you have to make such foods ahead. Luckily they are easy and kind of fun.

In the last twenty days, I’ve made cucumber pickles and kimchi (Korean sauerkraut), as well as beet kvass. And my mayo was the lacto-fermented variant.

I plan to share some of the recipes with you in the coming weeks, so watch this space. 😀

I’m still coping with pain from my surgery and fatigue, but I am improving. I’ll be well and strong eventually…just not quite yet.

For more about healthy fats, bone broth, or lacto-fermented foods, see:
Butter and Cream and Coconut, Oh My!
I Love Soup!
Amazing Lactobacilli