SCOBY - Kombucha Mother Recipe - Food.com (2024)

• ¹⁄₂ cup white vinegar, for cleaning equipment
• 12 cups filtered water
• 1 cup unbleached cane sugar or 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 teabags of unflavored black tea
• 2 cups plain kombucha (storebought)

directions

• Special Equipment:

• 4 quart or larger pan (uncoated or stainless steel).
• Glass jar, 1 gallon capacity.
• Clean, tightly-woven cloth at least 8"x8".
• Large rubber band.
• Adhesive strip thermometer, optional.

• Directions:

• Wipe down the equipment with plain white vinegar, let it sit a few minutes, and then rinse well with hot water. Dry with a clean towel, or allow to air dry.
• Heat 4 cups of water in the saucepan to a boil on the stovetop. Add tea bags or tea, and allow it to steep for 7-10 minutes. While tea is still warm, remove tea bags. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
• Pour the remaining water (8 cups) into the gallon jar. Allow the tea mixture to cool to a warm room temperature, about 75°F.
• When the liquid is cooled, add 2 cups of ready-made kombucha to the tea mixture. Stir gently with a clean metal spoon to make sure this is well incorporated into the tea.
• Cover the entire mouth of the jar with the cloth and secure it with a rubber band.
• Allow the mixture to stand, undisturbed in a warm place away from direct sunlight for 2-4 weeks. During this time, you will begin to see bubbles form, then a translucent skin, then white clusters that turn into an opaque gelatinous film. The mixture should smell sweet and vinegary.
• When the SCOBY has grown to ¼ inch thickness, it is ready to be used for kombucha brewing.

• NOTES:

• Before you preserve or ferment anything, including a SCOBY or kombucha, it is important to follow all canning and processing instructions included in the recipe and refer to USDA guidelines about the sterilization of canned products. Find information on canning at the National Center for Home Food Preservation website: http://nchfp.uga.edu/.
• Be sure to use a glass container in which to grow the SCOBY. Plastic containers can harbor all kinds of bad bacteria that can grow while fermenting kombucha.
• Chlorine from tap water can slow down the bacterial growth needed to grow a SCOBY. Use filtered, non-chlorinated water to give your SCOBY the best chance to grow.
• Don’t use sugar substitutes such as stevia or sucralose because they do not have the sucrose the SCOBY culture needs to grow.
• Be sure periodically check the SCOBY and see if any mold is growing on it. The mold would be a fuzzy white, green or black growth on the surface. Mold can grow if the kombucha is not kept warm enough to produce acids. If your SCOBY grows mold, you unfortunately have to throw the whole brew out and start over.
• If your SCOBY doesn’t look like the one pictured, don’t panic! Home-grown SCOBY will run the gamut of appearances (none of which are winning any beauty contests). Your SCOBY may be more white in appearance, yellowish-tan, or brown. It could be wrinkled, bubbly, or smooth. It could have brown spots, which are yeast deposits. The only spots to worry about are green or black hair-growing mold, as mentioned previously.
• The liquid used to grow the SCOBY will likely be too strong and acidic to drink, however, you can use some of it as the starter for the first batch of home-brewed kombucha. Our kombucha recipe requires 2 cups of ‘starter’ so set aside this amount for your first brew. You can store your kombucha SCOBY in some of the liquid in a jar covered with a cloth, at room temperature. However, you will need to feed it room temperature sweet black tea every 7-10 days to keep it viable.