Kombucha Primary Fermentation (how to feed a SCOBY)
Learn how to feed a kombucha SCOBY also known as kombucha primary fermentation.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 Quart
- Category: Fermented Foods
- Method: Fermentation
- Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients
- 50 grams organic sugar
- 5 grams organic tea
- 1000 mL water
- 1-liter glass jar
- 1 kombucha SCOBY
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients
- Boil your water and dissolve the sugar in the water.
- Steep the tea in the hot water for 5 minutes. If using tea bags, simply remove them. If using loose leaf tea, strain all the tea leaves from the mixture.
- allow the sweet tea mixture to cool completely. It should be room temperature before moving on to the next step.
- Once it is cool, add the kombucha SCOBY. Some SCOBYs float, others may sink to the bottom, either way it’s fine.
- Cover the jar with a cloth lid and rubber-band. You must use a cloth lid to allow oxygen flow.
- Keep the jar of sweet tea with the SCOBY at moderate room temperature, out of direct sunlight for seven days. Temperature should be between 65-78 degrees F.
- After 7 days you should see you SCOBY is thicker or another SCOBY is forming on the surface.
- Make a fresh quart of sweet tea as in the previous directions.
- Remove the SCOBY from fermented tea and place it in the jar of fresh sweet tea. Add a tablespoon of already fermented tea to the fresh batch.
- The fermented tea is now ready for flavoring and bottling (secondary fermentation; see recipes above)
- For secondary fermentation, you need pressure safe glass bottles and fruit juice for flavoring. I typically fill the bottles half way with fermented sweet tea and half way with juice. Once the bottles are sealed, carbonation builds in the bottles. Secondary fermentation can take anywhere from 5 to 12 days depending on the temperature.
Notes
See links below for secondary fermentation and flavoring recipes
