How to Grow a Kombucha Scoby for $2.50
What will you name your scoby?
Meet Clarice.
Have the peace of mind of knowing where your baby scoby came from and that your final product is 99% your creation. It’s the base that all future brews will ferment from, so start off on the right foot. This is the only way to reach full fermented enlightenment. So be the Obi-Wan Sconoby of kombucha and fulfill your destiny.
Onward!
BTW: If you haven’t read it yet, this is the complete How to Make More Kombucha Than You’ll Know what to Do With recipe.
Fact: Growing a new scoby from scratch is easy and cheaper than ordering one online.
Doing this process will generate two necessary components for your kombucha puzzle:
- A brand new scoby
- A few cups of super-vinegary kombucha starter liquid that’s the most important part when you embark on brewing you first batch of tasty kombucha. It has all the bacteria necessary to get the party started.
What You Need
- One bottle of GT’s Original Kombucha from the market
- 10 cups of water
- 5 bags of black tea (must be plain ol’ black tea, think Irish or English Breakfast) (5 bags is enough for a 1 gallon jar and 1 new scoby, but I would use 7 if you scale up the water and sugar to make a two gallon batch and 2 scobies simultaneously in two separate jars.)
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 gallon glass jar. Double this recipe like me and make two scobys at the same time.
Process:
- Bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
- Remove from heat. Add those 5 tea bags and sugar. Steep for 5–10 min and stir in that sugar.
- Next, add the hot tea to your empty 1 gallon jar.
- Add cold water to the jar (about 6 cups) leaving room for the one bottle of GT’s Original Kombucha. This should probably be filtered water, but I use tap water and my scoby and I are still alive.
- Now, assuming the water is lukewarm or room temperature, it is safe to add the entire bottle of kombucha.
- Place a coffee filter over the top opening of the jar and secure with a rubber band. Now the jar can breath but any curious bugs will be turned away.
- Place the jar in a darkish (no direct sunlight (just cover it with a towel)) area that is 65–82°F, 75–82°F degrees is ideal as this will make things ferment faster (14–28 days to ferment). The total length of fermentation will depend on ambient temperature, warmer = baby scoby is born sooner.
- Don’t move or jostle the jar. What will the new scoby growth look like? You will first see a pleasant layer of bubble forming on the surface and around the edges. Then you will see sketchy, hairy, yeasty, cellulose biofilm take shape. This will look like mold to the untrained eye for quite a while. Then, automagically it will turn opaque and maybe resemble my photos. Remember, scobys come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s best not to judge your baby on it’s looks. It’s the taste that matters.
- When the scoby turns opaque and is ~1/4 inch thick, you are ready to start your official first batch of kombucha.
Now What Should I Do With My Flaccid New Scoby?
- Save at least 2 cups of the liquid (give the jar a stir first to mix in the good yeast). This is basically kombucha that has fermented too long and is thus too vinegary to drink. It will however be a great “starter liquid” to your first batch of drinkable kombucha.
- Read my full length buch recipe here: How to Make More Kombucha Than You’ll Know what to Do With
Thank you for reading.
“Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered.)”
― Julius Caesar