Having a hard time...
 

Finding a source that isn't so vague about how to start a first batch. Most recipes I see have sugar, tea and vinegar. Now the hard part I'm finding is what's used to ferment? I keep reading about "mother", kombucha "mushrooms" and kombucha "culture". But that doesn't tell me a whole lot. Where do I get this? Is it like vials of yeast similar to that for homebrewing beer? I've seen "kombucha" tea in my local grocery store, do these teabags include the yeast culture to start fermentation? Any help would be appreciated, I'd like to get the ball rolling!

Google kombucha mother, there are several places on line that sell mothers as well as videos on YouTube to start your own. You will need a couple bottles of premade tea to get a starter going.

VB

I've had great success with this company's scobys. Ordered a couple over the years and have made some great kombucha. Problem is you have to keep up with it every month or so or else the scoby eats up all the available liquid and swells to fill up whatever container it's in.

http://www.happyherbalist.com/kombuchamushroomstartertraditionalorganic.aspx

Dump one bottle of GT kombucha in there and you are good to go. Any unfiltered bottle o kombucha will do if you can't find GT

Does this still work after the FDA recall over alcohol content? I used to buy GT's Kombucha almost every day, but after the recall the product is not nearly the same. The stuff you get now tastes like fruit juice and seltzer water. I don't buy it anymore. It's like kombucha that has been castrated.

Worked for me a few months ago. As long as it's unfiltered the live culture is in there

bumping old thread...

Glad to see positive feedback on happyherbalist. I was considering ordering a SCOBY from them.

I have made 3 attempts at growing a SCOBY from GT Dave's following instructions from various sources - to the letter. I've used just the "plain" GT Dave's and the ginger flavor - nada. No SCOBY, just some very sour smelling cloudy liquid.

(I mean really... I brew beer, make cider, etc. I get following instructions, keeping things clean, etc. The SCOBY just did not grow)

I suspect that a combination of cool ambient temperatures and not enough live culture in the GTD product that's impairing my success. Really want to make my own 'booch because my GT Dave's habit is worse than my craft brew habit ;)

Mermaid,

Can you outline your process?

I see major differences between 75 degrees, and 65 degrees. It also took several weeks to get a scoby just 1/4 inch thick. All started from a GTs kombucha.