New guy here and I'm looking to get a good continuous Kombucha brew kit, probably with heat mat if it's beneficial. I don't mind spending a little $ to get a good set up but I don't want to pay for too many unnecessary extras. Can anybody suggest a simple but well rounded continuous brew kit for me?
Thanks!
I went to Hobby Lobby and bought (2) 1/2-gal mason jars, and (2) SCOBYs from
http://www.kombuchakamp.com/kombucha-cultures
The Kombucha Mamma includes a reusable tea bag and some of her own tea blend to get you started. I thought the tea was a little weak personally.
I kept the lid rings, but not the seals, and used them to hold down a coffee filter on each jar.
I think the jars were like $3 each (50% off glassware sale) and the SCOBYs were like $40 for (2) or something.
She sells some kits with more stuff. Some of it could be useful, but mostly unnecessary. She also sells continuous brew kits and heating systems. If you want to go that route.
I had an extra 10-gal aquarium sitting out in the garage I wasn't using, so I set it up with (3) 1-gal jars (green olive jars from a pizza place) and a 100w submersible heater. Water stays ~76℉, and the brew is ~78℉. Previously a 1-gal would take ~14 days to brew sitting on my kitchen counter @ ~72.5℉
Just (2) days in the tank and all (3) jars have a solid surface layer formed. For the same layer, it would have taken about (5)+ days on the counter.
My suggestion, start off as cheap as possible. You don't want to start off with a large investment, and hate the labor. For example, I can pour out the 1/2-gal jars into a filter/funnel, but I can't pour the 1-gal jars (they run down the side). Last harvest I had to suck out 1-oz at a time with a turkey baster into my GTs bottles (16oz). I'm definitely in the market for a racking cane now that I have (3) 1-gal and (2) more waiting for their own SCOBYs lol
