Hi guys. This is a project im interested in trying for the first time, but am confused as to how. Now im reading about this scoby you need for this. Now if you make a sweet tea and add yeast to it, it wont oroduce the same thing? If not, how do i grow this scoby?
Interested in trying to make kombucha
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From what I understand, with each batch you add a cup of finished kombucha and that has your active culture, so starting off you don't really need SCOBY but it would take a little longer to finish and it will form. SCOBY. I trust that helps and maybe some people that make it will chime in. Like you I'm thinking about it.
A SCOBY is not just yeast.
There is some yeast in there (wild yeast is everywhere), but SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast.
There are some bacteria strains that make vinegar, and some that make yogurt, and a mix of many others, that can help preserve foods like sauerkraut and malt vinegar. A SCOBY is the start of kombucha.
There is some yeast in there (wild yeast is everywhere), but SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Colony Of Bacteria and Yeast.
There are some bacteria strains that make vinegar, and some that make yogurt, and a mix of many others, that can help preserve foods like sauerkraut and malt vinegar. A SCOBY is the start of kombucha.
Owly055
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There is a lot of pure BS in the Kombucha community. You do NOT need a scoby to make kombucha. A scoby is misleading term for a pellicle, a byproduct of acetobacter fermentation. It is NOT a "symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast" from which misunderstanding the acronym scoby was derived.
Kombucha requires yeast and acetobacter, and specific species of each or groups of species have evolved (apparently) for this environment. The yeast ferments the sugar in the sweet tea, and the acetobacter, and one or two others consume the alcohol and sour it.
Making kombucha is incredibly easy........... anybody can do it. The best method I've found is to mix up sweet tea, and I use a cup of sugar and 4 tea bags per gallon, other people often use more of both. Pour it into a glass ice tea jug with a spigot and add an equal amount of commercial live culture unflavored kombucha. I use GTs. Store at room temp, and in about a week it will be soured into kombucha. Then if you again add an equal amount of sweet tea, you can double it again. At the end of the week, you will have a very thin pellicle (scoby). Pour your sweet tea in right over it and don't worry about sinking it, folding it up, etc........ It will refloat by itself. Don't remove it, or mess with it........... Just leave the damn thing alone!!
Once you get up to the desired volume, draw off 50% every 7 days or so, based on taste, and pour cooled sweet tea in right over the scoby again. I do about 50% every 7 days or 25% every 4 days or so.
The reason for doing continuous brew is lower vulnerability to undesirable microbes. At 50% the PH is low enough and the colony of bacteria strong enough that it will stay true and resist other microbes. Pouring the sweet tea over the scoby (pellicle) rather than removing it and refloating it as many people do gives the scoby a rinse and a bath in the acidic kombucha, and will prevent issues like mold growth. It is also quick and easy. There is no reason for the silliness of reverently lifting the scoby out and putting it in another container with some kombucha while washing out the original container to start a new batch as so many people do. There is no point in washing your container, as whatever is stuck on the walls of it is rich in the very bacteria and yeast you need. It's not dirt or gunk to wash off. Sediment is yeast sediment, and will get deeper over time, and eventually you will want to wash the jar out to get rid of this, just because you have so much of it. At that point the scoby will probably be quite thick........... I just bottle half of the kombucha at that point, and save half to continue the process, and toss the scoby in the compost heap, I then return the kombucha to the jar and add sweet tea and continue.
The scoby is NOT a living organism, it is mat of cellulose and other byproducts. It does NOT make the kombucha, it is made by the organisms that do make the kombucha. I've made literally hundreds of gallons of kombucha, at one time brewing it in 5 gallon brew buckets. The biggest thing in brewing kombucha is cutting through all the touchy feelie BS people spread so liberally.
H.W.
Kombucha requires yeast and acetobacter, and specific species of each or groups of species have evolved (apparently) for this environment. The yeast ferments the sugar in the sweet tea, and the acetobacter, and one or two others consume the alcohol and sour it.
Making kombucha is incredibly easy........... anybody can do it. The best method I've found is to mix up sweet tea, and I use a cup of sugar and 4 tea bags per gallon, other people often use more of both. Pour it into a glass ice tea jug with a spigot and add an equal amount of commercial live culture unflavored kombucha. I use GTs. Store at room temp, and in about a week it will be soured into kombucha. Then if you again add an equal amount of sweet tea, you can double it again. At the end of the week, you will have a very thin pellicle (scoby). Pour your sweet tea in right over it and don't worry about sinking it, folding it up, etc........ It will refloat by itself. Don't remove it, or mess with it........... Just leave the damn thing alone!!
Once you get up to the desired volume, draw off 50% every 7 days or so, based on taste, and pour cooled sweet tea in right over the scoby again. I do about 50% every 7 days or 25% every 4 days or so.
The reason for doing continuous brew is lower vulnerability to undesirable microbes. At 50% the PH is low enough and the colony of bacteria strong enough that it will stay true and resist other microbes. Pouring the sweet tea over the scoby (pellicle) rather than removing it and refloating it as many people do gives the scoby a rinse and a bath in the acidic kombucha, and will prevent issues like mold growth. It is also quick and easy. There is no reason for the silliness of reverently lifting the scoby out and putting it in another container with some kombucha while washing out the original container to start a new batch as so many people do. There is no point in washing your container, as whatever is stuck on the walls of it is rich in the very bacteria and yeast you need. It's not dirt or gunk to wash off. Sediment is yeast sediment, and will get deeper over time, and eventually you will want to wash the jar out to get rid of this, just because you have so much of it. At that point the scoby will probably be quite thick........... I just bottle half of the kombucha at that point, and save half to continue the process, and toss the scoby in the compost heap, I then return the kombucha to the jar and add sweet tea and continue.
The scoby is NOT a living organism, it is mat of cellulose and other byproducts. It does NOT make the kombucha, it is made by the organisms that do make the kombucha. I've made literally hundreds of gallons of kombucha, at one time brewing it in 5 gallon brew buckets. The biggest thing in brewing kombucha is cutting through all the touchy feelie BS people spread so liberally.
H.W.
I mean it sounds really simple, but by the sounds of it, you cant make kombucha from scratch. It seems you always either have to have the "scoby", or you have to obtain kombucha to add in with your sweet tea. Im sorry if i sound repetitive, but couldnt you just use yeast and get a similar result? Thats essentially what the kombucha is acting as right?
rhoadsrage
Well-Known Member
From all that I have read and done (which is only about a year) you have to have the SCOBY to ferment the sweet tea into kombucha. But you reuse the SCOBY over and over, and it cut it up to make more and pass them around to friends. So making Kombucha from scratch requires sweet tea + SCOBY = Kombucha. (That is a great oversimplification)
I started mine from a bottle of Kombucha I bought at the store and it has been going great for about a year. Here are 2 resources I found helpful.
This is a great homebrewer that explains how he made Kombucha very simply.
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2007/02/i-realize-that-many-people-have-never.html
This is a great resource, I bought her book, but she has lots of free resources online to help with the basics.
https://www.kombuchakamp.com/
I started mine from a bottle of Kombucha I bought at the store and it has been going great for about a year. Here are 2 resources I found helpful.
This is a great homebrewer that explains how he made Kombucha very simply.
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2007/02/i-realize-that-many-people-have-never.html
This is a great resource, I bought her book, but she has lots of free resources online to help with the basics.
https://www.kombuchakamp.com/
You absolutely need a SCOBY.
You want minimal acetobacter (vinegar), but you do want other bacteria and some yeast.
If you add just acetobacter, you get vinegar.
I love my homemade vinegar, but it does NOT make kombucha.
You want minimal acetobacter (vinegar), but you do want other bacteria and some yeast.
If you add just acetobacter, you get vinegar.
I love my homemade vinegar, but it does NOT make kombucha.
No. Yeast will ferment the sweet tea, yes, but then you have a sweet tea wine.
Kombucha uses a mixed culture. Kombucha has lactobacillus (like yogurt), but the main one is Gluconacetobacter kombuchae. It gives that tart flavor, but not full-on vinegar. Zygosaccharomyces kombuchaensis is a strain of yeast unique to kombucha that forms these little 'threads'.
A short cut 'n paste from wikipedia:
A SCOBY (for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) is a syntrophic mixed culture, generally associated with kombucha production wherein anaerobic ethanol fermentation (by yeast), anaerobic organic acid fermentation (by bacteria), and aerobic ethanol oxidation to acetate (by bacteria) all take place concurrently along an oxygen gradient. A gelatinous, cellulose-based biofilm called a pellicle forms at the air-liquid interface and is also sometimes referred to as a SCOBY. Either samples of this pellicle or unpasteurized kombucha can be used similarly to Mother of vinegar to begin fermentation in pasteurized sweet tea. [1] Referring to the cultures as a "colony" is misleading, because the term colony implies a group of genetically identical or nearly identical organisms living together. The species comprising the mixed cultures vary from preparation to preparation, but generally include Acetobacter bacterial species, as well as various Saccharomyces and other yeast types. SCOBY cultures used in beverage production can produce a structure referred to as a "mushroom," which is also biologically misleading, because mushrooms are a completely unrelated group of fungi. It often forms in vinegar in jars of pickled foods.
I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but @Owly055 is correct (that's a joke, Owly), you do not need a SCOBY to make Kombucha, the reference that @Yooper cites, even states so:
Either samples of this pellicle or unpasteurized kombucha can be used similarly to Mother of vinegar to begin fermentation in pasteurized sweet tea.
Try it for yourself. Just make up a batch of sweet tea and use a bottle of GT's unflavored Kombucha as your starter tea.
7-10 days later you will have Kombucha, and most likely a Scoby will have grown.
You can try it with just the Scoby, but it will take longer than using the starter tea.
Before you package the Kombucha you want to save some of it to use as your starter tea for the next batch. You can save the Scoby or not, it really doesn't matter as another one will grow.
I've made dozens of batches this way, they all turn out fine, and the all grow some form of Scoby on them.
Either samples of this pellicle or unpasteurized kombucha can be used similarly to Mother of vinegar to begin fermentation in pasteurized sweet tea.
Try it for yourself. Just make up a batch of sweet tea and use a bottle of GT's unflavored Kombucha as your starter tea.
7-10 days later you will have Kombucha, and most likely a Scoby will have grown.
You can try it with just the Scoby, but it will take longer than using the starter tea.
Before you package the Kombucha you want to save some of it to use as your starter tea for the next batch. You can save the Scoby or not, it really doesn't matter as another one will grow.
I've made dozens of batches this way, they all turn out fine, and the all grow some form of Scoby on them.
I think this is where we totally agree. I said you need a SCOBY, and that's exactly what you are culturing from the samples of the pellicle (the SCOBY) or the unpasteurized kombucha (the start of a SCOBY). I did oversimplify, but the point is the same.
My point was that you can't just add yeast and magically get a good tasting kombucha. It's a many-organism ferment, and using yeast won't get you there.
Okay, I think we're on the same page. Yes, you do need a collection of both yeast and bacteria to make Kombucha.
I think that some people just equate Scoby = that slimy thing that floats on top. You don't need that to make Kombucha.
The yeasts and bacteria can come from either starter tea, the slimy thing that floats on top commonly referred to as the Scoby, or both.
I think that some people just equate Scoby = that slimy thing that floats on top. You don't need that to make Kombucha.
The yeasts and bacteria can come from either starter tea, the slimy thing that floats on top commonly referred to as the Scoby, or both.
Ah, now I get what you and Owly are saying. The SCOBY is not the slimy thing on top, but people may incorrectly equate it to that!
A SCOBY is actually the colony- which is microscopic. The mat is not the SCOBY, it's just where the collection of the colony hangs out.
I said you absolutely need a SCOBY. You do- you need the culture. It can come from a commercial non-pasteurized kombucha, or can be purchased. It's nice if you have a friend who can give you one. But it does all start with the SCOBY (the culture).
My friend just picked me up a bottle of GT's last night. Im going to make a 1 gallon batch of sweet tea. Im going to add 1 cup of sugar and let it cool down to room temperature. How much of the bottle should i add in to the sweet tea mixture?
Yep, we're on the same page.
I use one bottle to inoculate my 3 gallon batches, but it wouldn't hurt anything to use the whole bottle on your 1 gallon batch either.
rhoadsrage
Well-Known Member
I added the bottom half of a bottle and got good success. Keep it at warm room temp (78-85 degrees) is ideal. You can always add more of the bottle and it will make it a bit more acidic to start which will hold off the mold longer, and give the yeast/bacteria time to grow. Also make sure it has oxygen, I just use a double layer of butter cloth and a rubber band but I have also used a thin linen towel over the top, too.
You dont need a scoby to start. Bottle dregs from a fresh/live store bought kombucha will work. A scoby will form tho eventually.
There are more bacteria strains than just aceto. They make the sour acids, mostly gluconic acid they do better with oxygen. The vinegar content is related to oxygen levels. The scoby mat blocks oxygen and acetobacter starts to take over. You can remove it to get more souring vs vinegar. As long as pH has dropped enough it wont hurt it. Just takes a bit longer.
There are more bacteria strains than just aceto. They make the sour acids, mostly gluconic acid they do better with oxygen. The vinegar content is related to oxygen levels. The scoby mat blocks oxygen and acetobacter starts to take over. You can remove it to get more souring vs vinegar. As long as pH has dropped enough it wont hurt it. Just takes a bit longer.
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