Refreshing Interest In Kombucha

[Morrey]

I have always maintained an interest in Kombucha Tea, and for one reason or another, have gotten away from brewing the tea. With no scoby readily available, I am seeking advice to start a new batch.

I happened to see commercially produced Kombucha tea available in the refrigerated section of our local WalMart. I was interested to see this, and wondered if I could simply pitch a bottle of this tea in a batch of sweetened tea as I had always done with a baby scoby to start a new batch?

Since the product is refrigerated with a somewhat short exp date, I assume this tea will have active bacteria that will reproduce into a new scoby. Will this work and any tips?

Thanks!

 

[bpgreen]

It can work, and is actually how I started brewing kombucha last summer (I had to stop once it cooled off because I keep the house too cool for kombucha to ferment well).

I think the kombucha container should have something on it to the effect that it contains live cultures if you want to be sure that it will work.

I used instructions I found online. Most of what I read said that it's best to use unflavored kombucha, but I was only able to find flavored kombucha, so I used that.

If I remember correctly, I didn't use the whole bottle. I drank about half of it (partly because I'd never had kombucha before, so I didn't know if I'd like it). My memory is fuzzy on the details, so I may have drunk more than half.

I then added the rest to a quart mason jar and filled the rest of the way with sweetened tea, then covered with a coffee filter held on with a rubber band. I think it took about a week to form a fairly thin scoby. I then used that scoby, along with some of the kombucha to make the next batch.

I think I followed directions I found here:
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/kombucha/obtaining-a-kombucha-scoby/

 

[Morrey]

It can work, and is actually how I started brewing kombucha last summer (I had to stop once it cooled off because I keep the house too cool for kombucha to ferment well).

I think the kombucha container should have something on it to the effect that it contains live cultures if you want to be sure that it will work.

I used instructions I found online. Most of what I read said that it's best to use unflavored kombucha, but I was only able to find flavored kombucha, so I used that.

If I remember correctly, I didn't use the whole bottle. I drank about half of it (partly because I'd never had kombucha before, so I didn't know if I'd like it). My memory is fuzzy on the details, so I may have drunk more than half.

I then added the rest to a quart mason jar and filled the rest of the way with sweetened tea, then covered with a coffee filter held on with a rubber band. I think it took about a week to form a fairly thin scoby. I then used that scoby, along with some of the kombucha to make the next batch.

I think I followed directions I found here:
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/kombucha/obtaining-a-kombucha-scoby/

Excellent! Thanks for your response....going to give it a try starting a batch this weekend.

 

[bpgreen]

Let us know how it works out.

I've heard that a lot of people fail to get a Scoby using this method, so don't get discouraged if it doesn't work. You can try the same approach or buy a Scoby.

 

[Morrey]

Surely, its worth a try with the easiest method being bottled tea over the counter. There is a LHBS (superstore) about 2.5 hours from me so that's a dedicated hike for a serious supply run. Point being I saw they had baby scobys for sale in baggies beside the refrigerated liquid yeast. Plus I think scoby cultures may be fairly easy to find online...so the availability is widespread. Of course the immediate route is to culture a new scoby from a bottle of Kombucha Tea, so lets give that a try first. Will report back.

 

[kiki374]

I have always maintained an interest in Kombucha Tea, and for one reason or another, have gotten away from brewing the tea. With no scoby readily available, I am seeking advice to start a new batch.

I happened to see commercially produced Kombucha tea available in the refrigerated section of our local WalMart. I was interested to see this, and wondered if I could simply pitch a bottle of this tea in a batch of sweetened tea as I had always done with a baby scoby to start a new batch?

Since the product is refrigerated with a somewhat short exp date, I assume this tea will have active bacteria that will reproduce into a new scoby. Will this work and any tips?

Thanks!

I agree. It will work just fine but might take a little longer to produce a scoby.

I just started brewing kombucha recently and had the advantage of a friend to explain the process and give me a scoby but brewing without came up in our conversation and she confirmed it’s success.

 

[MWS]

Just go to your local co-op or health foods store, look for the bottle with the most gunk in it, preferably local and has the expiration date that is the furthest out. I found one with what looks like a little scoby produced in the same state that I live in and had an expiration date almost 6 months out. It produced a nice layer within a week and by 2 weeks it was over 1/4" thick. I just used that as my starter tea to brew up 1 gallon. Plus, chances are if you like the overall character of a certain kombucha brand, you'll get similar results.