What is everyone's method?

[2ball]

I make 1.5 gal at a time. I use 5 bags of black tea and 5 bags of oolong tea. I use 1.5 cups of organic sugar. I do the initial ferment for 1 week, then bottle it and add POM juice and ferment for an additional 3 days. I use 16 oz mason jars.

Recipes. For the 2nd fermentation, I have tried all kind of fresh fruit, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries all are good, but not great.

I have tried 100 percent juice blends, but the best juice is POM juice.

What is everyone else doing?

 

[Fire Me Boy!]

I'm continuous brewing 3 gallons. I usually go straight from the jar to ice in a glass. When I get about halfway through the 3 gallons, I brew another gallon or two and add to the vessel. I go 15g of black English breakfast tea usually, with 1 cup of sugar per gallon.

 

[2ball]

I'm continuous brewing 3 gallons. I usually go straight from the jar to ice in a glass. When I get about halfway through the 3 gallons, I brew another gallon or two and add to the vessel. I go 15g of black English breakfast tea usually, with 1 cup of sugar per gallon.

is it still fizzy?
No juice flavoring at all huh?

 

[WarmGas]

I am brewing raw KT with no flavorings. I use only organic loose leaf tea and organic cane sugar. The water here comes from the rain so maybe that's organic too, heck. The extra money for the organic ingredients is paltry when you see how long it lasts.

By buying the absolute purest ingredients I have found our kombucha to be clear, effervescent, palate cleansing and wonderful. Well, this is what our friends say but I might agree. I am experimenting with just altering tea types and ratios: all black vs. all green. 60/40 green/black, etc. I am also experimenting with sugar levels: 1 cup/liter or 1/2 cup/liter.

I make it by batches using dedicated stainless 6.5 gallon fermenters and I have been kegging it and force carbing. It is still early days and I don't have a lot of answers but this is a fascinating journey. I think just fiddling around with the teas and sugar amounts to get it perfect might take me a few years.....!

 

[Fire Me Boy!]

is it still fizzy?
No juice flavoring at all huh?

Yes, quite fizzy. I like the flavored kombuchas, but I like unflavored as much if not more.

 

[drgonzo2k2]

I do 3 gallon batches and keg them. Here's my procedure:

3 gallons water
24 oz sugar
15 black tea bags
9 green tea bags
2 cups starter Kombucha

Bring 1 gallon of water and the sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, add tea bags, and steep for 15 minutes.

Chill down in ice bath until temp reaches ~70F.

Meanwhile combine starter kombucha with 1 gallon, 7 pints of water to make 2 gallons and add to fermenter.

Add tea to fermenter, shake well to combine, and then add SCOBY.

This should give you 3 gallons of Kombucha.

Ferment for 7-10 days until desired tartness is reached.

Keg (reserving 2 cups of kombucha to start your next batch) and force carbonate at 30 PSI for 36 hours. Reduce to 5 PSI (40F) for serving.

I typically do a secondary fermentation doing 3 pounds of fruit for 2 days.

 

[Hawgwild]

I batch brew 3 gallons every 8 days. Boil one gallon. Add 1 cup sugar and 8 tea bags. Usually use a combination of Green, Black, and Oolong tea. Get the benefits from all. Let cool then add to gallon jar with scoby and one cup starter.

Bottling during second fermentation I add one teaspoon sugar to each 16oz bottles. This helps with more carbonation. I like a natural brew but we also add flavoring at this time. We generally use frozen concentrate and like cranberry the best. Put about 4 tbs of the concentrate per bottle. Let set for 5-6 days then refrigerate. Usually get 19-21 16oz bottles from each process.

 

[ericbw]

It sounds like I use more tea than most people. I make 2-3 quarts of tea with 4 tea bags per quart (at least 2 black, and the rest can be green or flavored) and about 1/4 cup sugar per quart.

I let it ferment for 2 weeks, then pour it into mason jars (usually get 2 and a half jars, leaving some tea for the next batch).

THEN, It is almost always too sour for me like that, so I make another batch of flavored tea with some sugar in it (to taste - probably 1-2 TB per quart). I fill mason jars half way with the kombucha and then fill the rest with fresh/sweet tea.

 

[2ball]

I do 3 gallon batches and keg them. Here's my procedure:

3 gallons water
24 oz sugar
15 black tea bags
9 green tea bags
2 cups starter Kombucha

Bring 1 gallon of water and the sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, add tea bags, and steep for 15 minutes.

Chill down in ice bath until temp reaches ~70F.

Meanwhile combine starter kombucha with 1 gallon, 7 pints of water to make 2 gallons and add to fermenter.

Add tea to fermenter, shake well to combine, and then add SCOBY.

This should give you 3 gallons of Kombucha.

Ferment for 7-10 days until desired tartness is reached.

Keg (reserving 2 cups of kombucha to start your next batch) and force carbonate at 30 PSI for 36 hours. Reduce to 5 PSI (40F) for serving.

I typically do a secondary fermentation doing 3 pounds of fruit for 2 days.

Nice, I am now using your ice bath idea to cool down the tea. It seems so obvious now, but I was letting the tea sit for 6 hours to let it cool down.

What are you fermenting in?
So your serving it out of a keg and a tap?
Does it have that metallic taste like keg beer has?
How much are you drinking a day?

 

[2ball]

I batch brew 3 gallons every 8 days. Boil one gallon. Add 1 cup sugar and 8 tea bags. Usually use a combination of Green, Black, and Oolong tea. Get the benefits from all. Let cool then add to gallon jar with scoby and one cup starter.

Bottling during second fermentation I add one teaspoon sugar to each 16oz bottles. This helps with more carbonation. I like a natural brew but we also add flavoring at this time. We generally use frozen concentrate and like cranberry the best. Put about 4 tbs of the concentrate per bottle. Let set for 5-6 days then refrigerate. Usually get 19-21 16oz bottles from each process.

You are brewing 3 - 1 gallon batches every 8 days?
How much are you drinking a day?

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Nice, I am now using your ice bath idea to cool down the tea. It seems so obvious now, but I was letting the tea sit for 6 hours to let it cool down.

What are you fermenting in?
So your serving it out of a keg and a tap?
Does it have that metallic taste like keg beer has?
How much are you drinking a day?

If you use a whisk or a spoon to stir it every now and then it will cool even faster.

I use these 12L Speidel tanks to ferment in.

I have a 6 tap kegerator, and one of the taps is dedicated to Kombucha.

I've never had a metallic taste in my beer, and I've not had one in my Kombucha either, so unfortunately I can't speak to that.

During the week I usually don't drink any because I'm at work all day, but on the weekends I'll have 1-2 pints per day. My wife probably drinks a pint per day, and if her friends are over, or we have a party, a 3 gallon keg can go pretty quickly.

 

[2ball]

If you use a whisk or a spoon to stir it every now and then it will cool even faster.

I use these 12L Speidel tanks to ferment in.

I have a 6 tap kegerator, and one of the taps is dedicated to Kombucha.

I've never had a metallic taste in my beer, and I've not had one in my Kombucha either, so unfortunately I can't speak to that.

During the week I usually don't drink any because I'm at work all day, but on the weekends I'll have 1-2 pints per day. My wife probably drinks a pint per day, and if her friends are over, or we have a party, a 3 gallon keg can go pretty quickly.

Now I'm curious. You can tell the difference between keg beer and bottle beer right?

The keg beer taste a little different.
Does that little difference in taste occur in the Kombucha?

 

[drgonzo2k2]

Now I'm curious. You can tell the difference between keg beer and bottle beer right?

The keg beer taste a little different.
Does that little difference in taste occur in the Kombucha?

Sorry, no, I don't know what you're talking about.

 

[2ball]

I have brewed about 10 1.5 gallon batches so far. I have tried every flavoring I could think of for the 2nd fermentation, and I have come to the realization that plain is the best.

 

[Fire Me Boy!]

I have brewed about 10 1.5 gallon batches so far. I have tried every flavoring I could think of for the 2nd fermentation, and I have come to the realization that plain is the best.

Same here. I like it best straight from the brewer over ice.

 

[GregP507]

I make 1.5 gal at a time. I use 5 bags of black tea and 5 bags of oolong tea. I use 1.5 cups of organic sugar. I do the initial ferment for 1 week, then bottle it and add POM juice and ferment for an additional 3 days. I use 16 oz mason jars.

Recipes. For the 2nd fermentation, I have tried all kind of fresh fruit, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries all are good, but not great.

I have tried 100 percent juice blends, but the best juice is POM juice.

What is everyone else doing?

I don't add sugar, because I don't like it too sweet. I like to stop it when about half the natural sugar has been fermented. I get much better results using some of my last batch to start the new batch. The scoby was taking up to a week or more to get started. My other threads explain my theory for why this happens.

I can usually create a 2 L bottle of fermented Pomegranate Chia Black Kombucha Tea in less than a day:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=586710

 

[Butcha_Bear_84]

Have you tried using hops? I never have but just interested in your opinion...

 

[GregP507]

I make 1.5 gal at a time. I use 5 bags of black tea and 5 bags of oolong tea. I use 1.5 cups of organic sugar. I do the initial ferment for 1 week, then bottle it and add POM juice and ferment for an additional 3 days. I use 16 oz mason jars.

Recipes. For the 2nd fermentation, I have tried all kind of fresh fruit, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries all are good, but not great.

I have tried 100 percent juice blends, but the best juice is POM juice.

What is everyone else doing?

I brew black tea, very strong, any type.
I let it cool down below 135F.
I add 10% (of final batch size) chia seeds, shake them quickly so they don't go lumpy.
Then I add POM juice in equal parts with the tea, shake again.
Add a few ounces of your previous batch (or scoby) and 3-5 tablespoons of sugar, and shake well.
Set aside at room temperature, loosening the container top to check for effervescence every few hours.
In 18-36 hours when effervescence increases dramatically, it's time to refrigerate.
Enjoy!

 

[GregP507]

Adding chia seeds gives the drink a lot of fiber, which is exactly what you need to pass the kombucha through the stomach, into the intestines where it does the most good.

 

[thebuchaman]

I do different things for different recipes. but I only brew in 1 gallon increments. Meaning, I may have 3 gallons brewing, but each gallon is its own isolated system with its own containers/scobys/ect.
Alot of my recipes have specific ratios of different types of teas for 1f, as well as brewed tea/water/starter. Some require using 2-3 different forms of sugar with specific ratios. Some require specific temps for specific amounts of time. For flavoring, some recipes call for flavoring ferment with an airlock, sometimes it'll be open top, some get filtered and flavored during bottling. Each recipe has it's own ratios, ferment times, ect.
I don't use any fancy meters/reader, outside pH readers and thermometers. Consistency, observation, record keeping, trial and error, and small adjustments is pretty much my motto.
I've had a lot of people tell me that the level of detail and steps that I'm doing when making my kombucha is overboard and not necessary when brewing on such a small scale for personal consumption. I disagree. They typically do as well once they taste a bottle.