Kombucha from the store is a delicious treat, I was wondering if I could make something *just as good* at home. I can! And the good news is that it is super easy, costs very little per batch, and after you buy (or make) the SCOBY, it’s made with what you most likely have on hand anyway.
To see how I’m making continuous brew kombucha, check out this post. This post is talking about the second ferment, the first ferment is with the sweet tea and kombucha SCOBY, this second ferment adds a bit more sugar through fresh or dried fruit, fruit juice, or honey. It’s also bottled with an air tight seal, to produce the carbonation.
Here are the three easy steps to make fizzy sweet kombucha
1. Get out and wash (just ‘kitchen clean’ is fine- no need to sterilize) the desired number of mason jars. You can do them in whatever size you want, I used 8 ounce (found here) because kombucha is a probiotic treat, not something that I feel I need to ingest in high quantities.
Choose what sweetener you are going to use to flavor your kombucha. I used half frozen mangos here, half 100% juice cranberry-apple. Both are delicious, I like the mango a little better though.
2. Add a piece of fruit (I added a few) or fill your cups 1/8th or so full with juice. Add kombucha (made with the continuous brew method, or single batch method) to 1/2 inch or so below the top of the jar to allow head space.
3. Place regular canning lids on, or any lid (many people re-use kombucha bottles from the store) that gets an air tight seal. *note: these are not heat sealed, they’re just screwed on tight* Allow to sit 24-72 hours, or until you hear a pop when you break the seal from the carbonation. This will take less time when it’s warmer, more time when it’s cooler. Transfer to the fridge and enjoy right out of the jar within a week or so to prevent the carbonation to continue building and creating a kombucha explosion.
After removing kombucha from your continuous brew, you’ll want to replace the lost volume with an equal amount of sweet tea again, to continue the process.
Easy, isn’t it? I’m looking forward to trying a bunch of different flavors each time we do this!
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Hi I have a question that’s off topic a bit.I’m on gaps intro.(I’ve been relying heavily on what can I eat now?Thanks so much for all your time effort!)I’m using alot of butternut squash in the soups,pancakes, ect and I’m looking forward to using spaghetti squash too.I recently heard that squash is genetically modified so I googled it, and discovered that summer squash is but nothing definite about winter squash.I haven’t been able to find any organic squash right now.So I was wondering if you know,or could point me to a website?Thanks again!
The GMO squash is the summer squash variety (specifically yellow crookneck and zucchini), not the winter squashes (kabocha, acorn, spaghetti, butternut). I would buy the summer squashes organic (especially since you eat the skin of those while you tend to peel the winter squashes). Hope that helps!
Yes it absolutely helps, thanks so much for the reply!:)
Thank-you for this post. I generally make small batches and am ready to switch to a continuous brew method. I’ve always had successful carbonated kombucha, with one ferment and I reuse store bought bottles. I’m thinking in fact, that I bottle with about 1/4 c. of flavorings, with many of the flavorings you mentioned. Honestly I’m getting too much foods and some bottles explode in a very messy way. I’m wondering if I need to back off of the flavoring or just flavor a 2nd fermentation in the brew jars, then bottle.
You need to burp your bottles every day so they don’t explode while they are setting on the counter before they go in the fridge.
Uh, from above, I mean that I’m getting too much fizz..
Julie, sounds like you’re using too much flavoring. I use old GT’s Kombucha jars and I only add 1 strawberry or maybe 3 blueberries. I never add juice, just a small piece of fruit, ginger, or hibiscus~friends say it’s THE BEST they’ve had. 24 hrs after bottling I have good fizz and we start drinking (our family of 10 doesn’t wait for the fridge!). We make gallon and half gallon jars and they are a little fizzy after 10 days (before bottling). The only time we’ve had explosions is when we used some of those clamping jars that seal really tightly and we had used blueberries (they fizz really well!). Hope this helps. By now you might have already figured out what to do :)
I’ve wanted to try continuous brew but didn’t know what container to use. I don’t want a plastic or metal spout/spigot (whatever you call it). Cara where did you get that beautiful jar with a wooden spout?
I read Kombucha doesn’t like metal so I bought the Ball plastic lids for standard mouth jars but they don’t seem to seal air tight and I don’t get that fizz. I’m about to break down a buy swing top bottles. My favorite flavor is blackberry. I divide the 8 oz container up between 3 quart jars and second ferment for 24 hrs. Try it. You won’t be disappointed. I’m considering planting some blackberry bushes out back.
My favorite flavor of store bought Kombucha is the “original”. How do you get that flavor during the second fermentation? Is it necessary to add juice/fruit?
I will thinly slice lemons and ginger and add the kombucha.I also use frozen pineapple chunks. Because of a medical problem I can’t handle too much carbonation so I don’t let it 2nd fermentation but to just add the flavor.
one question. i have two half-gallon mason jars brewing my first batch of kombucha. I want to make a fizzy batch so i know i need to do a second fermenting with the flavors.
My question is when jarring the second fermenting jars do i add cultures or pieces of culture/scoby to the new flavor batch? or just pour brew into the new jars without the scoby/culture.
do i ever want to cut the scoby?
Well I hope by now someone has answered your question. The answer: no, don’t add SCOBY to your second ferment
And, YES, you can cut your SCOBY but don’t use metal knives. However, you can simply peal off a layer instead. Then you can give it to someone else who wants to brew kombucha, or look up some other ways to use it. My neighbor has chickens who love it!
Thank you very much. I think continuous brewing is ideal.
Is a plastic tap ok, or is it not good enough as it could “contaminate ” the Kombucha or the tea?
Thank you for feedback.
“Transfer to the fridge and enjoy right out of the jar within a week or so to prevent the carbonation to continue building and creating a kombucha explosion.” Do you mean the bottle can explode? Or when you open the cap, you get that fizzy overflow?
It can… In the fridge it usually won’t, but I’d ‘burp’ it just in case.