Kombucha From Scratch

I will post an update on this Kombucha, i just made some tea for my second 1 gallon Kombucha experiment. Keep watching. Also, a reminder to baking enthusiasts, i will resume my hands on classes next year so if you are interested, give me a call or send me a message on Messenger, my facebook is When i first saw Kombucha videos on youtube, i was very skeptical about it. I told myself, nah, i don't think so, the Scoby looks scary, my very discerning sensitive stomach will never allow something so alien and gnarly looking inside, i can't even dare think about making it let alone drink some. But there i was, so intrigued, and probably just have nothing better to watch so i keep going back to Clicking the various youtube channels explaining how to make and why they drink it. Hmmmm. Wait, so this sour thingy is supposed to heal your gut??? If there is something my stomach has been doing for the past 15 years or so is to nourish and tame my hyperacidic gut, my gastritis has been acting up lately, maybe due to my mild fatty liver from a year or two worth of eating too much carbs? Damn this pandemic! Time to act. I don't want to take probiotic pills anymore, did that for so many years and i can't pop pills back again. So, if this thing is the real deal, then maybe i should give it a try. Okay, what to do. So, let's give it a try then. I have not tasted a kombucha yet, heard of it before and simply ignored it... I bought a couple of bottles of kombucha online, branded of course so i can make my own Scoby and starter. I don't trust the Scoby starter being sold online, they could be adulterated with something else, dirty or whatever so nope. To make the long story short i just threw away this first batch of kombucha because i made a mistake of not sterilizing the jars. Turns out i did not watch enough videos to know that i have to sterilize the jars properly and use a thermometer to check the liquid, i think mine is a tad bit warmer that it was supposed to be. So let that sink in, 65 F to 90 F according to Angelica of YouBrewKombucha.com Okay, got it. AH, i just wasted two weeks worth of time and maybe P400.00 so...that's that. My second kombucha was a success. The scoby was formed in less than a day, first few hours was bubbly on the top and this looked totally different from the first one where no activity was seen after 2 days. It was just flat with a bit of froth on the sides. This second batch formed a scoby on Day 2. Fantastic!!! So here i am, excited for having sent my very first 2 liters of Kombucha to my sister, wow, i can actually do this! She visited me last Thursday, tasted the kombucha i made flavored with all sorts of fruits i managed to dig in from my pantry, and she loved it more than the store bought kombucha. I personally liked it too, i don't think i will drink any of those bottled kombuchas just because i do not know how much sugar they have added in them. One bottle tasted too thin, like it was watered down, very little acidity and nah, it tasted like it came from the bottom of a dish or something...yuck! I started November 10, it is now December 5, and i am planning to make another gallon so that's two gallons of Kombucha. I have two liters of Kefir fermenting in my baking studio, i separated them because that was what i read... this is a milder form of Kombucha, so you can try this one too. I prefer my Kombucha on the tangy acidic side so i think i am beginning to like a 7 day ferment and a 3 day second ferment..hmmm, we'll see. It also depends on the fruit you make i think, the more sugar the fruit has, the faster it carbonates and the more yeasty flavor it has.The first flavoring i did was apple and lemon peel and dried cranberries and raisins and it was delicious!!! I left it in the counter for 3 days, the fizz was incredible, some even spilled over so watch out for that... but are fruit peels rich in yeast? I think i read it somewhere that fruit peels usually have a lot of yeast in them... correct me if i am wrong. I second ferment longer because i want the sugar to be eaten by the yeast in the kombucha. Am i correct??? I do not like the alcohol in it, so this is the challenge for me, i have to do more reading and research on how to not make a kombucha develop too much alcohol while at the same time reduce the sugars in it because honestly, we do not need added sugars and alcohol in our body. Tomorrow i will bottle up my kombucha 7 day and but will start another batch today using a 9 day old starter that i made from scratch. Yes, no need to buy those expensive scoby with starter, just buy raw unflavored kombucha, hopefully you get one with little bits of scoby floating around and at the bottom and make your own. Which is what i did. This is a good way for me to use up a lot of teas i have not been using, experiment on them, and see if they will work. Most youtube channels suggest using only black and green tea, but i have tons of orange pekoe, cranberry teas etc...that i want to use up. I started an herbal kombucha and although the fizz is not the same as the black and green tea version, some scoby is still forming and i can live with that. I also reduced the amount of sugar in the herbal tea (checking it every now and then because it might form a mold) so maybe that explains why it does not have the same fizz as the other ones. Also, i have this ginger sugary sweet mix from the Northeast that i want to try on the first ferment, maybe instead of sugar use this and flavor it at the same time??? Oh boy, you should have seen the fizz once the ginger granules hit the Kombucha! I will check on them today and see what happens. The flavor is incredible, but will it form a thick scoby??? 5 days more and i will know. So in the meantime, if you have not tried Kombucha and Kefir yet, do it now. You will not be disappointed. My sister asked me to sell her some because her tummy ache subsided after she drank my kombucha ( i gave her 3 bottles 3 days ago), she's been complaining about it and she liked the flavors i am using so... that is good news to me. I don't need to get paid, i am enjoying this so i can give her 2 liters maybe every 3 weeks?. For very little money, you get to enjoy the amazing health benefits of a tea infused probiotic, almost free of charge actually because i am using teas that were given to me for free. I am still not sure on what the effects of the alcohol and if how much sugar is still left in the brew after 10 days so if anyone reads this and has the answer, i would love to know. Most people say the sugar disappears on the second ferment if you keep it longer at room temperature, but i am not sure. If you can make the people around you healthier, why not right? Plus, the whole brewing part is exciting and fascinating to be honest. I am loving the whole process. Visiting the Brew counter in my other kitchen is the first thing i do when i wake up! Hahaha. Below is the first experiment i did using store bought branded Kombucha. Fail. NO scoby, there is some froth, but after a couple of days there is very little activity going on. After a week, some molds formed, and the surface became flat with the bubbles appearing only on the sides. I thought waiting will make a difference because the other containers did not grow mold, but it has been two weeks and nothing is happening so i gave up. I used it to water the plants, diluted of course. Hopefully, the mango tree loves it, hahaha.