Really, I should have been posting more often about the kombucha. The thing is, it has gone so smoothly, so effortlessly that the posts would have been something like this:

Kombucha brewing, bottled, etc. No issues. Still brewing with Oolong tea.

That’s really been about it. For all my trepidation at the start this has been amazingly easy and has me considering trying other home brewing as well (ginger beer). I’ve been easily coming up with 3 liters every 5-6 days and keeping both myself and my Mom in good supply.

There have been a few interesting things I’ve learned and they all have to do with brew time. The brewing is best at 5-7 days MAX. I did one batch at a 9 day brew and it was pretty vinegar-esque and required the addition of a lot of fruit juice to render palatable. A week is the most it should stay in, but at the 5-6 day mark it is still a light, effervescent, very slightly tart drink. In that time frame I’ve come to really enjoy a big pint glass of it.

Now where am I at?

Well, the mother has acquired strata – layers upon layers of new culture growing.

This has been so amazingly successful that I’ve reached out to my Portland friends to see who wants to brew at home. Even Christie has expressed a wee bit of interest through her absolute horror at the mother “tea mushroom”.

I also want to start to branch out to adding flavors to the bottles when I pour off a batch. I’m doing some reading on using fresh juice (e.g., ginger) and perhaps some fruit pulp. Need to research this a bit.

In the meantime today I poured off a batch. Interesting to note that for the first time I didn’t get a little over 3 liters. I would have, but I’ve been leaving about a liter of brewed kombucha in the jar when I add the new tea and I would have only had about half a liter left. That might not be so bad, I believe that’s how much commercial kombucha I used to start the culture going.

What’s curious is where the tea went? It has been warmer & dryer in Portland (finally), so perhaps it is evaporating a bit more quickly? Does the huge culture consume more of the tea? Not sure, we’ll see how the next batch goes.

Today’s excitement was separating off two of the top-most layers of the mother culture for friends. This is how I got going, with a piece off the culture tended up at Great Vow, and it feels really cool passing on this culture to new people.

And here’s one more crazy close up of the 110 day old culture floating in kombucha.

After seven days of brewing there was a distinct, apple-cider vinegar like scent coming from the glass jar. There were also a lot of bubbles and a new child culture forming on top of the mother culture I’d obtained from Jordan.

I did a taste test with a clean spoon and the result was tangy, not too strong, still a little sweet. I decided to go ahead and try making a new batch of sweet tea and bottling the brewed kombucha.

Here’s everything ready to go. The two cultures have been removed to a clean plate. I have a water pitcher to pour kombucha into and 3 clean bottles (recycled Dragonfly Chai bottles) ready to fill.

Here’s a nice close up shot of the child culture that has been growing on top of the original mother culture.

The kombucha filled the 3 bottles right up to the top with enough left over to keep the batch going as well as a glass for me to try. After having a glass full I realized it was still pretty sweet, perhaps it could have brewed for a couple of extra days? From what I’ve read on line the brewing can take anywhere from 5 days to two weeks at which time most of the sweetness should be gone.

The bottles will sit for at least 5 days to mature in flavor. Sometime next week I’ll be opening them up to try it out.

That’s right! A bold new step into living the hippe-vegan stereotype… Home brewing kombucha!

The first few times I was offered kombuha I didn’t really care for it. Too vinegary. Too funky tasting. Generally not very tasty.

I’ve been liking it quite a bit this past year, it has certainly improved into a tasty beverage. There are a few good varieties at markets around town and get some once in a while. A few places are putting it on tap around Portland, haven’t checked out this yet. I really like a particular brand that I only get a couple of places around town, Kombucha Wonder Drink (Asian Pear, yum).

Last month I had some awesome homemade kombucha out at Great Vow Zen Monastery. After talking to the brewer, Jordan, I was encouraged to give it a try at home. He generously packed up a piece of his mother culture into a bag and it is been residing in the fruit crisper drawer for about a month now. I’m hoping it is still active, the cold should have kept it dormant. If not, I’m going to go out to Great Vow a week from Sunday and can always ask for another piece.

Shopping with Mom on the 5th I picked up a very large glass jar with a lid (which I won’t be using since it needs to breathe). She also requested that I give it a try, she recalled it being beneficial to her one of the times she had cancer. Today’s the day I decided to get going, cleaned the kitchen up and got out the supplies.

I’m following Jordan’s advice as well as guidance from a recipe on the Get Kombucha site.

Into the jar I’ve got:

3 liters + 1 glass (8oz aprox.) water that was brought to a boil and cooled.
1 liter sweet tea made with Wuyi Oolong from Tao of Tea and 1 1/3 cups evaporated cane juice
1 piece of Jordan’s mother culture
400ml of Kombucha Wonder Drink made with Oolong tea.

We’ll see in 5 days if I’ve got my own kombucha brewing or nastiness in which case I’ll get a new piece of culture and start over.