Fermenting at Home Without a Starter Kit

It's that easy to ferment without a starter kit!

There are several online providers that sell kombucha fermentation kits and starter sets. However, you don't need much to ferment kombucha at home. It's that easy to grow a kombucha SCOBY from our raw Raw Original!

Here's what you need to grow your own SCOBY:

• 1 large glass jar with a wide opening – rinsed thoroughly without dish soap!
• Tea – black tea (without flavorings/artificial additives)
• Organic cane sugar
• Water – ideally filtered
• Unpasteurized kombucha (e.g., Kombucha Original)
• 1 breathable, clean cloth
• 1 rubber band
• 1 room with a temperature between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius

Here's how you can grow your SCOBY from a Raw Original Kombucha:

• Boil tea with cane sugar for 8 to 10 minutes (8 g tea per liter / 60 g organic cane sugar per liter).
• Pour the tea-sugar mixture into the glass jar and let it cool for an extended period.
• Cover the jar with the cloth and secure it with a rubber band!
• The sugar should now be completely dissolved.
• Now, the unpasteurized kombucha can be added in a 1 to 10 ratio.
• Then re-secure the cloth to the jar and place the jar in a safe spot.
• Depending on the conditions, it can take 7 to 21 days for the kombucha SCOBY to form all by itself.

Initially, it will look like small foam bubbles are forming on the surface of the liquid. These will become denser over time until the kombucha SCOBY slowly becomes visible. Patience pays off!

Below, we'll explain how to properly set up your first kombucha without a starter kit. Happy fermenting!

Before you can brew your kombucha, you'll need (per liter):

• 1 glass jar with at least 1.5 liters volume and a large opening (rinsed thoroughly without dish soap).
• 8 g black tea or green tea
• 100 g sugar
• 1 liter of water (preferably filtered)
• Starter liquid or ready-made very sour raw kombucha with a neutral taste as starter liquid.
• 1 breathable cloth

Of course, you'll now need the kombucha SCOBY you previously grew. It doesn't have to look perfectly round and can have a few bumps. It will continue to grow and thrive during fermentation. You can find out how to care for it here.

Brewing your first kombucha – let's go!

• First, bring 1 liter of water to a boil in a large pot. Then add 8 g black tea and let it steep for 12 to 15 minutes (while the water simmers gently).
• Afterward, strain the tea and then add 100 g sugar. The sugar must be stirred until it is completely dissolved in the tea.
• It's very important now to let the sugared tea cool down to at least 25 degrees Celsius (room temperature) in a glass jar. The sensitive SCOBY must not be immersed in hot water under any circumstances. The live bacteria and yeasts, as well as proteins, can be destroyed.
• Now add 100 ml of the starter liquid to the tea mixture.
• Then carefully add the previously rinsed SCOBY gently into the jar.
• You can now cover the opening of the glass jar with the cloth and secure it with a rubber band.

Now the SCOBY has about a week to process the ingredients of the tea, essentially "eating them up." If it lies at the bottom of the jar, the SCOBY will grow larger and usually form more SCOBY "offshoots." Often the SCOBY floats, and over time, a thicker kombucha SCOBY forms at the top edge of the glass.

• Once the kombucha SCOBY has reached the right fermentation level after about 7 days (depending on preferences and taste, we recommend a pH value between 2.9 and 3.1), you can carefully remove the SCOBY from the kombucha liquid and rinse off tea residues with lukewarm water.
• You can store the SCOBY in some bottled kombucha liquid (new starter liquid) for the next fermentation.
• Before bottling the kombucha, we recommend filtering the liquid through a very fine sieve or, alternatively, through a layer of paper towel. However, this is not a prerequisite for enjoying it.
• Then, the kombucha should have about 2 more days for secondary fermentation in a closed bottle at room temperature. This is when the natural carbonation can form.

Now you've done it and brewed your first own kombucha, completely without a starter kit. You can find more articles and recipes for secondary fermentation on our KOMBUCHERY blog.