It's been on my mind to try making kombucha given I have plenty of brewing equipment on hand. I just ordered a SCOBY to start off with this weekend. Below are my thoughts on how to proceed with making a large batch along with some questions. Please chime in with any thoughts, suggestions or guidance.
My plan is to use my six gallon ported Fermonster fermenter to make between 4-5 gallon batches. I will use my 2.5 gallon keg to have some Kombucha on draft in my kegerator and then use some old Mr. Beer PET bottles to bottle the rest. I figure this way I can get some batches under my belt first before bottling in glass bottles. Depending on what I do for flavor editions I would use an old bottling bucket to place bagged fruit in and rack the Kombucha over to it before kegging and/or bottling. I would always leave some tea in the original fermenter with the SCOBY and continue to top it off. I think this will work and is a good game plan.
With making the teas I see black tea seems to be the best option to go with. I have also read that green tea is another good option too. We have several different loose leaf teas in our house, fruit blends, rooibos teas, etc from our local tea shop. Does anyone here have any suggestions or recommendations on tea blends/ratios to tinker with? What about which sugar to use when making the tea? I'm thinking about something organic and more natural than something refined would be the best option, right?
I'm excited to take this adventure with making kombucha and look forward to any and all feedback, recommendations and suggestions! Thanks in advance!
My plan is to use my six gallon ported Fermonster fermenter to make between 4-5 gallon batches. I will use my 2.5 gallon keg to have some Kombucha on draft in my kegerator and then use some old Mr. Beer PET bottles to bottle the rest. I figure this way I can get some batches under my belt first before bottling in glass bottles. Depending on what I do for flavor editions I would use an old bottling bucket to place bagged fruit in and rack the Kombucha over to it before kegging and/or bottling. I would always leave some tea in the original fermenter with the SCOBY and continue to top it off. I think this will work and is a good game plan.
With making the teas I see black tea seems to be the best option to go with. I have also read that green tea is another good option too. We have several different loose leaf teas in our house, fruit blends, rooibos teas, etc from our local tea shop. Does anyone here have any suggestions or recommendations on tea blends/ratios to tinker with? What about which sugar to use when making the tea? I'm thinking about something organic and more natural than something refined would be the best option, right?
I'm excited to take this adventure with making kombucha and look forward to any and all feedback, recommendations and suggestions! Thanks in advance!