Although we explained how to brew a 1 gallon batch of Kombucha in a previous post, we did not cover the process of making a scoby from scratch. So, let’s do that now.
Creating a scoby
First of all, we need to buy a bottle of raw, unpasteurized Kombucha, or grab some Kombucha from our own batch before bottling the rest of it.
Now, let’s gather some supplies and get started.
Although, I had done some research before I previously made my first scoby from store-bought Kombucha, it seemed every single recipe called for 2 liters of water or 7 cups of water in a 2-2.5 litre jar. Thus, we set out to find another way, using a 1 litre(quart) jar.
Now, unless we have one of those 2-2.5 litre(quart) jars kicking around, we will soon find out they cost around $10+ to buy one from a local retailer, whereas a 1 litre jar can often be found under a couple of bucks and have a good 5-inch diameter.
1 Litre(quart) recipe For Making a Scoby
As a result of not finding a source for making a scoby with a 1 litre jar, I gained motivation to try a way to make the scoby in a litre jar since I had a few kicking around that cost just a $1.25-$2.50 at the dollar store.
In a nutshell, all I did was change the 7 cups of water down to 4. I knew the teabags count and sugar would not be a huge factor.
Supplies
- ~ 3 cups of clean water
- 1/2 cup white granulated table sugar
- 4 black teabags. We used orange pekoe but any black tea will do
- 1 cup of raw, unpasteurized Kombucha
- 1 rubber band
- 1 cloth
- Sanitizer like 1 tablespoon of bleach per gallon of water with 1 hour soaking and rinse. Or 1 step santization adding 30 ml of bleach per 5 gallons followed by 30 ml of vinegar. Vinegar and bleach is never added together first. Again, bleach to water and mix, then vinegar to water and mix.
Once we have our supplies, we basically follow a process that is almost identical to making Kombucha, except we do not add cold, filtered water.
We boil a litre of water in a Kettle and pour the water into a pot with the 4 teabags. After 10 minutes, we can removed the teabags and add the 1/2 cup of sugar and stir. Now, we let the water cool to room temp.
Alternatively, we could have made a 3 cup batch using the above method, and added a cup of cold, filtered water to cool it faster.
After that, we place the cooled liquid sugar tea and Kombucha starter in a sanitized 1 gallon jar and place a cloth on top that is secured with a rubber band. We place this jar in a room at room temperature which is ideal for fermentation.
That’s it! Now, we just wait 3-4 weeks and we have a new scoby we can use for brewing.
