GROW YOUR OWN SCOBY RECIPES

Steps:

• Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add sugar, and stir until sugar completely dissolves. Turn off heat. Add tea bags, and allow mixture to come to room temperature (add ice to speed this process if you're in a hurry). Pour kombucha into a 1-gallon-sized jar. Add room-temperature tea; do not add hot tea, as it will kill the good bacteria. Add cool water to fill jar to the top, just where the mouth starts to narrow. Cover jar with two coffee filters or a double layer of paper towels, and secure with a rubber band. Place jar in a place, at room temperature, where it won't get jostled and it's out of direct sunlight; it does not need to go in a dark place, just out of direct sun. It will probably take 2 to 4 weeks for your SCOBY to form. You can lift the covering to see what's happening—just try not to slosh the liquid at all. At first, nothing will happen; then, after a few days, you'll see some bubbles forming on the surface. Then you'll see more and more bubbles, and maybe a thin, clear jellyfish-looking blob on the surface. Once the blob covers the surface, is opaque, and is roughly ¼-inch thick, you have a viable SCOBY.

Steps:

• Pour the bottle of kombucha and sweetened tea into a large glass jar.
• Cover jar with a towel or coffee filter secured with a rubber band so the brew can breathe but still be protected from insects and other contaminants.
• Let it sit for a week. Put it in a room temperature area that is dark (like your pantry - NEVER in the refrigerator as it will kill your SCOBY.).
• With time, a new SCOBY will start to form on top of the liquid. It will appear first as a thin film, then slowly fill in and thicken up.
• Once it’s about 1/4 inch thick, it’s ready to go. You can let it sit longer and get even thicker, but that’s really not necessary. If you see ANY mold - discard it and start over. It will look like bread mold.
• To start a batch with your SCOBY, wash your hands. Never touch your SCOBY with dirty hands as it will cause it to mold.
• Drain 75% of the liquid you have from your brew into a food grade glass container to drink.
• Place 4 C Black or Green tea that has been in food grade glass container with 25% remaining liquid.
• Top with new SCOBY and let it go through the same week long fermentation process as you did to make the SCOBY.
• A new SCOBY will form on top of the old SCOBY and you can peel it off and start a new batch from the new SCOBY or have two batches going at the same time in different jars. You can give away the new baby SCOBYs but make sure to include 1/2 c of the brew it came from and enough sugar and tea bags for somebody to start their own.
• With the remaining 75% juice, drink 4 oz. at most a day if you're not going to dilute it with tea or fruit juice.
• If diluting with juice, pour 2.5 ounces into a quart sized food grade glass jar and top with kombucha brew.
• Cover, set it back in the pantry and let "brew" for 48 hours.
• Place fruit juice Kombucha in the fridge and enjoy.