Build a shelf somewhere. You can do it somehow 
Lol, that’s what I did 2 weeks ago. They had a BOGO sale on the GT kombuchas, and I think about about 8 bottles (all that could fit into my small rolling grocery cart, and still leave room for other groceries).
There are definitely some unique West coast local offerings that I wish were here. Enjoy!
The bing z company is from CO. I’m drinking one now.
The apple is very good! It tastes like a hard cider almost.
The cherry will take the win for me though.
I’m planning to move into an RV and give up the sticks and bricks. So a kombucha shelf is not gonna happen my friend! Even if I could, I don’t think the brew would mesh with traveling down bumpy roads.
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That’s pretty sweet. I want to buy one myself but have no where to keep it at my house. Will bumpy roads mess up the fermentation?
@Ttrockwood is knowledgable on this subject. She brews her own Kombucha. I think she probably buys a lot too.
Just digged up an old conversation from WFD, for anybody who wants DIY:
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I’m not sure but I lean toward yes.
I can’t keep it at my home. So the timing will end up being tricky. I don’t want to get it too far ahead of time and have to pay storage for eons. First step is attending RV Boot camp so I can get educated! Trying to move through the learning curb as much as I can before putting money down.
Hey! Welcome to the delicious world of booch!! Your tummy is going to LOVE you!
Although most are made with black tea the actual caffeine content in the end is equivalent to a chunk of dark chocolate, not something to worry about for me anyhow.
For store bought I really love GTS, the “gingerade” is what i matched my own brew to, although if you want something with a kick they make a cayanneade (lemon and cayenne) that has a cult following. Lemme know if you want to start making your own- it’s really not complicated, my sister keeps her in the laundry room which stays fairly warm (she’s in CA), mine is ontop of the fridge and just needs a warming mat in the winter.
Have fun trying more flavors! There’s a coconut lime from Humm that’s extra fantastic with a good splash of rum 
FYI
Wow that gts gingerade only has 4g of sugar. Nice!
Yeah I might look into making some soon. Seems like a fun time. What do you use for your culture?
Read those labels carefully. GT counts a serving as 8 oz, so you have to double it all.
I dont remember the brand but one of them said serving size one bottle (16 oz) becsuse we know you’re gonna drink the whole thing! Lol
I just buy an organic kombucha scoby off of Amazon, you also need a temperature sticker/strip for the side of your brewing jar (i bought a huge glass jar) and whatever bottles you want to use with a funnel to make your life easier.
cultures for health has a great step by step here:
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/kombucha/how-to-make-kombucha/
The kombucha needs sugar when it is brewing as well as for the second ferment, however from everything I have read once the brew is no longer sweet to the taste- takes my batches about ten days- that means most all the sugar has been “eaten”. when bottling to do the second ferment- this is how you get carbonation and when to add flavors- i add literally a half teaspoon sugar which is plenty to get carbonation. Surprisingly I have the best second ferment if my initial tea was using all green tea, so that’s what i do now- i just get whatever generic large box of green tea since my batch size is ten teabags with two cups of sugar.
It’s fun! the first batch will be a learning curve, so just expect that either it won’t get carbonation or something will go wonky, but i would say by my second or third batch i had amazing store quality kombucha. I get a dozen 16oz bottles per batch so if i time everything right i literally have one a day continuously :))
Thanks for the info. After watching some videos and reading it seems pretty simple. However, where do you get the two “starter cups” of tea initially? I think probably Amazon. How much tea do you brew at a time? If I do this I want to go big lol
Oh, the initial starter tea comes with the scoby, it’s floating in it- then for subsequent batches you just preserve some of your previous brew to use as the starter for the next batch. Hmm, my shitty math skillz have my big brew jar holding about 24 cups- so whatever that is in gallons/quarts. When it’s full the damned thing is heavy! I got a jar with a spigot- like an iced tea jug, but that hasn’t worked for a long time cuz no matter what it clogs with the scoby bits and such, so now i just pour the huge jar brew into a big pyrex with a spout to easier fill bottles- you never want the scoby or brew stored or stirred or touched with anything metal, glass and plastic and silicone are fine. Oh, and you can save old kombucha bottles to use to bottle your own, the GTS bottles work well for me.
Look up the bon appetite kombucha brewing video, that’s super helpful too
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Cool. Thank you.
So here is my bullet point list…
I have a big jar with spigot that I to infuse tequila with peppers
Buy scoby with starter kombucha
Brew black tea with sugar and let get to room temp
Dump in tea, mix kombucha, place scoby on top, cover container
Wait a few days and taste. What do you use to sample? A spoon or ladle?
So I found the one I wanted and then I also found one giant one hidden under my bar. So how much should I make in the smaller one? Sugar and tea are cheap so I’m not worried about messing up a big batch. Will the Amazon scoby be strong enough for a large batch? I’m trying to figure out the sugar to tea amounts for something big hopefully 
Definitely use the bigger jug.
I’ve had more success with green tea. Be sure to follow the directions from cultures from health link, you want to be sure the tea and sugar is totally cool to room temp before adding the scoby or you will kill it. The temp sticker goes on the jug so you can gauge if it’s in the right zone to be happy, thencover the top with cheesecloth so it can “breath”. I wrap mine in a clean dish cloth with a pin so it stays dark, some people store the jug in a dark cabinet but either work.
They have a comprehensive how to article here including how to troubleshoot and anything else- their supplies are a lot more than just ordering separately from Amazon but their website has lots of great info
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/kombucha/how-to-make-kombucha/
Initial ferment will take about a week, just taste a splash and if it’s at all sweet then it needs more time. If it tastes extra funky (like it fermented too quickly) that can be adjusted with a touch more sugar or flavoring in the bottling. Sounds more complicated than it is!
My sister has serious IBS issues and realized after drinking kombucha daily her symptoms had reduced drastically- and honestly i think it’s part of why I never get sick (like not even a cold in probably a year) because my gut health is on point
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Ok thanks for the link. I see their ratios now. Is it me or does 2 table spoons sound light for a gallon? Can I just use cheap black tea or something quality?
For fermenting temps my house will be perfect temp.
They list the gallon ratios as Gallon Batch:
- 2 tablespoons loose tea OR 8 tea bags
- 1 cup sugar
- 13-14 cups water
- 2 cups starter tea or vinegar
So it’s one cup sugar. I get the best carbonation on the second ferment using green tea- I just get whatever big box of cheap generic green tea and that works great. For some weird reason I just don’t get carbonation with the black tea- so if the bubbles are important to you use the black tea.
If your first batch is totally flat, no carbonation (it’s happened to me a few times for one reason or another) you can just add a splash of seltzer when you go to drink it.
I ordered my “big mama” scoby with 1.5 cups from Amazon prime last night, 15.99 (yes it is called the big mama lol)
Time to rock n roll
I have the big spigot canisters but I need more sugar and tea. I have two thick walled growlers so I think my plan is to make two batches to start rather than bottling 16oz bottles.
I watched a video and a lady made puree and put half 1/4 cup of the juice in each 16oz bottle. So a 64oz growler will take a cup. Sound right? Will I need to add sugar if I use straight juice as opposed to puree? I am thinking cherry for one batch and maybe pomegranate for the other.
haha! big Mama is the best name for a scoby!
Using the growlers sounds great, I have an extra large GTS bottle i use sometimes and that works well- they will probably need about a week for the second ferment though.
A cup of juice somehow sounds like a lot to me…? juice is fine, doesn’t need to be a puree, and no you don’t need any extra sugar in there. I would probably add some ginger juice to the pomegranate or maybe lemon…? personal preference though. the amount of juice can vary depending how intense you want the floor to be- if you’re using something like POM pomegranate juice that stuff is hella strong so I would do like a 1/2 cup, but if it’s one of those diluted “from concentrate” things sold in a huge bottle at the grocery store than a cup is probably right.
oh! and make notes!! write down somewhere exactly how much of what you did and how long the ferment was etc, this way if you love it you can duplicate it and if it sucks you can know what not to do again
