Making A Scoby From Store bought Kombucha

You may be asking what is a Scoby? Is that the dog from Scooby Do? Nope!!!! It's a acronym

S- symbiotic

C- culture     

O- of            

 B- bacteria   

Y- yeast      

This is the mother behind the fermentation process.  This slimy like pancake disk thing is what helps make kombucha tea.  This Scoby metabolizes sugar and caffeine to make probiotics, vitamin and enzymes. Crazy how a little ugly disk can do all that.  

I had my first kombucha a few years ago and hated it. Maybe it was the one i picked but it was so vinegary almost like a bad alcohol and the flavor was just not me.  Fast forward a few years and scott wanted to try a soda flavor one from the brand Live and he loved it. I was scared to try it because of the last one I had. He loved the soda flavor and the doctor flavor and was buying them a lot. They are not the cheapest things to buy. I was talking to my sister in law about these and she said she loves them too. She was going to start making her own soon.  That got me interested... So i tried it and they were not like the ones i had the first time at all, either they sweetened them up in those few years or it was a better brand i will never know.  

So i began my research. I think i got that from my parents, i have to research everything and find out more about this and how they do it and different ways to do it. I think i enjoy the research as much as i enjoy doing it. So i borrowed tons of books from the library and watched youtube videos on the process of making it and looked at equipment i need to buy it online. Then at that point i felt like I could tackle this project. I highly recommend this book it is amazing and so details with lots of recipes. I will be purchased soon!

I didn't want to buy a kit online, and i didn't want to buy a scoby from some random person. So i found out you can make your own scoby from a bottle of raw unflavored original kombucha.  

These are the supplies you will need

• Organic black tea- you can use green tea if you prefer. but dont get fancy flavor teas.
• Organic Cane sugar
• Big Glass jar- i happened to have a old pickle jar in the cabinet
• Cloth to cover the top of jar- breathable but no holes for flies
• Rubberband
• Wooden spoon
• Synergy Raw Orginal Kombucha- look for one with little floaty's cultures in the bottom of jar
• White Vinegar
• Bottled Spring Water
• adhesive temperature strip for the outside of the jar

First i boiled some spring water to washed out my jar, poured a splash of vinegar in and swished it around, pour it out, and rinse with more bottled spring water.  Now your brewing jar is ready to be used.

Take a pot/kettle and boil 4 cups of bottled spring water, once that boils remove from heat and add 4 tea bags ( i only did 2 because my tea bags were bigger sizes). Let steep 5 min. and discard the tea bags.  I let the tea cool in the pot for few minutes and then poured it in my disinfected big glass jar, add 3/4 cup of sugar and mix with wooden spoon. Don't use metal or plastic spoons. Stir that up and place the fabric and rubber band over the top of the jar and let it sit on the counter for a few hours to it gets to room temp. It has to be cooled otherwise when you pour the bottle of kombucha in it could kill the little floaties that are in the bottle. After it has reached room temperature add one whole jar of your kombucha you bought from the store. Swish the jar around to incorporate it, and put the fabric and rubber band back on it.  Place it in a area that stays warm/but not hot, and not in direct sunshine. I picked my laundry room shelf.

Tips i have read

Place it a area that doesn't have chemicals 

When you sanitize your jar don't use antibacterial 

soaps
Try to keep the temp around around  72-80 F to grow your little scoby. If it gets below that temp the chances of mold are higher


Growing a scoby should take about 10-12 days. You want it to get to a 1/4-1/2 inch thick. It will cover the entire top surface of your liquid in your jar.  Each scoby will look different in color and shape. If you are able to see transparent sections leave it in a little longer to make it a strong scoby for future brews. But if you see mold they said to abandon ship. The mold should look like what grows on your bread so it will be easy to tell if you have mold or just a scoby!

The down size of making your own scoby vs buying one is that you have to wait 10 ish days to make it then just under 2 weeks to make your kombucha. But remember there is satisfaction in making your own stuff.

I snapped a picture each day of my jar that is growing a scoby to show you my procession.

48 hour

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

I moved my jar and my scoby dropped to the bottom of the jar.

Day 11

I couldn't resist to check and see how thick it was. It's slowly getting there! Going to go longer to make it a little thicker.

Day 12

I put a light under the jar and it was a cool glowing scoby!

We decided that we would stop the growing scoby process and begin our kombucha brewing step. Stay tuned for that. It takes around 7-12 days for the kombucha brew to grow and ferment with our little trump!

I felt like i should name this ugly slimy pancake like creature that will be working so hard for us.  So meet ----- Trump!