Kombucha is a drink that has been consumed for thousands of years across the world. This drink is a fermented probiotic drink originating from ancient China, but can often be attributed to the Russian region as well. Kombucha is made from tea, sugar, a scoby (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast), and a starter from a previously crafted batch of the drink. You’ll need a starter kit to begin the brewing process of kombucha. The end result of this drink is very healthy as the sugar and caffeine are used up in the fermentation process, leaving very little of either, if any, behind in the final product. Kombucha ferments over the course of around a week to a month, depending on the brew. The final result leaves a drink that is naturally carbonated making for a fizzy and tasty drink for you to enjoy.

Kombucha Brewing Process

Brewing kombucha is not an overly difficult challenge, in fact it can be quite simple once you get the hang of it. The process begins with boiling water (filtered water is the best choice, never use city water) and sugar (cane sugar is suggested) together, adding and steeping in the tea (you can use either black, white, or green tea for this step), then allowing the mixture to cool before adding kombucha cultures to the mix. You will only need a few simple pieces of equipment to get started. The primary equipment you’ll need for brewing kombucha includes: a large container (metal or glass) to hold the solution, a glass container for fermenting the solution (never use other materials such as lead, crystal, ceramic, or metal during the fermentation process), and clean cheese cloth to keep the bugs out of your brew.

So What Makes Kombucha So Healthy?

Kombucha is often considered or referred to as a healing drink around the globe. While this is no miracle cure or anything, it does offer an array of health benefits for consumers. These benefits include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Healthy Bacteria
• Natural Internal pH Balancing
• Liver Detoxification
• Increased Metabolism
• Boosted Energy
• Alleviation of Constipation
• Improved Digestion
• Helpful for the Symptoms of Gout, Asthma, Arthritis, and More
• Reduced Blood Pressure
• Reduced Kidney Stones
• Improved Eyesight
• Relief of Migraines and Headaches
• Healing of Excema
• Healing of Ulcers
• Reducing Gray Hair
• Natural Lowering of Glucose Levels
• Prevention of Artheriosclerosis
• And More

So as you can see, while kombucha might not be a miracle cure all, it may be one of the closest things to it. Along with all the health benefits of kombucha, it tastes pretty great too!

Brew Your Own Kombucha Today

So what are you waiting for?! Why not try it out for yourself and start brewing your own kombucha right from your home. It’s a fairly simple process made even easier thanks to Grape and Granary’s fantastic kombucha kits. If you have any questions about kombucha, or any of our products, never hesitate to contact us! We love hearing from our customers and helping out with any home brewing needs that they have. Happy brewing everyone!

White Labs Kombucha Recipe

RECIPE SUPPLIED BY: WHITE LABS' KRISTAN MARTINEZ, ANALYTICAL LAB TECHNICIAN

Ingredients Needed

• 14 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 tea bags
• 2 cups starter tea
• 1 White Labs SCOBY per fermentation container

Materials Needed

• Pot to boil water
• 1 gallon bucket, or jar for the fermentation container
• Tea towel or tightly woven cloth
• 1 gallon growler

Procedure

• 1. Measure out 14 cups water and bring it to a boil in a large pot. Remove from heat, add 1 cup sugar and stir until dissolved. Then place 8 tea bags into the hot water and steep for 30 minutes.


• 2. Remove tea bags. Once tea is cool (room temp about 72 degrees fahrenheit), add 2 cups of starter tea.


• 3. Pour the mixture into the fermentation container, and gently slide the scoby into the tea with clean hands. Then cover the container with a teal towel or any tightly woven cloth. Secured in place with a rubber band.


• 4. Keep the fermentation container at room temperature (72 degrees fahrenheit),in a dark place where it won’t be disturbed. Let it ferment for 7 to 10 days, and check periodically.


• 5. After 7 days start to taste the kombucha daily until it obtains the flavor and acidity that is desired.


• 6. Once kombucha is ready, remove the SCOBY and store it at room temperature in about a cup of the kombucha that was just brewed in a breathable container. Refill the liquid with sweet tea as it is absorbed and evaporated.


• 7. Transfer the kombucha into the growler, and add any herbs or fruit for flavoring as desired. (To carbonate the kombucha keep the kombucha sealed in the growler at room temperature for 1 to 3 days).


• 8. Refrigerate the kombucha to stop the fermentation.



The White Labs SCOBY is large enough to start 1 to 5 gallons but will grow over time to accommodate larger sizes. If you are making a batch larger than 1 gallon you will need additional starter liquid not provided in the SCOBY package.

]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2016 20:57:10 +0000 https://www.grapeandgranary.com/forum/winemaking/ Sun, 29 Nov 2015 17:32:20 +0000 https://www.grapeandgranary.com/forum/Vinegar/ Vinegar Making Overview

Vinegar has been made at home for hundreds of years. The flavor of vinegar can enhance many of the foods we eat. Making vinegar at home is not difficult. Any fruit or vegetable that contains enough sugar to be fermented can be turned into vinegar. Some examples are peaches, honey, grapes, plums, apples, oranges, cherries and blueberries. The most important thing is that the alcohol content of the product that will be turned into vinegar is about 6% alcohol by volume.

If you have a 12% alcohol wine, first dilute it with 50% water so that the alcohol content is approximately 6% by volume. The process of making vinegar is the same whether you are going to make 1 gallon or 100 gallons.

You will need the following: 1) A clean container or cask with a hole for air (for example, a glass jug, crock, food grade pail, vinegar cask or vinegar barrel). You do not want to close the container but keep it lightly covered. This allows for air transfer and keeps bugs out. 2) Vinegar culture (Mother) 3) Product to be converted to vinegar (cider, red wine, white wine, beer, fruit wine etc..)

Process

Step One- Add vinegar culture to vinegar cask

Step Two- Add 6% by alcohol product to be converted to cask. Allow for 50% excess volume in cask.

Step Three- Cover cask with cheese- cloth, cotton ball, dish- towel etc. Do not seal cask.

Step Four- Allow vinegar cask to rest in a warm place. If you can reach a temperature of 80 – 90 deg F the speed at which the vinegar is produced will be greatly increased. Your product will be converted into vinegar in about 1 to 6 months depending upon temperature. Once conversion is complete, you may begin drawing- off some of the vinegar for consumption and then replacing that amount with new wine. The mother will grow and this will allow for more vinegar for consumption and an increased capacity for making more vinegar. Typically we sell Natural Mother of Vinegar for Red Wine Vinegar, White Wine Vinegar, Cider Vinegar and Malt Vinegar.

Instructions are included with each culture: Use a clean and sanitized one-gallon jar or bottle. Add to this culture 16 oz of wine and 8 oz of water. Air is needed for the conversion of alcohol to vinegar so plug the opening lightly with cotton or cover with cloth to allow air to enter. Keep in 80-90 deg F. temperatures. Complete conversion is possible in 2-3 months. Use the finished vinegar as a culture to make more vinegar using the same proportions.

]]> Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:37:31 +0000 https://www.grapeandgranary.com/forum/Kegging/ Using a Soda Keg System for Draft Beer

 

* Always release pressure in soda keg before removing lid

Artificial Carbonation Agitation Method

1) Allow batch of beer to completely ferment and then clear in a secondary fermenter. Once clear, siphon beer into a sanitized soda keg (for keg sanitation, we recommend iodophor or starsan. To clean a keg, we recommend PWB.

2) Sanitation procedure: Pour 2.5 tsp iodophor into bottom of a clean soda keg. Fill soda keg full with water. Push down on the two spring loaded poppet valves that allow for air to enter and liquid to exit the keg. This will allow the sanitizing solution to be drawn up the tubes. Allow keg to soak for 5 minutes. Dump out sanitizing solution and then press down on the poppet valves again and the remaining sanitizing solution will drain from the dip tubes. Rinse keg with warm water and allow to drain.

3) Siphon beer from secondary fermenter into soda keg. Attach soda keg lid. Set regulator at 5-10 psi and turn on gas. Attach light colored disconnect to gas in side of soda keg. Allow keg to pressurize and listen for lid to seal. Once pressurized, remove gas disconnect. Lift up on pressure relief valve and listen for gas to escape (if you have a coke pin lock keg, you will have to push down on gas side spring loaded poppet valve to release gas). Listen for gas to escape. Once it has escaped, reattach gas disconnect and depressurize keg at 5-10 psi. Repeat the pressurize/depressurize procedure 3-4 times. This process purges the oxygen from the keg and fills the headspace with co2.

4) Once keg is purged and pressurized, refrigerate keg. Allow beer to cool to 35-45 deg F.. The colder the beer, the easier the carbonation process will be.

5) Once the beer is chilled, attach the gas line and set the regulator at 25-30 psi. Begin rocking the keg back and forth with gas line attached. You will hear the regulator begin to allow gas to go from the tank and into the keg. Continue to rock or shake the keg vigorously until the regulator shuts off. The agitation process should take 2-3 minutes. Remove gas disconnect and allow beer to sit under refrigeration for a couple hours. This will allow gas to become more fully dissolved into the beer.

6) Before tapping keg, pull up on pressure relief valve for a few seconds to allow some gas to escape. Begin dispensing the beer by attaching the liquid disconnect with the attached faucet. If beer is too foamy, pull up on pressure relief valve to release more pressure in the keg. Dispense the beer until you notice that the beer is not dispensing with much pressure. Then, reattach the gas disconnect with the regulator set at 5-10 psi. Keep gas line attached, regulator set at 5-10 psi and dispense beer at your leisure.

 

Artificial Carbonation -Absorption Method

1) Follow steps 1-4 above

2) Once beer is chilled, attach gas line to gas-in side of keg. Set regulator at 25-30 psi. Keep beer refrigerated. Allow gas line to stay attached to keg. Keg must sit for 5-7 days to allow beer to absorb the co2 gas.

3) Follow step #6 above for dispensing.

 

Natural Carbonation Method-

Cask Conditioning

1) Follow steps 1-3 under artificial carbonation method. Just before purging and sealing the keg, add 1/2 cup of corn sugar dissolved in 1 cup boiling water to soda keg- then fill keg with beer to be carbonated.

2) To allow beer to naturally carbonate in soda keg, you must keep beer at room temperature (60-75 deg. F..) for approximately 2 weeks. After two weeks, the beer can be refrigerated to serving temperatures.

3) Follow step #6 for dispensing instructions.

]]> Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:14:04 +0000 https://www.grapeandgranary.com/forum/No_fermentation/ Sat, 28 Nov 2015 23:59:16 +0000