As I mentioned in a previous kombucha post, until I got an awesome, hearty SCOBY from A-Kray (aka Allyson Kramer), I wasn’t so intensely into kombucha. I’d have a SCOBY, make kombucha on the regular, neglect a SCOBY, kill a SCOBY, get/grow/borrow/steal a new SCOBY, repeat. But the SCOBY Allyson gave me is just amazing and it makes lively, happy baby Mommas, so I’ve been going much more gangbusters with the stuff for the last year. Even before my best-ever SCOBY, I had heard about continuous brew, but I hadn’t given it a whole lot of thought, despite the its many, loud proponents. The list of claims made on the behalf of continuous brew includes:
- It’s less work
- It’s bubblier, even before/without secondary fermentation
- It yields a healthier SCOBY
- It yields a prettier SCOBY
- It reduces the risk contamination
- It tastes better
The list is way longer than that, and after having done it this way for the past several months, I have to say that I agree with just about everything I’ve read. Normally my husband is the big booch guy in our house, but since we started the ol’ CB, I actually had to double up our brew to support my own habit.
I held off on trying this for a while partially because I thought I would have a hard time finding an appropriate vessel. Turns out there was an $8 lemonade container at my local kitchen supply store that totally fit the bill! The key things are that it needs to be large enough to make it worth your while (I wouldn’t go smaller than a half-gallon container) and it should to have a fairly wide diameter, at least three inches, to make for happy SCOBY growth. It needs to have a spigot at the bottom, and said spigot must have no metal parts on the inside of the container. I’ve mentioned before that the SCOBY-hates-metal thing is definitely true. I tried it. Apparently restaurant-grade stainless steel is okay, but anything else and you’re risking your Mother’s life.
I had initially intended to do a batch of continuous brew with sencha and supplement with single batch as my tea preferences dictated. However, I’ve found all the hype about continuous brew to be true, so I’ve switched all my brews over! I make a gallon batch of fresh, sweet tea about once a week. I store it in the fridge and use it to top off my continuous batch as needed. Instead of cleaning out my container every week, separating the SCOBYs, and doing the whole process again, I just pour out as much booch as we want to drink and add the same amount of fresh, sweet tea back in. We draw some off every day, but you can choose to do it every 2 days or more, depending on your acidity preference. When I want a flavored booch, I do secondary fermentation using the same method I used when making single batch brews.
EASY CONTINUOUS BREW KOMBUCHA
I changed my booch ratio to the Cultures For Health recommendations a while ago. I tried a whole bunch of different levels recommended by different booch experts, and I found the CFH one to be the tastiest to my palate. Feel free to experiment and find your own, but if you don’t wanna, the CFH one is good.
The instructions below assume a gallon-sized fermentation vessel. Adjust proportionally for the size of your vessel.
Equipment/Materials
- A container as described above (please read carefully)
- A large container, or several small containers for storing tea in the refrigerator
- A food-suitable cloth
- A rubber band that will tightly attach said cloth to the the container
Ingredients
- 6.5 cups finished kombucha
- ~1 gallon freshly-brewed, sweet tea, made using:
- 14 cups filtered water
- 2 T tea of your choice (or 9 tea bags), but it must be from the camellia sinensis plant, so unflavored black, green, white or oolong
- 1 cup of sugar
How-to
- Heat 6 cups of water on the stove, bring to a boil
- Remove from heat and stir in sugar to dissolve. Add tea.
- Add remaining 8 cups of room temperature water, stir to combine.
- With a clean finger or spoon, test the water temperature. If it’s room temp, proceed to the next step. If it’s still warm, cover your pot and wait until it has cooled to room temperature. You can put it in the fridge if you’d like.
- Once tea is room temperature, strain it into some kind of storage vessel, making sure to get the tea leaves outta there. I put my tea into two half gallon Ball jars. That makes storage in my refrigerator easy.
- In your continuous brew vessel, place a not-too-thick SCOBY and all of the finished kombucha. Add in 6.5 cups of fresh, room-temperature or refrigerated sweet tea.
- Cover your vessel securely, using the kitchen cloth and rubber band.
- Let it sit away from direct sunlight and preferably away from other ferments for two days.
- Using the spigot, taste the booch to see if it has a good balance of acidity and sweetness. If it’s too sweet, give it 10-12 hours. Not sweet enough, add more sweet tea and give it 10-12 hours before testing again.
- Once your ideal acidity/sweetness balance has been reached, draw off what you want to drink (we do two cups a day). If you like to do secondary fermentation with fruit, ginger, or other fun flavor combos, you can do that as you normally would. Otherwise, go ahead and drink it or seal it in a jar in the fridge to chill. I find that the continuous brew makes for a naturally very bubbly brew, so I usually just drink it straight.
- Keep track of how much you’re taking out, and add the same amount of fresh, sweetened tea into the jar after you’ve pulled off your drinking booch for the day. You don’t have to be exact. I generally eyeball it by looking at the lemons on my container. (see photo)
A few tips:
- If you need to draw off larger amounts, go for it! You just might have to wait an extra day for your next ready-to-drink brew.
- PLEASE, please, please heed my warning about no metal fixtures inside your vessel.
- Feel free to add other types of tea. No need to keep your CB to just sencha or oolong (or whatever). Sometimes combinations are tasty, or if you want to switch over, just only add fresh tea from the tea you want to switch to. It will just take a few days before the old brew taste is out and the new brew taste is in.
- I cleaned my container out after about 3 months. Everything was still working fine, but I was pulling out some of the SCOBY layers to give away so I though why not. I also took that opportunity to discard some of the slimy, extra yeast threads. It was a precautionary method for keeping them out of the spigot, where they can clog things, according to the internets.
- Make sure you’re peeling off SCOBY layers every so often (give this a check visually). I usually let mine go until I notice that the booch gets acidic too quickly. Then, I use very clean hands to pull out the SCOBY and remove all but one layer.
- Don’t overfill your brew container, you want some airspace for this aerobic ferment.
Phuong Tran says
Thanks for the kombucha info. I have been dying to brew my own kombucha for months now but can’t decide where to get my scoby. Do you happen to have any you need to give away at the moment?
Amanda says
Hi Phuong,
Are you in Philly? If so, yes. I’m happy to give them away to those willing to pick them up. I’m not able to ship cultures, however.
Becky says
I have a cabinet full of flavored teas acquired over the years by buying them for my daughter, given to us as gifts, etc, etc. I’ve realized that some of them make for darn tasty kombucha. Bonus, I’m slowly but surely cleaning out the tea cabinet.
Phuong Tran says
I live and work in center city Philly. I could meet up sometime after work or on the weekend. Whatever works best for you. So excited to get a scoby!
Maegan says
Hi Amanda,
I’m new to making kombucha (was given a Scooby so I had to learn). I love the idea of your continuous brew. I’m just curious- once the desired flavor is reached do I put a lid on it and refrigerate even while drawing off and adding to it?
As a side note- I’m fermenting rhubarb pickles from one of your posts, I’m excited to have a savory option for this prolific garden producer. Thanks for all your great ideas.
Amanda says
Hi Maegan,
Thanks for writing! Your continuous brew container will always live at room temperature. You can bottle and refrigerate what you draw off (whether you do it daily with small amounts or draw off a large amount at broader intervals). The yeast in the SCOBY don’t appreciate cooler temperatures, so even extra SCOBYs should be stored at room temperature in a bit of finished kombuchua or fresh, sweet tea.
The joy of continuous brew is that you set it in a spot and then find your best ritual for drawing off. Other than removing finished kombucha and adding sweet tea (and the occasional SCOBY layer removal), you never have to touch that vessel! It can live where it lives and cyclically nourish you as you nourish it!
So glad to hear about the rhubarb pickles. They are one of my favorites! I’m actually going to be whipping up a fresh batch tonight with what I think might be the last of the rhubarb around here! I hope you like them as much as we do!
Kimberly says
I am wondering what I do with a continuous brew when I am out of town for a week or two?
Amanda says
I just leave it. When I get home, I pull off about half and set it aside to ferment further (then I use it as vinegar). I add the same amount of sweet tea in to my continuous brew container that I drew off and set aside. I taste it every day for a few days, until it’s back to how I like it and then I continue the feed/drink cycle.
Miranda sparrow says
Hi? So I have a massive Scoby but??? Mine in brown yours looks white. Why? And the top always seems to get all leathery?
Amanda says
Hi Miranda,
My SCOBYs are much prettier since I started doing continuous brew. Just way smoother, more uniform, less extra yeast, and they do tend to be a pretty pristine white now, too. Brown SCOBYs can definitely be healthy, though, too, so no worries! I’m not sure what you mean about the leathery top without seeing it, but a lot of times there can be excess yeast around the SCOBY that can give an unattractive, stringy texture to it. No worries, unless it’s moldy or stops making kombucha, you’re probably good to go!
Aaron says
Hello Amanda
I purchased a SCOBY and I am anxious to get started. In order to accumulate the 6.5 cups of finished kombucha, will it work to put that amount of sweetened tea in my container with the SCOBY and small amount of started ‘booch, leave it for 7-10 days, and then start back at the beginning of your instructions to get it going for continuous brew? Please advise.
Best,
Aaron
Aaron says
Also, how critical is using filtered water? I live in Brooklyn. I have been drinking the tap water for 20 years and have never found it to be off-tasting, unclean, or undrinkable. Is it possible that it could be suitable for kombucha making?
Rebecca says
Hi there, great blog.
I’ve been making kombucha for a couple of years now. When I peel off a layer, I alternate between sometimes discarding the top layer, or sometimes the bottom layer.
Is there a correct layer to discard? I’ve not noticed any problems either way, but maybe there are differences that result in different layers being taken away.
any advice?
thank you! x
Amanda says
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks so much for the kind words! The common wisdom is that it’s better to keep the top layer and discard the bottom layer. The thinking is that the top layer is the newest layer, and will therefore have a more infinite lifespan. If you always take the bottom layer, (I guess only if you’re always taking the bottom layer) the risk is that after many (many, many) generations, your SCOBY will no longer be alive.
I started keeping the top layer a couple of years ago, but my bottom layer never gave out when I was continually using the same one. My best guess is that it would be a good long while before it was no longer viable, though. Unfortunately this is totally not tested (to my knowledge) so it’s just a best guess.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the great question!
Peg says
I like doing the continuous brew so much better,easier and tastier! thanks 😀
PT says
Hi Amanda,
Thanks for the great blog and all the info, I am new to fermenting and love to try making kombucha. This continuous brewing idea is great but I have a couple concerns and believe you are the best person to ask for help.
1) Will the yeast clogs the dispenser?
2) After a few months of continuous brewing, will the metal part or the plastic part inside the dispenser be corroded and break down? When I use mason jar to ferment sauerkraut, the metal lid always got corroded.
3) Will there be bad bacteria grows and gathers at the outer part of the dispenser where the kombucha draws out? Or should I wipe the “mouth” of the dispenser with soap and water after each draw out?
Appreciate your advice and look forward to your reply 🙂
PT
Amanda says
Hi PT,
Thanks for the kind words. To answer your questions:
1) I have had this happen a couple times in all the years I’ve been doing this and it’s definite not a big deal. You just drain as much as you can, dump the rest into a large bowl and clean out the spigot. It’s good to clean the container out a couple times a year anyway, IMO.
Both times I had this issue, I had let the number of SCOBYs in the container get very high and the level of the kombucha get very low, so the SCOBYs were basically sitting right by the spigot. Perfect conditions from them to grow towards the air supply. So easy to avoid and not difficult to deal with.
2) Yes, if you don’t have the right kind of spigot. I believe I linked to the one I use in the post? If not, let me know and I’ll try to find what kombucha post I put it in. It’s restaurant grade stainless steel. Before that I used the plastic spigot that came with my container. It was totally fine. Just look for one that isn’t painted on the inside.
3) I do not do that, and I’ve never had an issue. Again, I wash my container in hot soapy water (not antibacterial soap) a couple times a year. I’ve never had an infection or any unwanted growth. My SCOBYs are healthy and pretty.
I hope that answers your questions! Best of luck!
Amanda