Kombucha
Over the summer of 2017, my friend Alex introduced me to the idea of brewing kombucha at home – something he had started doing over his spring semester at UIUC. He let me try some of his* and it was delicious, easily and surprisingly better than I had ever remembered store-bought kombucha being. Alex also talked about the process of making it, and it sounded so simple (and the result so flavorful) that I ended up being pretty compelled to get into it myself. A month later, I had my jars and swing-top bottles, along with a SCOBY from Alex, and the brewing cycle could begin…
* I think the flavors were pineapple coconut, strawberry ginger, and something plant-based. (Don’t quote me on the strawberry.) Anyway, one of the reasons I was so interested in kombucha brewing was for the chance to create my own flavor combinations.
Safety
Some have raised concerns about the safety of kombucha – especially self-made kombucha. However, given that necessary precautions are taken I’ve found no concrete evidence of danger. And naturally I’ve tried to heed every reasonable caution. For example, I use only glass equipment (which has been sterilized with boiling water) for fermentation, and I cover my jars with tightly woven cloth. Hopefully such measures are enough – but if I die out of the blue one day, you might want to run some tests on these SCOBYs of mine.
Log
| Start | End 0 | End 1 | Flavor | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 08/21 | 08/30 | 09/01 | apple cinnamon | best of batch |
| 08/21 | 08/30 | 09/01 | pineapple | |
| 08/21 | 08/30 | 09/01 | pineapple coconut | 0/10 coconut milk |
| 08/30 | 09/09 | 09/11 | apple cinnamon | x2 |
| 08/30 | 09/09 | 09/11 | apple | |
| 09/17 | 09/27 | 09/29 | peach watermelon | x3 |
| 09/27 | 10/15 | 10/17 | raspberry |
