Love Kombucha

Around 1% volume is a good starting point to give a slight zing and will help with the carbonation but not be overpowering. Therefore, to a 500ml bottle you would add 5ml, and to a litre you would add 10ml.

If you like your kombucha slightly sweeter and with less of a bite (the joy of making your own is that you get to choose!) then it is likely that the finished brew has around 6–7g of sugar per 100ml and carbonation will happen quite quickly – within a week or so

I would recommend adding a maximum of 10% of the overall volume as flavour and leaving it at least a week before checking.

Therefore at this point, you want to fill the bottle so not too much air remains. If using a slim-necked bottle similar to the ones shown, then you want to leave about 1 inch of headspace. If you leave more then it is likely that a new SCOBY will start to form as it carries on fermenting using the air in the bottle.

In most ferments the sugars are turned to alcohol, however in kombucha brewing, they are converted into beneficial acids. There is a peak of alcohol in the brewing process in the early stages that may get as high as 2 or 3% but this is converted into acids as the brew progresses (another reason to brew as long as you can). As such the alcohol in your finished kombucha should be very low, at less than 0.5%

Avoid square, hexagonal or other shaped glass, coloured glass (although standard amber or clear is a good choice), glass with moulded writing, or bottles that have any weaknesses (chips, cracks or air bubbles in the actual glass

Although this seems logical and will put them into a dormant state, refrigerated cultures tend to take a few batches to get going again and are much more susceptible to mould than ones that have been kept at room temperature in some starter liquid. They can be kept indefinitely in this state and you will often find that the holding jar itself will grow a new SCOBY as well!

Batch ratios To increase or decrease the amount of kombucha you make, maintain the following ratio:2–3 tea bags and 60–65 g/2½ oz/⅓ cup sugar and a minimum of 10% starter liquid per litre/1¾ pints. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make anything less than 1 litre/1¾ pints, as you will always need to keep back some starter for the next batch and for storing any spare cultures (see here).

Don’t be tempted to put them in the fridge. Although this seems logical and will put them into a