- Welcome to You Brew Kombucha.
This is your guide on
what to expect during
first fermentation.
(upbeat music)
So you're waiting for your home
brewed Kombucha to ferment.
This is typically the
most nerve-racking time
for most home brewers.
Especially if you are new to the process.
Only because waiting is probable
the hardest part of this
and you start thinking of all the things
that you could have done
wrong to mess up the process.
But the good thing is
as long as you take the
proper steps to do this right
it's pretty much foolproof.
Here are some of my brewing vessels
at different stages of the
first fermentation process.
This vessel is just brewed
maybe 20 minutes ago.
This one's about two days old
and this one's about seven days old.
When you first put your scoby into
your first fermentation vessel.
It might sink or it might float.
Both are totally okay.
Often times
it'll rise up to the top
at some point in time
during the fermentation process
and conjoin with the new
scoby that's starting to form.
Around day two or three
you might start to see
some little whites specks
form across the surface
of your brewing vessel.
A lot of brewers mistake that for mold.
Often times it's not mold.
That's just your scoby
trying to get in formation.
I know it's going to be tough,
but for the first few
days I really recommend
that you don't mess
with your scoby vessel.
Don't stir it around or agitate it.
That is the critical time for
your scoby to start forming.
If you mess around with it too much
or if you shake the brewing vessel around
it might inhibit the scoby growth
or cause the new formation to sink.
Which is totally okay.
But if you're a new brewer
and you're looking for
that nice thick scoby
to form it might freak you out
if it doesn't immediately form.
And it might just be because
you're messing around with it too much.
Around day four or five
you'll start to see a
new scoby form across
the top of your vessel.
It'll take the shape of
whatever vessel your in.
So if you're brewing in a square vessel
it'll be a square scoby.
If it's a round vessel
it'll be a round scoby.
It'll be white to light tan in color
and you might start to see
some stringy yeasty bits.
You might see some dregs of tea
if you didn't fully strain your tea.
All of that is okay.
Sometimes you might even
see some little black specks
that look trapped into your scoby.
They'll often times look
like little poppy seeds
and that's
usually okay.
That typically happens
if you didn't strain all
the tea dregs out of your
brew when you're adding
it to your brewing vessel.
But it's totally fine if
some bits of tea end up being
in the liquid or trapped into your scoby.
Sometimes I'll have a really active scoby
and my scoby will actually try to push out
of the brewing vessel.
That's totally fine and totally normal.
If that ever happens,
you can just poke it back down.
Kombucha ideally brews at
around mid to high 70's,
but it can ferment just
fine between 65-85 degrees.
You can monitor the average
room temperature really easily
using these really affordable
stick on temperature strips.
The cooler it is the longer it'll take
to go through its first
fermentation process.
So conversely the warmer it is
the faster it'll acidify.
So my brews typically take
around seven to ten days
to go through a successful
first fermentation.
And over the course of that time
the tea will lighten in color.
The biggest fear that
a lot of home brewers
have during this process is mold.
And
honestly mold is pretty unlikely,
but if you're worried about it
I have a whole other
video dedicated to mold.
So go ahead and check that out.
So in the mean time
don't stress out too much about your brew.
What it needs most right now is time.
The less you futz around with it
the more it can do its thing.
So to find out when your brew
is done and ready to bottle
be sure to check out the
next video in my series.
And for more information
you can always go to YouBrewKombucha.com.
Happy brewing.
(upbeat music)
