Homemade Continuous Brew Kombucha

I love my kombucha :). It is wonderful as a morning pick-me-up or sipped with a meal. I have always made my booch in small batches, usually 1/2 gallon canning jars, but recently a friend has re-introduced me to another method... continuous brewing!

I first read about this technique when I started making booch many years ago, but like many beginners I thought I had to purchase all the fancy equipment sold online. Needless to say, the expensive ceramic brewing crocks were a little out of my price range! My friend has proven to me that all that expensive stuff is really unnecessary, so I've decided to give it a go. Thanks, Deb!

 

This is a party drink container that I bought about a year ago. It was on sale at a local discount home goods store and I had to have it... since then, I have used it a total of 2 times. For lemonade. So, I was glad to get it out of storage to use as my continuous brew set-up! It is attractive, so I don't mind it decorating a dark corner of my kitchen. And, since it is larger than my previous brewing vessel, I can make large batches of yummy booch!

 

Here's the vessel I have been using for the past few brews. It holds one gallon of booch, but it's a pain in the rear at bottling time! I have to move my scoby to another container in order to bottle the liquid, then pour the booch (clumsily) into canning jars, then rinse the container and start a new batch from step one. With a continuous system, you can skip a few messy steps between brews!

 

I've bottled my booch from the previous batch with fewer spills than usual and have set them aside for a short second fermentation with strawberries as a flavoring. This second fermentation takes only about 2 days, then I move the jars to the fridge.

Here is my finished continuous brew set-up! I am really excited to see how the first bottling goes. I'm sure it will be less messy and time-consuming than the one I did earlier today! And, I have made use of a purchase that would otherwise be left under the counter gathering dust until the next birthday party. :)

For more information about brewing your own kombucha, visit these websites:

The Healthy Home Economist

Kombucha Kamp

Happy Herbalist (continuous brew)

But, don't be fooled into buying expensive equipment! :)