• 3 Litre tapped jar
• 1 Litre fridge storage bottle
• Hand-made shower cap (breathable jar topper) with brew-tags
• Your own baby SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacterial Yeast)
• 2 x Green Tea Kombucha Brew Bundles – all the ingredients needed for approx. the first month of Kombucha
• Welcome pack including fun style instructions, adhesive thermometer & brew calendar
• Crazy new fun knowledge, & unlimited support from The Kombucha Engineer 🙂

Fermentation Vessel. This must be made from either fermentation steel or glass. I recommend a 3 Litre sized vessel to start off your brew. This will leave enough room for the SCOBY, starter liquid and the 2 Litre Green Tea Brew-Bundle’s included. I also recommend a vessel with a tap (sometimes referred to as a “tapped jar”) as this makes the process of a continuous brew SO MUCH easier. You can read more about the advantages of a continuous brew Vs. a batch brew here.

Storage Bottle. This should be made out of glass, have an air-tight lid and fit into your fridge door easily (drained Kombucha must always be stored in the fridge). I recommend a 1 – 2 Litre sized bottle (best size will depend on the size of the fermentation vessel which you’re using) if your fermentation vessel is around 3 Litres.

Breathable Lid. This is typically made from muslin or cotton, and basically just needs to allow the movement of air in and out of the fermentation vessel, but not flies / dust / aliens. It should be clean / sterile / not dusty or with loose fibres that could fall into the brew. A strong piece of kitchen roll can be used with a tight elastic band to hold the edges down. It should seal tightly around the mouth of the fermenting vessel, not have any holes, and remain in place for the whole fermentation process.

Included in your starter kit are 2 brew bundles (all the ingredients you need) each making 2 litres of Kombucha.

After these have been used up, it is easy to transfer onto our huge range of delicious Kombucha Brew Bags, which are ready-to-go top up bags, available on subscription, in bundles or as single purchases.

You can of course transfer over to your own tea and sugar supplies, and all the information on how much tea and sugar to use is included in your kit!

Just remember, that the quality of the tea is super important when making Kombucha, as it is essentially the only ingredient you are adding for flavour!

Happy Brewing!

It is especially important to keep your brew warm (above 20 degrees Celsius) during the first and second brews.

This is because your baby SCOBY has to wake up, and get to work turning that sugar into organic acids, and this happens faster at a warmer temperature. If your brew is too cold during this period, you will risk getting mould.

There is a range of heat pads which work great for Kombucha, if you don't have options such as an airing cupboard / radiator shelf / fridge or freezer top (great hack).

We have been using a reptile heat pad, linked here, which seems to run extremely cheaply and sits perfectly on the counter underneath a jar.

The smallest pad brought the temperature of our liquid to ideal temperature within a few hours.

We all deserve a holiday every now and then, or if you just need a break from brewing, you don't need to worry about your SCOBY.

Kombucha is probably the best ferment for people who like holidays, as the SCOBY is very low maintenece and tough.

This guide will help you decide what to do with your Kombucha whilst you go on holiday.

Over time, your little SCOBY will grow, so to ensure you always have room for enough liquid in your fermentation vessel, you'll eventually need to split it.

It is very easy to do, and we have written up this guide so you can decide if and when you're ready to divide!

NO – the sugar is crucial for the SCOBY to feed on, without the sugar there is no Kombucha.

If your Kombucha is a bit on the sweet side for your liking, then let the brew ferment slightly longer next time.

Any amount of time above 7 days fermentation is fine if you have the temperature high enough (20 degrees C minimum), and should get you that tarty twang!

We have a blog here on the topic of sugar in Kombucha.

Flavouring your homemade Kombucha is super easy, and if you're happy with the light effervescent fizz your natural Kombucha has, then we have many recipes here, on our Kombucha Recipe Club which you can start experimenting with.

Adding more carbonation can be a little more complicated, and is often referred to as a second fermentation. There are some things to be careful of when attempting to naturally carbonate your Kombucha, such as exploding bottles, and elevated alcohol levels, but it is possible to do at home with a little extra care and attention.

To explain it simply, you need to add another source of sugar to your bottled Kombucha, as well as any flavouring ingredients you like, and then you need to put an air tight lid on the bottle and leave it at room temperature for 2 - 5 days. The live bacteria in the Kombucha will feed on the sugars and produce co2, which will get trapped in the liquid. It is advisable that you burp the bottles (as they need to ideally be glass) each day, and when it seems like a good amount of gas is coming out the top, refrigerate for 12 hours, then serve up. You can find more advice online, and information on how much sugar to use for the second fermentation, but be aware that as well as more fizz, you will create a higher alcohol level within your Kombucha too! Have fun!

That slimy looking film growing over the surface of your brew is your new baby SCOBY (see normal growth examples on our SCOBY gallery here), and is the sign of a super healthy brew! We need to let that grow into a good strong layer during the first and second Kombucha brews, and then you’ll be set up to make Kombucha forever!

It’s really important that you LEAVE YOUR SCOBY WHERE IT IS, and do not disturb the liquid during the first few rounds of draining and refilling your jar.

It will grow thicker and will give you a much faster fermentation, with more bubbles inside your Kombucha too!

Every time you make a new brew, a new baby SCOBY will grow! This is perfectly fine, and actually shows that you are doing a really good job. Once you notice that your jar is a bit full, and there isn’t much room for Kombucha, you can remove the bottom (older) layers of SCOBY, but until then – sit back and enjoy the rapid fermentation that a SCOBY family will bring!

You can increase the rate of SCOBY growth by making sure it is in a warm spot around 22-24 degrees … P.S. airing cupboards / above fridges / radiators are perfect!

The brown stringy bits floating around or settled on the bottom of your brewing vessel are yeast strands!

This yeast is gluten free, totally natural, and a great sign of a healthy, strong brew!.

The yeast, only seen in authentic, Kombucha is part of the live culture of Kombucha, the SCOBY.

Although it looks a bit odd, it is packed with B vitamins, safe to consume, and super important in the fermentation, carbonation, flavour and health benefits of the drink.

You lucky thing! Our SCOBY's are extra juicy, which means that sometimes there is multiple pellicles in the bag.

This is great news, and you should add them all, along with all the liquid, and don't worry if they sink or float :)

For the first few brews it is important to be patient, and leave your SCOBY submerged in approximately 3 – 4 inches of starter liquid (Kombucha from the previous batch) for 10 days (the longer you can wait the better) AFTER DRAINING and BEFORE REFILLING.

This is to ensure that the acidity of the starter liquid is low enough to keep the brew safe from contamination, and mould, and is especially useful when getting a new SCOBY going during winter!

This step won’t be needed forever, but at the start it is useful to get the power pumping!!

Each kit is guaranteed to be sent with dates that have at least 6 months until the Best Before End Date.

So no you don’t need to start straight away …. but don’t wait too long 😛

P.s. Don't put your SCOBY in the fridge before starting, just leave him somewhere at room temperature.

To check you are brewing between 20-28 degrees Degrees Celcius (really aiming for 22 degrees)

You can stick it (peel the backing off … its adhesive YAY) to a flat area / the side of your fermentation vessel / tapped jar (whatever you’ve decided to call your SCOBY home)!

• Put it in the sink with a squirt of washing up liquid. Fire the hot (not boiling) water tap into the bottom and let it froth up to the top. Let it soak for 5 minutes, open the tap for 10 seconds to pass some soapy water through. Scrub the sides and bottom.
• I normally use this stage to ensure the tap is set tight enough (see below FAQ).
• After has soaked for 5 minutes, rinse out until the soap is cleared out with cold water, and don’t forget to run some fresh water through the tap!

Another method is to sterilise the equipment, and a great way to do this is to use Milton, which you can buy online or in stores where they sell supplies for babies (the humankind). Follow the directions on the packet for this 🙂

You can do this by filling the jar with water just above the tap outlet and then sitting it on the side with some paper or kitchen towel under the tap to check for a drip. If it will leak it will start to do so within 10 minutes. If it drips, you can tighten (not too much) the nut at the back of the tap inside the jar to seal, and then check again. Repeat until you have no dripping :)

Please see Youtube Video, link below 🙂

How to install your tap!

Yep, some will float then sink, some might always float, some will sink a little bit then float haha!

You can probably guess it doesn’t matter where you SCOBY ends up hanging out, there are many things which effect the SCOBY in this way, but mostly they revolve around complicated yeast science!

When we talk about fresh Kombucha; we mean Kombucha that has been bottled straight from a natural fermentation, delivered to you, the consumer as quickly as possible, to be refrigerated for a shelf life of 7 days.

When we talk about raw Kombucha; we mean Kombucha that has not been pasteurised or filtered in any way shape or form. You can see this as raw Kombucha will often form a light sediment within the bottle (which by the way is totally normal, natural & fine to consume).

When we talk about natural Kombucha; we always make our Kombucha without any nasty surprises. Our Kombucha will never contain unnatural flavourings, extra sugars or preservatives. Our Kombucha contains only the ingredients needed; Green Tea, Sugar, & Live Kombucha Cultures.

Order your “Try-before-you-brew-or-buy” of our fresh Kombucha here!

The Kombucha we make here is Kombucha in its purest form!

My body likes having around 100-150ml every morning, however it is important you introduce it to your diet slowly, and consider other dietary factors which may influence how you respond. 

All I can say on this is listen to your own body, see how it makes you feel!

Make sure you combine Kombucha with PRE-biotics too, like fruits and veggies, and like the parent that was always right, everything is best in moderation!

Sorry, I know we’ve all heard that one before!

Small yeast strands, or even SCOBY clumps may make their way into the storage bottle when you drain it from the jar, all of this is totally fine, and they have nutritional benefits if you feel like drinking them!

But if you don’t, just filter them out! 

You may also grow a SCOBY in the storage bottle, depending on how long you let the Kombucha ferment before bottling!

This is perfectly normal, if anything – its a good sign 🙂

Green tea, black tea