Do any of us have experience making Kombucha?

I don't, but if you ever want to discuss making keifer, I'm your girl.

I've made kombucha. I'm not sure how well I did it, though. (Oh, wait, no. I just googled it, and I didn't make kombucha, I made rejuvelac. I'm still not sure how well I did it, though.)

Right here, lady. I've been making it continuously since 2 summers ago when I had multiple back-to-back courses of antibiotics for my dental saga.

I don't, but if you ever want to discuss making keifer, I'm your girl.

Oooohhh. I want to chat with you BOTH.

Steph, first question...or we could do it by email...up to you...What do I need to know about containers? And what sort of 'lid' do you use? My friend is using a paper towel, which I don't generally buy, but will if need be.

Calli, where do you buy your starter? And, same question about containers.

I would rather not invest in shmancy Ball jars if there is a more reasonable alternative.

Hil, did the rejuvelac taste nice?

I really enjoy the vinegary flavor of kombucha and kefir just tastes like tangy yogurt (which I like)

Oh, Oh, AND a friend suggested that I get a Stevia plan. I'm so doing that. It's like growing your own sugar! She eats the leaves as a snack, makes iced tea with them and dries/grinds them to add like sugar.

I just hope I can grow it indoors.

thekitchn.com had a small series of posts about making your own kambucha recently.

Bookmarked, lisah!

There is a segment on the 'fruit fly dilemma' (which sounds like a Sherlock Holmes story) that I definitely need to read.

What do I need to know about containers? And what sort of 'lid' do you use? My friend is using a paper towel, which I don't generally buy, but will if need be.

Glass or ceramic containers are recommended (metal is apparently Very Bad). I bought a 1-gallon glass Anchor Hocking cracker jar at Target for $5-6. As a "lid" I use a paper coffee filter (the basket shape, not the cone shape), just because we have them in abundance. I believe you can use cloth that doesn't have a super-tight weave.

This is the website I check first if I have questions (and the page linked is the "recipe" that I follow, with one exception: instead of 4-6 bags of black tea, I use 5 bags of black tea and 2 bags of a fruit tea [Celestial Seasonings berry zinger], because I like the slight fruit taste it imparts [but it makes my SCOBYs pink, which is hilarious): [link]

t edit I have never had a fruit fly problem, even when our indoor compost collector attracted fruit flies (or perhaps they were so drawn to the compost collector that that's the reason they avoided the kombucha). I did, however, have a SCOBY go moldy *while* it was brewing over the winter. But that's the first time I had a mold issue in literally 2 years.

Uh, I'm a kombucha dork and will talk about it a lot if prompted. So hit me up with any questions. I use the cheap store-brand sugar, and TJs brand Irish breakfast tea. Oh, and plain old tap water. And it all turns out pretty well despite my non-fancy ingredients.

When it's ready, I don't bottle mine in special bottles; I just dump it into a big glass pitcher and put it in the fridge (where it WILL begin to grow a wee jellyfish-like creature at the bottom of the pitcher if I don't drink it in less than a week; I just strain out the creature, throw it in the compost bin, and keep drinking it). I don't do secondary fermentation because I am lazy and impatient and want to drink it as soon as the first fermentation is finished.

The SCOBY is creepy cool.

My friend pointed out that it feels like a placenta...for which I would not have a frame of reference. It's much, much more dense than I would have suspected.

Do you keep your cracker jar in a cupboard or in the open?

My friend puts hers up in the highest cupboard. She needs a step stool to get to it. Not optimal, to my way of thinking.

Did you know that you can dehydrate your scobys and give them to Kato?

My friend gave me one for Cagney, but I want to do some research before I do that.

I'm sorry, Bonny. I don't remember. I gave the directions with the company name to a friend when I shared the starter. It was pretty high up in th Google results for "keifer starter", if I recall correctly.

It's much, much more dense than I would have suspected.

It is! It can be almost leathery.

Do you keep your cracker jar in a cupboard or in the open?

We have a pantry that was built off the back of the kitchen (by "pantry" I mean something that's maybe as big as 1 1/2 phone booths -- not big at all). It's not on the HVAC system, so in the winter it can get cold (olive oil will get thick and goopy and cloudy, for instance) and in the summer it gets warm. In the summer that means that my kombucha will brew in 7 days or less because of the temperature, and in the winter it can take 3 weeks.

I set it on the floor of the pantry, despite the fact that that's the coldest in the winter, because that's where it won't get bumped/disturbed. (And there is NO ROOM on any of the shelves for it. There's barely any room to put new groceries.)

So the answer to "in a cupboard or in the open" is...both-ish. The pantry is big enough that air circulates freely, which the kombucha needs. (Uh, also, we have no cupboards. Literally, none.)

Did you know that you can dehydrate your scobys and give them to Kato?

I did know that! And since I end up with extras after a while, I just compost them, so I thought about dehydrating them for Kato. But then it occurred to me that it's a big pancake of bacteria, and...wouldn't it give him the runs? When people are new to drinking kombucha, it's recommended to not drink a lot all at once, because your body can have a detox reaction (healing crisis). I'd be afraid that would happen to Kato if he had a dried SCOBY. So I just compost them. They make wonderful compost.