Quadruple Scoby

 I got a new scoby from Offspring #2 so I am brewing kombucha again. A scoby is a pancake of bacteria and yeast. Kombucha is a pro-biotic, naturally carbonated drink. Lately I have make grapefruit/ginger kombucha which is pretty tasty. The process is putsy but not really difficult. First you brew some black tea. I use three tea bags with 7 cups of water and a half cup of sugar mixed in. I let that cool to 110 degrees Farenheit. Then I add one cup of kombucha from the previous batch with the scoby. Just look at the thick scoby I got going there! I have a quadruple scoby! But the pancake layers haven't separated yet so I kept them all together. Once the scoby layers separate I can either give a scoby away, throw a scoby away, or start making two batches of kombucha at the same time. Anybody need a scoby? The next step is to transfer the scoby from the fermented kombucha into the fresh tea and sugar mixture. I use a wooden spoon to do that. The scoby is smooth and shiny and sort of reminds me of a very pale piece of liver. Then I cover the scoby in it's tea bath with cheese cloth or coffee filter tightened with a rubber band. I cover that with a cloth and set it on top of my fridge for about 3 weeks. Kombucha must be fermented in clean glass containers. Metal containers would not be good. In the brown, flip-top bottles I used a funnel to add grapefruit juice and grated ginger into each bottle. I put less than an ounce of juice in each bottle. Using the funnel again I pour the fermented kombucha into each bottle watching carefully because I can't really see through the brown glass and I hate to clean up an overflow. Once the bottle is full half way up the neck, I flip the top on and set it on the counter for four days for the second fermentation. Every day I burp the bottle to release some of the natural carbonation. I have heard stories about these brown bottles exploding from the pressure of the carbonation. Wouldn't that be a mess to clean up? After four days I put the bottles into the fridge. Every day I will have 3 to 4 ounces of kombucha to drink. The taste is different and takes some getting used to. Kombucha doesn't taste like black tea which is good because I don't like black tea. The bacteria and yeast eat up most of the sugars so it is low in calories. Kombucha does have some caffeine in and also a tiny bit of alcohol. Kombucha is supposed to be good for my gut and I like it for a tasty treat and an alternative to soda. I have found this website to be very helpful if you want to know more.