 Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. I'm so excited to be sharing this video with you all today I've been meaning to make kombucha for ages and show you guys how to do it because I did it a couple years ago It's like a weight like my first time making it was a couple years ago, and I loved it I thought the best thing ever it's so easy so much easier than making sauerkraut or making apple cider vinegar It's really simple. All you need is some scoby, which is basically the bacteria that ferments it as you can see This one has a few different scoby in there. You can actually see on the top See there, but there's a thin like Thing floating at the top of it. You got thin sort of What's the word? Um, I think a thin layer basically It's playing with the solution there and that is actually scoby. That's forming So there's a new scoby that's forming That is like the new kind of baby one the others are like older They're more matured so they're probably more aged scoby The best type of scoby is the fresh scoby to use for making kombucha and will actually grow to the size of the container that it's in So the moment it's like the size of this jar But about putting into a bigger jar it will actually grow out and become the size of the jar that it ends it will cover the top of the Solutions cover the top of the drink and that just helps protect it from mold and other bacteria And it's full of healthy wonderful bacteria. That's really great for your gut. I Actually got the recipe for making kombucha off my mom's cousin. So It's passed down through the family And I just loved making it when I heard how easy it was to make I was like right on that It's really delicious too. I don't know if you've tried kombucha before if you've tried the commercial ones They're not as healthy for you because they tend to add extra sugar into it and also because of the transportation Things you don't know how good the quality of the actual Bacteria is inside that because it could have been damaged along the way So they might not have as much bacteria as it would if a major iron so as many benefits making your own and it's really easy Basically make up the concoction and just let it ferment for about a week or two And it's good to go from there The thing is though if you let it ferment for longer it'll become more sour and then the lesser amount of fermenting time It has the more sweeter it is But don't worry about the sugar content in it because you do put a lot of sugar in but that gets eaten eaten By the bacteria so you're left with all the good vitamins and things in the drink rather than all that sugar And people have said that it does contain a certain amount of alcohol Yes, it it does because of the fermentation process So it does have a tiny bit of like alcoholic properties, but it's very minuscule and you have to drink a lot a Lot a lot of kombucha to actually see any effects in your blood alcohol level So it's very minimum. So in case you're wondering what exactly is kombucha It's basically a tea like it's made from green and black tea and it's put sugar in there And it's fermented to make this really healthy Probiotic drink now one thing to keep in mind is that you actually need to reserve the scoby in some of the Kombucha tea that you've made If you just keep the scoby in its own, it's just gonna die So you want to keep some of the solution with the scoby in it and That'll keep the scoby alive and then you can just reuse that later on you pour it into your next batch of kombucha That you want to make and you just have an ongoing cycle of kombucha at hand ready to go So once you've started the first batch is pretty easy to keep going from there Keep making your own kombucha and just keep going indefinitely I'm just gonna ditch the Beanie because I'm not really loving it. It was cold but now I'm like it's warm enough not to use it And I'm always wearing beanies in my videos I'm like, ah, let's show you the top of my head without a beanie. Anyway, there's a bit of a story behind so I bought this one about a week ago and First day no kidding it gets knocked over my bad I put it in a spot where people walk and it got knocked over so all the scoby and all the liquid went everywhere massive cleanup Anyway, lesson learned keep it way out of the way from where people walk So I had to fill it half of it with water, but it's going to rip since then So if that does happen to you you can dilute the solution with some more like filtered water Not normal water. You want to keep it as bacteria free as possible. So you put your Filtred water in as much as you can and that just dilutes it a little bit and you can keep going with the scoby and Kombucha juice from there Just remember if you want to read a bit more about kombucha where it came from how to make the Kombucha at home yourself feel free to check out my blog post down below I'll link in the description We'll take you to the recipe of my blog where you can just refer to it later on is it easy to refer to Little recipe so you don't have to watch this video over and over again, but if you do feel free I love that But if you don't want to that's the option as well I love getting more views on my videos. So feel free and watch it over and over again I love you for it I always like to vary up my fermented products So don't just like having one thing Like I'm not someone who just have kombucha all the time as my source of probiotics I like to have things like sauerkraut or you can have like coconut kefir Kefir that's what they say or you can have normal dairy kefir or we can have things like Fermented vegetables that's another one you can get other fermented drinks. I'm just trying to think of what they are So many different array of probiotic foods that you can have I know you can have kimchi which is like a soup type dish Or you can have tempeh which is like fermented tofu Or there's like a whole different array of different fermented products and probiotic foods that you can have So I always think it's a great way to get Probiotics in a whole different array of probiotics by having different probiotic foods. Yeah Let's get started To start with you want to sterilize your equipment if you haven't done so already and wash your hands thoroughly Then pour four cups of boiling water into a large glass bowl and add four teabags or I just used tea spoons of tea I use both black and green So I just use teaspoons, but you can use either tea bags or you can use those tea strainers I just didn't have enough tea strainers to use so I just poured the tea leaves in the bowl and then strain them out later So add those four teabags or tea strainers using green or black tea or you can use a mixture of both Or you can use green and white tea or other herbal teas I then repeated the steps again for this green tea batch because I made a black tea batch and a green tea batch So I'm just pouring the water and aim the tea leaves in again Then allowing that to sit and steep then you want to add a little bit more than a quarter cup of organic sugar I use organic brown sugar. Honey is not recommended and sugar substitutes don't work Then let the tea steep and the sugar dissolve then wait for the water to completely cool before you place it into a large glass jar Because I poured my tea leaves straight into the bowl. I had to strain my tea leaves out again afterwards But if you just used teabags or you've used tea strainers, you don't have to worry about this step You can just pour it straight into the glass jar Once it's in the jar, you can add the scoby ensuring the water is cold Don't add the scoby if the water is still warm as it will kill the colony of beneficial bacteria Then add one cup of the starter tea, which is just the tea the scoby was sitting in as this has already been fermented Then if the scoby is not the same size as the container, don't worry It will grow to fit the size of the container as it ferments Cover the glass with a cheesecloth or piece of organic cloth and a rubber band Leave it to sit at room temperature out of direct sunlight where it will not be disturbed Let it ferment for seven to twelve days After seven days, you can pour a little of your kombucha into a glass to taste it to see if it's ready to stop fermenting You'll know if it's ready as it will taste fizzy and slightly sour sort of cidery It will ferment faster in summer and slower in winter Now by this time you'll most likely have two scobies in the tea one as the mother and the other as the baby Remove both of the scobies and one to two cups of the finished kombucha to start a new batch and just repeat all the steps Leave enough kombucha in another glass jar for the scoby to sit in until it's ready to use again Hey, it's Saturday Hey, hey, it's Saturday. Alrighty, so it's been about 14 days I think I left it for two weeks rather than just the 12 so it's a bit more sour I just tried a little bit of it and basically a bit of a bit of sad news But I'll have some good news. So that we got with bad news first. So the bad news is that the the giant glass of hold on I'm gonna hurry because she's Um, we're preying because of the storm one moment Oh, she hit this door. Oh Honestly staying there for five minutes like a chauffeur opening this door and you wasn't even coming in That door Oh Anyway, back to what I was talking about the bad news is is that my other giant glass of kombucha I can't remember if it was the green tea or the black tea. It's been a while now Won the teas the one the giant Uh glass tub that I put it in unfortunately the top scoby got moldy I don't know how this keeps happening. I get a good batch and I get a bad batch. I'm not sure what happened along the way So it's hard to change what I did if I don't know what I did wrong with that batch Yeah, maybe got contaminated somehow. I'm not sure how because I checked it. It was going so well All up until today like I even checked it like three days ago and it was fine and now what moldy I'm a bit sad guys just I'm mourning my loss of my kombucha Anyway, but the good news is that this one made it through now I'm sorry. I didn't actually get a picture of the two comparisons So the one moldy and the one good one which I looked back now And I should have done because that would have been good to compare if you're making your own kombucha Next time Sorry about that, but one was moldy. I'll show a picture of what a moldy scoby looks like in case you want to reference But you can tell when it's moldy. It's got like black patches of mold and it's not good But this one had like a crusty kind of scoby top and I was a bit concerned because I was like Is it moldy? Is it just a weird type of mold because I've never seen it look like that But it was fine. I mixed it through And it was all good. So this one turned out great. So I was like, yes I tried it and it is a bit sour on the sour side because I let it ferment a lot longer If you guys want to keep it more To the sweet side just don't let it ferment for as long. Maybe stop it at the 10 day mark But yeah, you can taste it along the way try not to contaminate it because it will go bad So just be careful with that. Just use a spoon and Put it in the wash. Don't put it back in your double dip because that's just contaminating it But yeah, if it goes well like this one did you have your own kombucha Now I'm going to divvy it up into some glass bottles that I got Like the one you get from the store. I'm making my own little kombucha at home. It's so exciting So I've got glass bottles that mix the ones from the store And I can reuse these for when I make plant milk Not just a pretty face. I'm just joking. I'm just kidding If you do want to make another batch of kombucha in future You need to leave about a cut worth of the kombucha with the scoby to keep it alive in its juices So when you want to make another batch, you have scoby already to go So I'm going to keep a cup worth of the solution with the scoby that's left over I'm going to keep that one one make another batch and eventually you can just keep your cycle of kombucha going indefinitely Why just keeping the scoby and bit of like one cup of the kombucha to start another batch later on So it's like an endless cycle of kombucha you guys can make like is awesome How good is that no more buying kombucha from the store? Or you have your own home made batch right here at home Is there anything better? Now if you do want a preference if you don't want to keep all the kombucha scobies that you make because it can add up over time You can just compost The old scoby the one that's been used a lot and you can subtell when it's old because it's sort of sinking to the bottom You can just compost that and just keep the new scoby that you've made If you want to just keep it simple and have one little scoby ready to go If you want to make two batches like I showed with the green tea and the black tea Maybe keep two kombucha scobies with them Like one cup of kombucha for each just to start a new kombucha batch later on That way you don't have to wait for one batch to finish before you start another one So that could be something to keep in mind. Anyway, I'm going to divvy this up and Put it into my glass jars It's not my video without a bit singing is it Also, I'm really sorry that it's been a while since I've done a video for you guys I know it's been about like a couple weeks or more maybe three weeks now since I've actually shared a video I'm really sorry about that. That is just because I was unprepared one because I was unprepared. I had no videos lined up to make more Videos with like no filling footage that I'd done to make more videos with so that was my bad I was a little unorganized had a lot of work piling up So I didn't get time to film other videos So I have been and I've also been waiting for these videos to Finish that doesn't make any sense I've also been waiting for the products that I've been making in these videos that I'm sharing with you guys The ones that take ages to ferment. I've been making a lot of fermented foods lately So I've been taking a while for the foods to ferment. So I haven't had the footage to then edit to show you guys But now it's ready so you can see it now But that's why it's been a while as well Also, I've been in like a bit of a negative headspace lately And I just needed to take time away from like youtube social media Yeah, just basically off anything that I found to be like it had stressed me out Like trying to keep up with posts on instagram trying to keep up with Posts on youtube because I have three jobs and I was just a lot of stress trying to keep up with like my normal work As well as do this extra work on the side. I love doing youtube I love posting on instagram showing ideas with you guys and you're also supportive So it really means a lot. It just was me and I just felt stressed out I feel like all I was doing was working And we didn't didn't have any time like I didn't have time for anything else and just felt really low and depressed I feel like I was losing connections with those around me because I wouldn't see anybody Just a homebody at home editing videos and sitting in front of my computer or I was at work Working so I need to take time off and just sort of reconnect with myself And just hang out with friends just have fun a bit. It was sort of lacking in that area of fun So I feel a lot better now. I'm back in youtube. I'm back in youtube I'm back at it with youtube. So I hope you guys enjoy these videos But yeah, that's why it's been a bit of a hiatus at the moment of an m.r.a. since last December I am going to see a therapist or a counselor about Just my negative headspace as well because I found it to be it's been part like the past Few years It's been an underlying thing for me where I just get to a really low point And I struggled to pull myself out of it. So I'm going to talk to a therapist Or a counselor about that which I wish I'd share how that goes when I start that. What am I even doing? I've lost my train of thought Come to sit with me. Maybe I'm scared of the storm. Yeah It's like oh I heard something I'm back Thought I'd get a funnel to put In my glass jars because if I try and pour it with a jar, it's just going to go everywhere As we all know from my past videos Lesson like the hard way, but I'm going to Pour it into here first because as you can see it has a little nozzle so it won't go everywhere So I'm just going to do that Just bombs away And splashes everywhere All right, I'm just going to pour this in without getting the scoby Try not to let it fizz over That won't go I've been finding it game. It's really easy to contaminate kombucha Surprisingly easy because a lot of people say oh, I've never had a bad batch I think how on earth have you never had a bad batch except for two so far and I've made it twice one batch has been good One batch has been bad. I don't know why somehow. I guess contaminated If you do have tips on how to prevent contamination, please share because It'll be very helpful. We love hearing your ideas and suggestions here on nessa's channel And then my two bottles of kombucha That's why it has kombucha at the end because it's like kombucha So this is my cup of kombucha that I'll be using it's probably a bit more than a cup But I have this solution to use when I want to make my next batch Um, which will be when I finished these bad boys of kombucha and then I'll get started on my next batch until then I'm going to enjoy my tasty kombucha Super refreshing to have on a really hot summer's day when you put it with some ice And just like let it sit in the fridge Best thing ever and if you guys want to be really healthy Instead of buying alcohol and things at bars or when you go out with friends Have some kombucha some gut friendly drink here Just to you know, keep that gut microbium microbium to keep that gut microbiome strong and healthy Where you can have soda water, which tastes really nice I've been getting into soda water lately because I've been trying to stay off the Drink the booze the drinks as sorts because I'm trying to help with my detoxing system My body like my lymphatic lymphatic system and my liver detoxing I found that I'm not detoxing super well as well as I could so I've been really focusing on that So that means no alcohol. So that's been something I'm working on So every time I go out I have some kombucha or I have some soda water This video is all about my my sharing like just share time with Vanessa I'm sorry if all you came to see today was kombucha making because it's turned into like a chat time with me So just feel free to skip ahead to the end when we get to the kombucha part. I feel so professional making kombucha Like you know, you're doing well in life when you've got a good bottle of kombucha there Homemade homebrewed kombucha Up that there goes the scoby perfect And that is where I'm going to be keeping my scoby until I make it again Also, just a tip when you do keep your kombucha scoby You want to um Keep it aerated Do you want to now add into it because it is still like a living organism in there if you put a little like catholid on it for like the long-term Storage of this kombucha You may find it will die because there's no oxygen getting to it And it'll just become in like an anaerobic environment and the bacteria that grows in an anaerobic environment will start growing in that And it's not the bacteria you want for kombucha. So I just keep a little cheesecloth this knee over the top I might use The one that wasn't on the contaminated kombucha glass jar this one there we go And I just keep it like this and I store it in a cool dry dark place Usually my laundry and then I just keep it there until I want to make another batch of kombucha So that is how you store kombucha scoby Oh no The effect would be more suspenseful had I not already shared that I tried it before here, but yeah, it tastes really good. I really love it It's like more of a sour side like I said, but I like it that way I prefer it to be more soury Then super sweet So I like mine to be more fermented too because it kind of puts more probiotic bacteria in there as well So a really good healthy drink to make That tastes awesome. It's like the healthier version of having fizzy So do feel free to try that out if you guys did make it Please share with me if you try it out how it goes for you in the comments below Or you can tag me on instagram if you do share a picture of your amazing creation, please share I'd love to see it. I'll give it a huge like a nice little comment It'd be awesome to see and see like see what your creations are But I hope you guys enjoyed today's video. I'm sorry a lot of it has been my rambling It's been like my share day really, but I do like sharing a lot of my life with you guys It's just nice to sort of have that connection with you all and just to hear about what's going on in your lives as well It's really awesome. I hope you guys enjoyed today's video and I really hope to see you guys in my pj videos If I haven't scared you off fingers crossed I have not but enjoy the rest of your day and I hope to see you again soon. Bye