Kombucha- back in business again

~Brew jar with SCOBY, cheesecloth, and cover ~

I was so proud of myself this winter.  I made kombucha without a SCOBY from a bottle of organic Kombucha I purchased from the health food store.  When spring came, I got busy with the outside "stuff" and even though we were drinking a lot of it, I threw it out because I was tired (did I mention busy) of feeding the hungry little booger.............

Now that some of the harvest has let up (and because I bought a case of kombucha and had to ransom my first born to pay for it) I decided to get back into the kombucha business.  Luckily I have a friend that has been brewing and she let me have a "baby" SCOBY to start my first batch.  I was ever thankful because it takes much longer to brew a batch when you do it without the SCOBY.

I have been brewing my kombucha for about a week and today we bottled the finished kombucha and started a new batch.  It had some nice fizz to it and tasted wonderful, it will be nice and refreshing when taken cold from the refrigerator.  

You are asking what is Kombucha?  What is a SCOBY and why would I need a "baby" for something I am going to drink?  

Kombucha is a fermented health drink that is reported to help with detoxing your body and giving you energy.

SCOBY stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast and the "baby" is a layer (SCOBY) that forms under the "mother" SCOBY with each brewing.

Here are some pictures of our kombucha and the SCOBY to give you an idea.  

Brewing jar and jars for the fridge.  See the fizz?

Another angle of the process, you can see the SCOBY in the white dish.

Here is a close up of the SCOBY