How To Make Kombucha And Water Kefir At Home

Fermented foods have become extremely popular for good reason. They're good for your gut and a very healthy way to add probiotics to your system. The wonderful thing about fermented foods is you can make many at home. Some I make at home while others I buy. The challenge is finding the time to make everything while still finding time for family, work, and real life. 

One of my favorite foods to make however is kombucha. This is in part because the price for kombucha has risen to an incredible $4.19 at my local grocery store.  That seems rather steep for a 16-ounce bottle of fermented tea.  Especially when you consider that all you need to make your own is a one-gallon glass jar, a SCOBY, 1 cup of starter kombucha, 8 tea bags, 1 cup of sugar, and filtered water.  All of that will make a gallon of kombucha.  That's eight pints which is more than $32.00 at grocery store prices. The at home price (not including the cost of the jar) is less than $1.00. It's definitely worth it to make your own.

The picture above is called a SCOBY. That's an acronym for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast.  It is the "mother" that consumes all the sugar while fermenting the tea all the while adding beneficial colonies to it. To get started, you will need to have a SCOBY.  Amazingly enough each time you brew a batch it makes a new "baby."  Eventually you have so many that you wind up giving them away.  It's a great way to make friends and share the healthy benefits of this wonderful drink. 

Secondary fermentation

After my initial batch of kombucha is done brewing, I do a secondary brew by adding fruit, sealing the jar, and letting it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. This extracts the sugars (and flavor) from the fruit and makes a fizzy drink at the same time. The longest I've ever let it sit is 36 hours because it generates so much fizz, I'm afraid to let it go longer, I don't want to shatter the jar. One of these days I'll get around to buying a fermentation lock and then I won't have to worry about exploding jars.

After it's done, I decant the flavored kombucha into recycled kombucha bottles. This time I used strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.  The blackberries, unlike most fruits, were still firm, pretty tangy, and delicious, rather than bland, sour, and soggy. If you mash them first, you get a better flavor in the kombucha, but I wanted to try eating the fruit afterwards to see what it was like. Not every fruit will produce a tasty drink but try those fruits you enjoy to see how you like each one. Some fruits will be edible after the fermentation process while others will have given up all their flavor to the drink.

A testimonial

The best thing about kombucha is how healthy it is for you. I recently had a friend visiting who has been having a lot of gut issues. We talked about fermented foods. I happened to need to brew a new batch of kombucha, so I showed her the process. She got to eat some fermented foods while she was at my house. I sent her home with a baby SCOBY, and she's been adding fermented foods to her diet. She says that her stomach has not bothered her once since she started adding fermented foods. Yay for live food!! If you'd like to know more about kombucha, including specific brewing instructions and recipes using kombucha be sure to get your copy of my ebook.

Water Kefir

Another highly beneficial fermented beverage is water kefir.  Like kombucha, it’s a great source of probiotics and can be great for your digestion.  Studies also show that probiotics can help when you are depressed or anxious.  So, it makes sense to support good probiotic status in your gut.  And just like kombucha you can make this delicious drink easily at home. Check out additional health benefits of water kefir!

Health benefits of kefir:

• Due to the beneficial bacteria, kefir is helpful for the immune system and supports a good bacterial balance in the gut
• Water kefir is high in antioxidant activity which can protect against cell damage caused by free radicals
• May be helpful for those with diabetes mellitus to control glucose and lipid levels
• High in probiotics, kefir may be a beneficial beverage for supporting mental wellbeing
• L. kefiri (one of the active beneficial bacteria in kefir) is antimicrobial and has good probiotic benefits, inhibiting pathogens
• Appears to be anti-carcinogenic and may have therapeutic benefit for both healthy and ill adults
• Those who are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy can drink and enjoy this probiotic drink which is comparable to milk kefir without the adverse effects of a dairy allergy or intolerance.

How to make water kefir

I have to say water kefir is my favorite when it comes to home-made because it’s so quick and simple.

1. Dissolve 1/3 cup sugar with filtered warm water in a clean one-quart glass jar. I like to use turbinado or rapadura sugars because they are not stripped of all their nutrients.
2. Add water kefir grains (about 1 to 2 tablespoons).
3. Cover jar with a plastic lid, fermentation cap, or clean dish towel.
4. Place jar out of direct sunlight.
5. Let sit for 24 to 30 hours or to your taste. (If you aren’t sure how it should taste, try some from someone else’s batch)
6. Strain the water kefir grains from liquid.
7. Do a secondary fermentation by adding something to provide some flavor – I like ginger so I add 5-10 slices of freshly peeled ginger. Another option is a few mint leaves. Cap and let sit on the counter for 24 hours.
8. Strain out flavorings, transfer the liquid to another one-quart glass jar and save in the fridge to start drinking
9. Start the process all over with your strained grains.

A few more notes:

• Don’t worry about the sugar as it’s mostly used up during the fermentation process
• Your kefir grains will actually start to grow so you can share them with friends – getting grains from a friend is a good way to get started
• The grains sort of look like very baby cauliflower florets and should be kept cool when not being used

For those of you who would like to try making kombucha or water kefir at home Kombucha Kampis a great resource.  You can get kombucha mother cultures, grains for both milk or dairy kefir plus an assortment of equipment that makes your beverage making better.  

[expand title="Sources"] 

• Alsayadi, M., Al jawfi, Y., Belarbi, M., and Sabri, F. (Jun/Jul 2013) Antioxidant potency of water kefir. Journal of Microbiology, biotechnology and Food Sciences. Vol. 2, Iss 6.
• Cai, Y., Sounderrajan, A., and Serventi, L. (May 27, 2020). Water kefir: a review of its microbiological profile, antioxidant potential and sensory quality. ACTA Scientific Nutritional Health, Vol 4, Issue 6 June.
• Moretti, A., Moure, M., Quinoy, F., Esposito, F., Simonelli, N. Medrano, M., and Leon-Pelaez, A. Water kefir, a fermented beverage containing probiotic microorganisms: from ancient and artisanal manufacture to industrialized and regulated commercialization. Future Foods, Vol 5.
• Pendon, M., Bengoa, A., Iraporda, C., Medrano, M., Garrote, G, and Abraham, A. (25 Nov 2021). Water kefir: factors affecting gran. Growth and health-promoting properties of the fermented beverage.  Journal of Applied Microbiology. 

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