How to make kombucha at home with your own hands: how to put and grow, photo, video

Kombucha can be grown on the basis of an adult medusomycete, and from scratch from simple ingredients. Despite its name, the mushroom grows not only from classic tea leaves – there are quite a few recipes according to which it can actually be created.

Is it possible to grow kombucha from scratch

You can create a tea jellyfish not only from a small piece of an adult mushroom. The product is successfully grown from scratch, although this can take much longer. And yet, in the absence of a ready-made jellyfish, just a few simple ingredients are enough to grow a full-fledged kombucha with your own hands.

How tea fungus is born

Tea jellyfish can be found under many names – it is called a mushroom, kombucha, zooglea, medosumycete, tea kvass or Japanese mushroom. But the essence of the product remains the same.

The fungus is a living organism obtained by the fusion of yeast and acetic acid bacteria. It is born independently on the surface of the infusion with the appropriate composition – the basis is a moderately sweet drink. Yeast fungi use sucrose as a nutrient substrate for the development of jellyfish – if you make kombucha at home according to all the rules, it will develop into a substance with pronounced medicinal properties.

Outwardly, the tea jellyfish is a thin slippery pancake

How long does kombucha grow

If you try to grow a product from a ready-made piece, then very little time will pass before the appearance of an adult organism – only about a week.

However, if the cultivation occurs from scratch, then the wait will be much longer. Kombucha grows in this case for a couple of months. So much time it will take him to turn from a thin film on the surface of the liquid into a dense organism resembling a jellyfish.

How to grow kombucha from scratch at home

To create a useful organism in your bank, it is not necessary to look for friends who are also passionate about breeding jellyfish. There are several ways to grow kombucha with recipes – all you need is a few basic ingredients and a little patience to get the result.

How to grow kombucha from tea leaves

The classic way to grow tea jellyfish is to use regular tea leaves and sugar. The recipe looks like this:

• a large jar is selected for the body, usually 3 liters, and sterilized;
• then tea is brewed at a very low concentration – only 2 small spoons of dry tea leaves for a liter of liquid;
• 3 large spoons of sugar are added to the tea and stirred until the grains are completely dissolved.

After that, the infusion is filtered and the jar is filled to 2/3 of its volume, and then cleaned in a warm, dark place for a week. After this period, a thin film of the future fungus should appear on the surface of the sweet base, and it will take about 1,5 months for the body to fully develop.

How to grow kombucha from rose hips

You can prepare the product not only with the help of tea, but also on the basis of herbal infusion of wild rose. According to the recipe, you need:

• for 5 days, keep rose hips in a thermos, filled with hot water at the rate of 500 ml per 4 large spoons of berries;
• pour herbal infusion into a sterile large jar;
• brew 1 small spoonful of black tea in a glass of boiling water and pour the resulting drink to the wild rose;
• add 5 large spoons of granulated sugar and mix well.

You need to put kombucha at home in a warm and dark place, covering the neck of the jar with gauze. After about 1,5 months, you can get a formed organism.

A mushroom organism can be grown not only from tea leaves, but also on herbal infusion

How to Grow Kombucha from Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar can serve as a breeding ground for the fungus – provided that the product is completely natural. Growing a jellyfish is quite simple, for this you need:

• for a couple of months, remove the bottle of vinegar in a warm place without direct sunlight;
• after the expiration of the period, make sure that a cloudy precipitate has formed at its bottom;
• decant the vinegar, and then mix it with a regular sweetened tea base;
• for another 2 weeks, put in a dark place for infusion.

Soon, a young jellyfish will begin to emerge in the infusion, and it will have not only numerous useful properties, but also a pleasant smell.

How to grow kombucha from a piece

The easiest way is to grow kombucha from scratch step by step from a finished piece – if someone you know also grows mushroom jellyfish, then there will be no problems getting a piece.

A standard tea solution is prepared for a piece – a couple of small spoons of dry tea leaves and 40 g of sweetener are diluted in a liter of hot water. Warm liquid is poured into a clean jar, and then a piece of mushroom is placed there and the mouth of the container is covered with gauze.

You can grow a tea jellyfish from a piece in just a week. If it is possible to get a piece of medusomycete, then it is recommended to use this method.

How to grow kombucha at home from apple juice or apples

In addition to apple cider vinegar, you can make kombucha using apple juice – it has similar properties. About 500 ml of juice is poured into a jar and put under gauze in the dark and warm for 1,5 months. After this time, a thin medusomycete will naturally appear on the surface of the juice, it will need to be carefully removed, washed and placed in a standard nutrient medium from tea leaves.

You can grow a useful jellyfish from fresh apples like this:

• a few sour apples are grated along with the core to get 400 g of puree;
• in a glass jar, apple gruel is poured into 1,5 liters of cool clean water;
• add 150 g of high-quality honey, preferably liquid, and 15 g of yeast;
• mix the ingredients and clean for 10 days in a dark place.

Every day, the mixture must be stirred at least once, and after the expiration of the period, the leaven is removed, placed in a clean linen bag and squeezed properly. The resulting juice is poured into another jar, its neck is covered with gauze and the future mushroom organism is removed to infuse for 2 months.

How to grow kombucha from live beer

A non-standard recipe that allows you to grow a tea jellyfish suggests using alcoholic beverages instead of tea. The mixture is prepared like this:

• to 100 ml of high-quality beer that has not undergone the pasteurization process, add 2 small spoons of sour wine;
• dilute 1 small spoonful of sugar in liquid;
• the components are mixed and cleaned for several days in a dark and warm corner, covering the glass container with gauze.

A film of the future fungus will appear on the surface of the workpiece in a week. After the mushroom grows, it can be removed and relocated to a permanent place in ordinary tea.

Even beer is allowed to create a mushroom jellyfish

How to grow kombucha in a jar at home

Fans of mushroom kvass will be interested to learn not only unusual recipes for growing jellyfish, but also the basic rules for keeping the fungus. Maintaining a healthy tea jellyfish is not difficult – you need to follow only the basic recommendations.

What does kombucha look like at the beginning of cultivation

At the very beginning of cultivation, domestic tea jellyfish bear little resemblance to the final product that can be seen in the photographs. The young jellyfish is just a thin dark film on the surface of the nutrient solution.

It takes about 2-3 months for the body to grow – towards the end of this period, the fungus becomes like a thick, slimy pancake.

Which side of the tea fungus to put in a jar

In order to successfully start kombucha, it should be borne in mind that it has an upper and lower side, and they are not the same. The top of the kombucha is lighter, with a smooth surface, and the bottom is dark, uneven, with processes and bulges.

It is necessary to immerse the mushroom in the nutrient liquid with the bottom side. Otherwise, he will not be able to fully grow and develop.

Where should kombucha stand in the house

Most drinks are usually kept in the refrigerator. However, the tea jellyfish is a living developing organism, so the cold is most often contraindicated for it. A jar of mushroom must be kept in a shaded and warm place with a stable temperature not exceeding 25 ° C. Only the finished drink obtained from under the mushroom is put in the refrigerator, but not the jellyfish itself.

After being removed from the refrigerator in fresh tea infusion, the mushroom will quickly come to life again.

A jar with a mushroom organism is not recommended to be kept in the light

A few recipes for making kombucha

At home, mushroom jellyfish can be grown in many ways. Depending on the chosen recipe, the finished mushroom acquires additional valuable properties.

The proportions of the main ingredients, how to properly put kombucha

Almost any recipe for growing mushroom jellyfish suggests using the same proportions. Usually, to create a mushroom, they take:

• about 2-2,5 liters of water, initially zooglea can be grown in only 500 ml of liquid, however, the fungus grows rapidly, so the solution is gradually added to the final volume anyway;
• a few tablespoons of sugar, their exact amount varies depending on the volume of liquid, but on average, only 1 large spoons of sweetener are added per 3 liter of solution;
• 2 small spoons of dry brew for 1 liter of liquid, mushroom jellyfish prefer weak brew, so there should be little tea.

Even if it is planned to grow the mushroom right away in a large 3-liter jar, it should be filled with water by about 2/3. There should be space between the mushroom and the neck.

Traditional recipe

The basic recipe for growing zooglea suggests using a simple tea solution and sugar. Tea to create a mushroom jellyfish is taken black, without additives and flavors, and the algorithm looks like this:

• tea leaves are poured with boiling water at the rate of 2 teaspoons of raw materials per liter of liquid;
• sugar is added to the filtered solution – 3 large spoons for each liter;
• the liquid is stirred properly, cover the neck of the container with gauze and put it in a dark place.

It takes about 15 minutes to brew tea before adding sugar.

On green tea

You can grow a mushroom organism on green tea – many consider this infusion to be more useful, rich in antioxidants and flavonoids. The growing recipe is very similar to the previous one:

• 2-3 small spoons of green leaf tea are poured with a liter of hot water;
• let the tea brew for about 15 minutes, after which it is filtered from the tea leaves;
• 3-4 large spoons of granulated sugar fall asleep and the infusion is stirred properly, and then poured into a glass vessel.

The container with the neck covered with gauze is cleaned in a warm place and in the dark, for example, in a closed kitchen cabinet. After about 25 days, a thin substance similar to a jellyfish will appear on the surface of the solution. This will be a young mushroom organism.

On the grass

A mushroom organism grown on a herbal infusion can constantly supply a drink with pronounced soothing, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic properties at home. The specific features of mushroom kvass will depend on the selected medicinal herbs. You can grow a mushroom on rose hips and chamomile, on linden and on St. John’s wort, on plantain and on multi-component herbal preparations.

You can dilute kombucha on herbs like this:

• about 200 g of dried herbs are poured into 3 liters of boiled water;
• leave the decoction to infuse all night, and filter in the morning;
• dilute sugar in the resulting infusion in a standard amount – 3 tablespoons per 1 liter of liquid;
• cover the container with permeable gauze and put it in heat and darkness for several weeks.

Mushroom jellyfish on herbs is characterized not only by numerous healing properties, but also by a very pleasant taste and aroma.

Herbal medusomycete has increased medicinal benefits

On honey

Traditionally, sugar is used to create a sweet solution, but putting kombucha at home, if desired, is real and on honey. The standard recipe is slightly different:

• as usual, black or green tea leaves are poured with 2-2,5 liters of hot water;
• then natural liquid honey is added to the strained tea – only 50 ml per 1 liter of liquid;
• you also need to add granulated sugar to the infusion – no more than 2 large spoons per liter.

The mushroom is grown according to this recipe in the usual way. It is believed that honey enriches the tea jellyfish with biologically active substances and microelements, and the drink from the finished jellyfish has strong antibacterial properties.

On the carnival

Hibiscus tea is valued for its wonderful aroma, pleasant refreshing taste and numerous medicinal properties. Hibiscus is well suited for growing zooglea, and the algorithm is as follows:

• half a glass of dry tea leaves of hibiscus is poured into a 3-liter jar and poured into 2,5 liters of warm, but not hot water;
• the drink is insisted throughout the night, and in the morning the finished infusion of ruby ​​​​color is filtered and poured into another jar of similar size;
• 5-6 large spoons of granulated sugar are added to the infusion and mixed until the grains are completely dissolved.

Next, you need to act according to the standard algorithm. A container with a nutrient solution from hibiscus is covered with gauze so that the infusion can “breathe”, and cleaned in a dark and warm place until the first film of the fungus appears.

How to grow kombucha at home

Achieving the appearance of a medusa mycete in a nutrient solution is quite simple. However, even after that, you need to follow the rules for growing the mushroom, otherwise it will not be possible to use it to get a healthy drink for long:

1. It is necessary to properly put Kombucha. Keep the container in the house in a warm place, but not in the sun. Direct ultraviolet rays are harmful to the body.
2. A jar with a mushroom organism cannot be closed with a lid – the fungus needs oxygen, without which it will stop developing and die.
3. From time to time, the solution in a container with a growing mushroom organism must be changed. Usually they do this once a week – ready-made “kvass” from under the jellyfish is drained and consumed, and the body itself is poured with a fresh solution.
4. When changing the solution, the mushroom is washed in clean water – carefully so as not to damage its delicate structure.

Even if mushroom kvass is temporarily not consumed as a drink, it is still necessary to renew the solution in the jar. The acidity level of the infusion rises over time, and the solution, if not changed, begins to corrode the body of the medusa mycete itself.

Mushroom jellyfish in a jar need to create special conditions

Why kombucha does not grow and what to do

Sometimes the thin body of a medusomycete does not want to appear on the surface of the nutrient solution, and sometimes it adds in thickness very slowly and practically does not grow. The reasons are the violation of growing conditions. The body will not grow if:

• leave the jar of infusion in a brightly lit place, in which case only blue-green algae will appear inside the container over time;
• clog the container with a lid – this will block the access of air, and the mushroom organism will not be able to develop;
• violate the temperature regime or leave the jar in a room with poor air quality, in which case mold will quickly appear on the surface of the infusion, but it will be difficult to see the tea jellyfish under it.

It is equally harmful to keep a young medusa mycete in an oxidizing infusion as it is to change the nutrient medium too often. In the first case, the increasing acidity of the solution will corrode the fungus itself, and in the second case, the medusa mycete simply will not have time to take root in the nutrient medium.

Conclusion

You can grow kombucha with your own hands without even having a piece of an adult medusomycete. There are many recipes for growing an organism. The main thing is to adhere to the basic rules that provide mushroom jellyfish with fast and healthy growth.