How to make SCOBY from scratch step by step guide: Recipe and tutorial

I have been feeling really energized and lucky that I can make my very own SCOBY at home without any issues. Hopefully this post can help you achieve your health goal as well!

It's really really easy to do. The only thing you need is PATIENCE!! That's it! 

SCOBY stands for symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, meaning a colony of live bacteria and yeast. It is also called tea mushroom, Manchurian mushroom, tea fungus, Combucha and Tschambucco. SCOBY is used to make Kombucha which is a fermented tea beverage. 

If you are a Kombucha fan, like I am, SCOBY normally is the first step before you can make Kombucha. You can start making Kombucha without SCOBY as well. I have chosen to test SCOBY first then Kombucha, the traditional way. 

There are a couple of ways to get SCOBY. You can buy it online or grow your own. I bought a few SCOBYs online but have found lots of issues on product labels and packaging-there's no info about acidity, sugar level, no manufacture location, no company name, no expiration date, etc. Packaging is poor too. You really don't know if what you get is from a reliable source. That was my frustration which turns into a motivation to make my own SCOBY. 

Because SCOBY is a live culture, I need to make sure it's safe to use sanity wise. Online purchase can be an easiest way to get a SCOBY, but there's a huge health risk as well. There's no way to trace those online sales sources as most of them are possibly done at home kitchen. To be safe, I have decided to do it on my own. 

• PATIENCE
• 1 Bottle of Original & RAW Kombucha (any brands should be fine)
• 1 Mason Jar 1 liter
• 1 coffee filter (paper) or cheese cloth. 
• 1 rubber band

Step 1-Clean the Mason Jar and dry it with paper towel. Make sure to wash the mason jar really clean so that it wont get contaminated during the fermentation process. 

Step 2-Open 1 bottle of Original & Raw Kombucha and transfer it to the Mason Jar. When you pour the Kombucha, make sure to do it slowly as it contains carbonation. If you pour too quickly, it may spill. 

Step 3-Cover it with a paper coffee filter or cheese cloth. You can also use a piece of fabric any kind. Make sure to use something breathable. Kombucha needs oxygen to grow SCOBY. Then put the rubber band on to make it tight. 

Step 4-Put the jar in a warm 68-85 F room. Keep it dry and clean so that it wont get mold. Avoid sun lights. You can put it in kitchen cabinet or closet as long as there's no direct sunlight and humidity is low.

Step 5-Waittttttt about at least 2 weeks or longer, you should see a layer of white mushroom like in mason Jar. The thickness you need should be around 1/8 to 1/4 inches.

If you see nothing happens in your mason jar or see mold, you will have to throw it away and start a new one. 

I waited about 16 days and made my first batch KOMBOCHA! It's EXCITING!!! Will write another post about Kombucha once ready!

This size of SCOBY should be big enough for 1 gallon sized Kombucha batch. GET READY!!

• STORAGE-This is very important. It needs to be placed in a place with no direct sunlight, dry, temperature 68-85 F in order to get healthy SCOBY. 
• We have found if the opening is bigger/wider, it's faster to get SCOBY. We did a test by using a glass bowl to grow SCOBY. We compared the results from the glass bowl (with much wider opening) vs mason jar. It seems SCOBY grows faster in the glass bowl that has much wider opening. Wider opening accelerates fermentation process. 

• Avoid using plastic jar, bottle or bowl to make the SCOBY. Plastic material could potential contaminate the batch by releasing chemicals in to the liquid. 

• Should you use flavored Kombucha to make SCOBY or not?

 What do you do when in doubt? TEST IT!! We actually did it. Started on 7/30/17.  We used Gingerale Kombucha to test the idea of using flavored Kombucha to grow SCOBY. So the quick answer is YES. Its doable. Here's how to accelerate it-add some sugar to make the process faster.

For each 16 oz starter tea, you can add 1-1/2 Table spoon sugar to 4 oz hot water. Dissolve sugar completely then cool down the mixture to room temperature. Mix it with Ginger Kombucha starter tea. For our SCOBY made from Gingerale Kombucha, it took us about 20 days to eventually get decent size of SCOBY. 

 Leave your questions in comments below.