Thankfully no one walked into my office as I worked on phase 2 of kombucha brewing: FLAVORING and BOTTLING. That might have been awkward to explain… It's been brewing for 10 days and tastes about right (I think), nice balance of sweetness and vinegar. I took the SCOBY out along with 2 cups of kombucha for the next batch.
FLAVORING: Since I make my own ginger ale (more on that in another post), I already have homemade ginger syrup on hand along with some lemons - it was easy go to first choice of flavoring. I went with 2 Tbsp ginger syrup and 1 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice.
BOTTLING: I scrounged up a few plastic bottles from the recycling (the blog instructions that I'm using recommends plastic for the first couple time since it's easier to tell when it's fully carbonated, I plan to switch to glass later) and bought a filter at the auto shop (it was convenient since I was already there for engine oil). The tricky part of bottling was pouring from the gallon size jar (not easy to maneuver) into a filter with a mesh filter inside.
The bottles need 1-3 days to carbonate before they're ready to drink and I'm excited to see how the first batch turns out!
