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Four steps, one of which is waiting. Here is the whole process with the numbers that actually matter, and nothing that does not.
By Scooter M.·Published September 1, 2026
The short answer
Brew a gallon of strong sweet tea, cool it completely, add a culture with about 12 oz of starter tea, cover with cloth, and leave it at 75 to 85 F for seven to fourteen days. Hold back a tenth for the next batch, bottle the rest with a little fruit, and leave the bottles sealed for one to five days if you want it fizzy.
Six things, and two of them are in most kitchens already. A one-gallon wide-mouth glass jar, a tight-weave cloth and a rubber band, a live culture with starter tea, plain black tea, plain white cane sugar, and — for the second stage — bottles that can hold pressure. The full equipment checklist covers what is genuinely required against what is merely sold.
Two more that are not required and are worth having on day one: pH strips and an adhesive temperature strip. Between them they diagnose the only two things that commonly go wrong.
| Ingredient | Quantity | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Water | About 14 cups | Filtered or left to stand. Chlorine suppresses the culture. |
| Plain white cane sugar | 1 cup | Ordinary granulated. Not honey, not a sweetener. |
| Black tea | 8 bags or 2 tbsp loose | True tea only. Herbal infusions are not tea. |
| Starter tea | About 12-13 oz | Roughly 10 percent of the batch. Published rule. |
| Culture | 1 pellicle | Optional in principle, standard in practice. |
The starter tea figure is the one people get wrong. Fermentaholics publishes the rule outright — ten percent of batch size — and ships 12 fl oz with its gallon culture, which against 128 oz is 9.4 percent. Why starter tea matters more than the disc.
1. Brew the tea. Bring about four cups of water to the boil, take it off the heat, and steep the tea for ten to fifteen minutes. Remove the tea, stir in the sugar until it fully dissolves, then top up with the remaining cold water.
2. Cool it completely. This is the step people rush and it is the one that kills cultures. The tea must be at room temperature — genuinely, not "warm" — before the culture goes anywhere near it. Topping up with cold water does most of the work; give it an hour to finish.
3. Add the culture and its starter tea. All of the liquid, then the pellicle. It may float, sink or sit at an angle. None of that means anything.
4. Cover and wait. Cloth and a band, never a lid — the first fermentation is aerobic and the culture needs air. Covers and lids. Put it somewhere warm, dark and undisturbed, away from bins and fruit bowls.
5. Start tasting on day seven. Draw a small sample, taste it, and test the pH. Sweet means it needs longer; sharply sour means you have gone past your preference. Somewhere between 3.0 and 3.5 suits most people.
6. Bottle, holding back the starter. Reserve about 13 oz plus the pellicle for the next batch. Bottle the rest. How to bottle kombucha.
A kit if you own nothing, the strips that answer the safety question, and bottles — because no kit includes them and the batch will be ready in a fortnight.
Fermentaholics
Twelve fluid ounces of mature starter tea with the pellicle, measured against the maker’s own published ten percent rule — the fullest kit of the group.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
Micro Essential Lab
A 0.0 to 6.0 range in 0.5 steps, which puts four separate color matches inside the 2.5 to 3.5 window kombucha lives in — a 1-to-14 strip gives you one.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
EZ Cap
The only bottle here with a published pressure rating — 100 PSI — in amber glass, which is the combination a second ferment actually asks for.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
The first is open to the air under a cloth. The culture needs oxygen, and the carbon dioxide it produces simply escapes. This is where the sourness comes from, and it is not supposed to be fizzy.
The second is sealed, in a bottle, with a little fruit or juice for the yeast to work on. Now the gas cannot escape, so it dissolves into the liquid, and that is the carbonation. It is entirely optional — kombucha from the first fermentation is a finished drink, just a flat one. Second fermentation.
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Ranked on the published rubric. Every row jumps to that product's full write-up below; the button goes straight to Amazon.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Score8.0 Fermentaholics Complete Kombucha Brewing Starter Kit (1 Gallon) Twelve fluid ounces of mature starter tea with the pellicle, measured against the maker’s own published ten percent rule — the fullest kit of the group. | The most measured starter tea | 8.0out of 10 | |
| 2 | Score8.5 Fermentaholics Organic Kombucha SCOBY with 12 fl oz Starter Tea A hand-selected pellicle with twelve fluid ounces of mature starter tea, measured against the maker’s own published ten percent rule for a gallon. | A one-gallon first batch | 8.5out of 10 | |
| 3 | Score8.8 Micro Essential Lab Hydrion 9200 Spectral pH Strips, 0.0-6.0 A 0.0 to 6.0 range in 0.5 steps, which puts four separate color matches inside the 2.5 to 3.5 window kombucha lives in — a 1-to-14 strip gives you one. | Reading kombucha’s actual pH band | 8.8out of 10 | |
| 4 | Score8.3 EZ Cap Swing Top Bottles, Amber Glass, 16 oz (Case of 12) The only bottle here with a published pressure rating — 100 PSI — in amber glass, which is the combination a second ferment actually asks for. | Second ferment, one serving at a time | 8.3out of 10 |
#1 · The most measured starter tea
Twelve fluid ounces of mature starter tea with the pellicle, measured against the maker’s own published ten percent rule — the fullest kit of the group.
Who it is for. Someone who wants the culture to be the strongest part of the kit rather than the jar.
Source: Fermentaholics published kit contents and culture specification, fermentaholics.com/product/the-complete-kombucha-brewing-starter-kit/, retrieved 2026-09-01
Skip it if. You want to bottle at the end of week one. Nothing here holds pressure; budget for swing-top bottles at the same time.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
#2 · A one-gallon first batch
A hand-selected pellicle with twelve fluid ounces of mature starter tea, measured against the maker’s own published ten percent rule for a gallon.
Who it is for. Anyone starting a standard one-gallon batch who wants the starter tea measured for them.
Source: Fermentaholics published SCOBY specification (12 fl oz starter tea, 1-gallon dosing, ingredients, certifications) and its published 10 percent starter rule, retrieved 2026-09-01
Skip it if. You are brewing half a gallon. Buy the half-gallon version instead; a gallon’s worth of starter in a half-gallon batch drives the acidity too far, too fast.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
#3 · Reading kombucha’s actual pH band
A 0.0 to 6.0 range in 0.5 steps, which puts four separate color matches inside the 2.5 to 3.5 window kombucha lives in — a 1-to-14 strip gives you one.
Who it is for. Every kombucha brewer. This is the cheapest instrument on the site and the one that answers the safety question.
Source: Micro Essential Lab published product specification (range, 0.5 graduations, 100 strips per vial, packaging), microessentiallab.com/product/hydrion-9200-spectral-0-0-6-0-plastic-ph-strip, fetched 2026-09-01. Strip length from retailer listings.
Skip it if. You need a number to one decimal place for a written record. Buy a calibrated pH meter; strips are for reading a band, not a value.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
#4 · Second ferment, one serving at a time
The only bottle here with a published pressure rating — 100 PSI — in amber glass, which is the combination a second ferment actually asks for.
Who it is for. Anyone doing a second ferment who wants a bottle with a number behind it rather than a shape that looks strong.
Source: MoreBeer published EZ Cap product specification (capacity, pressure rating, case contents, crown cap compatibility), morebeer.com/products/ez-cap-swing-top-bottles-amber-glass-16-oz-case-12, fetched 2026-09-01
Skip it if. You want to see the color of the finished drink. Amber hides it; the clear version of the same bottle does not.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
Every specification cited on this page came from one of these documents, retrieved on the date shown against the product it belongs to.
The recipe, the timeline, the failures and the safety questions — answered directly, in the order a home brewer meets them.
A day-by-day account of a first batch — what you should see, what alarms people and is fine, and when to start tasting.
Which teas work and which damage a culture over time, why herbal infusions are not tea, and the ratios for a one-gallon batch.
The complete equipment checklist, split into required, useful and skippable — with the sizes and materials that actually matter.
What the second ferment is, how much sugar to add, how long it takes, and how to know when to refrigerate without opening every bottle.