This recipe is simple and grape. I mean, great! 😀 If you are trying to convince someone to like kombucha or are trying to get your kids to drink kombucha, this is the recipe for you. The flavor is subtle, mild, and familiar. The color is will be slightly different than the kombucha you start with. I typically use a mix of green and black tea, which comes out slightly golden. The grapes add a haziness to the kombucha, cloudy enough to where it is no longer see-through, with a nice body to it. When you smell it, you get soft, fruity notes with hints of champagne but not overly pungent. The first taste doesn’t overwhelm the taste buds. The thick body provides a silkiness that allows the flavors to linger pleasingly. The grapes somehow subtly and bluntly take over the flavor of the kombucha. You get a gentle and subtle flavor–but it tastes just like grapes. Anything sour goes well with kombucha, so using green grapes a perfect match. They aren’t overly sour as to deter those who aren’t into serious face puckering sourness but are enough to keep it interesting. Grapes are cheap, readily available, and are high in vitamin K.
It’s important to note that brewing homemade kombucha is almost always a two-step fermentation process. Brewing kombucha is only a one-step process for those who prefer an unflavored flat kombucha. Otherwise, the steps consist of a primary fermentation and secondary fermentation.
Since this recipe is for the secondary fermentation, to make this recipe, you’ll need to have kombucha that has finished the primary fermentation and ready to bottle.
This recipe makes one 16-fluid-ounce bottle. A 1-gallon batch of kombucha will make seven 16-ounce bottles, so for one gallon, you will need to multiply the ingredients by 7. Before beginning this recipe, you will need to:
30
30 Green Grapes
1 gallon Fermented Kombucha (reserve 2 or more cups as the starter for your next batch)
6-7 16 OZ Flip top bottles
1 Small strainer
Puree grapes in a blender. If you don’t want to puree them, you can dice them up then plop the pieces into the bottles (this is cleaner, but you may get less flavor).
If you puree, use a funnel to pour the mixture into the bottles.
Fill each bottle with kombucha, leaving about an inch of headspace.
Be sure to leave yourself enough kombucha to use as your starter for the next batch, about 2 cups per gallon.
Tightly place caps on each bottle.
Keep bottles at room temperature for 2-10 days, depending on the temperature of your room! The closer you get to 80F, the better results you’ll have.
Once per day, you’ll want to “burp” the bottles by removing the cap to allow built-up pressure to escape and place the cap back on. As soon as you put the cap back on, the carbonation will begin to build back up, so don’t worry about it getting flat. Try not to skip this or you will have kombucha all over your face and your kitchen when you do go to open it**If you choose to puree the grapes, invert the bottles to incorporate the grape puree BEFORE you burp the bottles. If you skip this, the puree may shoot out at you and is not very pretty.
When you are happy with the flavor and fizziness of your kombucha (2-10days), place bottles in the fridge to chill and halt the fermentation.
