Golden Raisin & Spirulina Kombucha Recipe
While this recipe is a definite go-to year-round, due to its deep green color, it makes an excellent choice for St Patricks Day!
Looking for a good way to start your day? How about a healthy glass of golden raisin spirulina kombucha. What is spirulina? Spirulina is dried blue-green algae that are readily available in powdered form in health food stores. Its dense nutritional content and provided health benefits land it at the top of the superfood charts. Spirulina is protein-rich and aids in detoxification, immune health, and increased energy. Also, it will make your kombucha come out a beautiful deep green.
This is a perfect recipe to make for St Patricks Day. Maybe this year, instead of just tossing green food coloring in your beer, you’ll add spirulina instead. At least this way, you’ll get some health benefits, and your body will thank you! After a fun-filled day of drinking or eating junk, ahem, St. Paddy’s Day, your body could use all the help it can get in detoxifying and increasing energy. We also added golden raisins to represent little golden nuggets, and we’ll call it Leprechaun-Bucha ?.
PRIMARY VS SECONDARY FERMENTATION
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.
- Primary Fermentation: The primary fermentation is the first step of the kombucha brewing process. This is where your SCOBY transforms regular sweet tea into the tart and slightly sweet kombucha we love. At the end of this stage, you will have finished kombucha, but it will be flat and unflavored. Have you skipped this step? Then check out our guide on making kombucha at home or our guide on making jun kombucha at home. Traditional kombucha is going to yield a bolder brew, while jun kombucha is milder and a bit more tart.
- Secondary Fermentation: The secondary fermentation is the step where you bottle, carbonate, and flavor your kombucha by the addition of sugar and flavors. This step is essentially adding a bit of sugar/flavor to each airtight bottle and letting it ferment a little longer, allowing the yeast to carbonate the beverage in an airtight environment naturally. How exactly does this happen? See our post on kombucha secondary fermentation here.
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.
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INGREDIENTS
- Kombucha: You need kombucha that has completed primary fermentation and is ready to bottle and flavor.
- Spirulina Powder: This nutrient-rich superfood grows in both fresh and saltwater. You can find it in its powder form at your local health food store or online. Adding this to kombucha will supercharge your brew.
- Golden Raisins: Golden raisins taste better than the typical brown raisin. They’re fruitier, sweeter, and have a touch of tartness that complements this kombucha well.
SECONDARY FERMENTATION PREPARATION
This recipe is for a one-gallon batch of kombucha. Before beginning this recipe, you will want to:
- Reserve 12 – 16 ounces of kombucha and your pellicle from your completed primary fermentation and set aside. It’s best to pour from the top of the brew jar as the bottom will have a much higher yeast concentration. You will use this as your starter for your next gallon batch of kombucha.
- With your kombucha starter tea and SCOBY placed aside, you will now have enough kombucha left to make seven 16 oz bottles. These bottles are the most popular as they are considered the best bottles for kombucha secondary fermentation, but any other airtight bottles will work.
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Golden Raisin Spirulina Kombucha Recipe
Course: kombucha, kombucha recipe, saint patricks day, golden raisin, spirulinaDifficulty: Easy
7
Bottles
10
minutes
1-3 Days
This Golden Raisin Spirulina Kombucha Recipe is for a one-gallon batch. Before bottling your kombucha, remove the SCOBY pellicle along with 12-16 ounces of kombucha starter tea from your brew, and reserve it for your next batch
Ingredients
-
112 Oz Kombucha From Primary Fermentation. 112 oz = one-gallon kombucha minus 16 oz for a future batch. 1* see notes below.
-
6 TBSP Golden Raisins
-
2 TBSP Spirulina Powder
- SUPPLIES
-
7 16 Oz Airtight Bottles
-
Measuring Spoons
-
Blender
Directions
- Using a funnel, add spirulina powder evenly to each bottle.
- Now evenly distribute the golden raisins.
- Fill each bottle with kombucha, leaving about 1 to 2 inches of headspace. Tightly place the caps on each bottle. 2,3* see notes below..
- Keep bottles at room temperature for 2-10 days; it will carbonate faster at higher temperatures and slower when cold.
- Once per day, you’ll want to burp the bottles. This is done by removing the cap to allow built-up pressure to escape then placing the cap back on. As soon as you put the lid back on, the carbonation will begin to build back up, so no worries about it getting flat. Try not to skip this, or you may get kombucha all over your face when you do go to open it or, worse yet, a bottle bomb. 4* see notes below.
- Chill in the refrigerator once you’re happy with the carbonation levels. Based on preference, you can serve as is or strain before drinking.
Notes
- 1: This recipe calls for 7 pints or 112 ounces of kombucha, which is seven 16 oz bottles. This number comes from subtracting a pint, 16 ounces, of starter tea from a gallon, 128 ounces. The 16 ounces taken out will be used to make your next gallon of kombucha.
- 2: After adding ingredients and accounting for is headspace, which varies depending on bottle style, you most likely will not use the full 112 ounces. All unbottled remaining kombucha, as long as it isn’t flavored, can be added back to the 16 ounces previously set aside for our next batch.
- 3: Now that your brewing vessel is empty, store the reserved kombucha starter tea and SCOBY in your jar and cover until you are ready to brew your next batch. When you’re ready to brew, simply top off with sweet tea.
- First-time brewers may find it helpful to substitute a glass bottle for a plastic bottle of equal size. Fill the plastic bottle as directed above, leaving 1-2 inches of empty headspace at the top. This plastic bottle will now be used as a pressure gauge. Once this bottle becomes rock solid, you will know the remaining are ready. This method can help prevent bottle bombs.
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