Kombucha brewing guide
Dial the base recipe before chasing flavor tweaks
Use the calculator for exact ingredient amounts, then use this guide to set sugar, starter, and timing decisions in the right order for repeatable first fermentation.
A practical starting band for first fermentation recipe planning.
Use enough acidic starter tea to protect the batch early.
Timing shifts with temperature, sugar load, and starter strength.
Keep per-liter values constant when scaling. If your sugar target is 70 g/L and your batch is 3 L, total sugar is 210 g.
Set your base recipe first
Start with batch size, sugar, tea strength, and starter percentage. This gives you a clean baseline before flavoring decisions.
Use the result as your production formula and tune one variable at a time in later batches.
Use sugar as your primary fermentation dial
Higher sugar inputs usually extend the tasting window and leave more room for acidity development over time.
Lower sugar batches can finish faster and taste drier, so measure consistently and adjust in small steps.
Starter percentage controls risk and speed
Using enough acidic starter tea lowers pH early, which protects your batch and helps the culture take over quickly.
When room temperature is cooler, a slightly higher starter percentage can help keep fermentation moving steadily.
Use temperature to estimate 1F timing
Warmer rooms ferment faster and can overshoot acidity quickly. Cooler rooms slow fermentation and usually need longer windows.
Taste checkpoints matter more than exact day counts, so use timing as a guide, not an absolute.
Keep ratios stable when scaling
When moving from small to larger batches, keep tea, sugar, and starter ratios consistent first.
Then adjust based on taste and pH logs so your process stays predictable from batch to batch.
Safety checks before bottling
Taste for balance and verify your batch is clearly acidic before moving to second fermentation.
If a batch smells off, shows dry fuzzy growth, or lacks acidity, discard it and restart with fresh starter tea.
Free download
Download the free Kombucha Brewing Schedule
One printable sheet for all four calculators: 1F targets, sugar planning, scaling, and 2F prep.