What the app teaches
The articles inside Kombrewcha, what they cover, and why safety is the first thing in the app rather than an appendix.
Kombrewcha is a tracker with a library attached. The articles are written to be read at the counter with a jar in front of us, short enough to finish while the kettle boils, and they all read with no connection.
They live inside the app. This page describes them.
Where to start
The app opens Learn on a single article, Your first batch, start to finish, because a first brew does not need a curriculum. It needs one page that covers an empty jar through to the first glass, including the steps people rush.
Everything else is there when a question comes up.
Basics
The largest group, and the one most first brews draw on.
- What kombucha is, and where it came from
- The part that becomes a craft: tea, temperature and timing
- Finding a first SCOBY, including growing one from a bottle off the shelf
- What a healthy SCOBY looks like, and why most of what looks wrong is not
- The water, the tea and the sugar, and the swaps that quietly stall a batch
- Where to keep the jar
- Sweet tea ratios that work
Brewing
Running a SCOBY brew and knowing when to stop.
- Setting up a first SCOBY brew
- Reading a SCOBY as it grows
- Temperature and timing
- Tasting, and knowing when it is done
Flavor and fizz
The second stage, where carbonation comes from.
- Bottling a flavor run without guesswork
- Flavoring with fruit, herbs and spice
- Carbonation, pressure, and bottles that are safe to seal
Fixing it
- Troubleshooting a slow ferment
- Storing and pausing a culture
Safety comes first, not last
The safety article is the one piece of the library that is not filed away. It has a permanent entry point on the Learn screen and is reachable from every part of the app.
It covers what to check before drinking a batch.
- Cleaning and sanitizing equipment
- Starter liquid, and starting acidity
- The temperature range, and where to put the jar
- Identifying mold, and discarding a batch
- Bottle pressure, and bottles that are safe for a flavor run
Most of what looks alarming in a jar is normal. Brown strands hanging under the surface are the culture working. A pale, bumpy, holey new layer is a fresh SCOBY forming. Mold is the exception, it looks unmistakably different from both, and it is the one thing that ends a batch.
Kombrewcha cannot inspect a jar and does not judge whether a batch is safe to drink. The article states what to look for. The judgment is ours.
Where the numbers come from
The suggested durations in the app are researched rather than guessed, and we review the sources in public. Our reviews of published brewing guides and food safety references are at Brewing Community Reads.