Well, today I started my continuous brew kombucha. I used the quick cool method with the lowered caffeine method and made first a gallon batch of sweet green tea, then a gallon batch of sweet black tea. Here are the steps I took:

1. Boiled a little over 6 cups of water.
2. Poured 2 cups of boiling water into my 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup, then put 6 organic green tea bags in and steeped for about a minute.
3. While the tea was steeping, measured out 1 cup of sugar into the 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup, and poured in 4 cups of boiling water and stirred it gently until all the sugar was dissolved.
4. After one minute of steeping the teabags in the 2 cup measuring cup, I carefully moved them to the sweetened water in the 4 cup measuring cup.
5. Allowed to steep for about 1/2 hour.
6. Poured the 2 cup measuring cup full of green tea into an ice-filled Rubbermaid drink bottle and enjoyed some unsweetened iced green tea.
7. Rinsed the 2 cup measuring cup and then used it to pour 3 quarts of cool water into the continuous brew container (a 2.4 gallon behive shaped jar with a spigot, sitting on a black wire stand).
8. After 1/2 hour, I removed the tea bags from the 4 cup measuring cup, squeezing all of the liquid out that I could without damaging the tea bags.
9. I then poured the 4 cups of sweet green tea into the cool water in the continuous brew container.
10. Repeated steps 1 - 5 with black tea.
11. After the black tea was steeped for 1/2 hour, I removed the tea bags (the same as step 8 above).
12. I poured the 4 cups of sweet black tea into the continuous brew container.
13. Then I used the 4 cup measuring cup to add 3 more quarts of cool water to the continuous brew container.
14. I added one large thick SCOBY that needed a little "pick me up" (from my last batch of kombucha last fall) and one brand new SCOBY I had purchased from NessAlla kombucha at http://store.nessalla.com about 2 weeks earlier. In addition, since the NessAlla SCOBY had produced a nice thick new SCOBY while it was sitting on my kitchen counter, I popped that one in there, too.
15. I poured all the liquid from both the large SCOBY and from the NessAlla SCOBYs into the continuous brew container.
16. Took one of the new,lint-free dish cloths I had purchased from the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago for this very purpose, and used it to cover the jar. Fastened the cover in place with a rubberband.

Now, I am waiting.

Since it will undoubtedly be more than 80 degrees F most of the next 7 days, I will have to keep a close eye on this batch. Around day 5, I will first make some replacement sweetened tea and have it ready. Also on day 5, I will taste test  to see how the brew is coming along. If it seems on schedule for a 7 day finish, I'll bottle 3 (or 4) bottles with ginger root or juice and/or dried fruits. I will replace the same amount of sweetened teas as I had taken out (then make more replacement tea for the next bottling).

I will then let the newly bottled kombucha sit through at least the remaining 2 days - then taste test again. If it's ready, I will refrigerate and subsequently drink it. If not, I'll leave it out for another 2 days and test again. And repeat until the kombucha is right. I will test the kombucha in the main continuous brew container again about 3-4 days after adding the new sweetened tea to see if it's ready again to be bottled. Once I get the timing down, all the articles say I should have a continuous source of kombucha.

I hope this is going to be as "easy" as all the articles say it is supposed to be.

In the meantime, I am thinking I will also create a one gallon standard brewed batch (not continuous brew). If the continuous brew method doesn't work, I sure don't want to be too far behind. Having another brew started will mean I can get back into the swing of things soon enough.

That's all for now. I'll keep writing. All you have to do is keep reading!