It actually worked! The mixture tasted fantastic and had a great amount of tang, similar to store-bought ‘buch. I figured it was time to bottle it for the second round of fermentation so it can carbonate over the next week or so.

I picked up some glass bottles at Home Goods, which seal well -you don’t want air to escape in the bottling process- for $6.99 each.

It’s hard to tell from the picture, but they’re fairly large bottles; I could have poured almost the entire 8 cup batch into one.

I washed the bottles, then added grated ginger and orange juice to one, while leaving the other plain.

To each bottle, I also added a handful of dried cranberries. I read online that adding a little bit of dried fruit feeds the bacteria and helps it to carbonate more quickly. We’ll see what happens! I already have my second batch fermenting away. I also have the baby scoby in the fridge with some starter liquid, if any of my work or Tucson friends want to start some kombucha of their own. 😉

Last night, I also went to the gym to get in my training run. I would have loved to do it outside, but it’s been in the 90s and I didn’t want to take Liv out in the heat for that long, especially since we’d already been playing outside and went for an afternoon swim. Instead, I blasted some music on the treadmill and got in 5 miles. I’m training for my November half, which seems pretty far away, but I’m not going to bump up my mileage until August. For now, I’ll keep it in a 4-6 mile range with some speedwork in there.