Kombucha 101: Brew and grow your own kombucha!

Kombucha has become a ubiqitous drink associated with health and wellness, but there's so much to explore with brewing and growing your own! Culturing kombucha is a fun and rewarding project, and in this course, we'll walk you through how you can brew your own kombucha at home so that you can take on this task. Everyone in the course will head home with their own starter culture, and we'll show you how to make your culture in two different ways.

But we're a community biology lab, so we're not going to leave it just at growing your own kombucha! We're going to walk you through so much more. We'll have some agar plates so we can explore the microbes that make up our SCOBY. We're going to play around with the SCOBY itself, exploring the materiality of what is made by cellulosic bacteria. What can we make with this gooey blob? What can we make from a potential waste product? Can we turn it into a composite, a leather, or a paper replacement? Let's talk it all out!

You don't need to bring anything to the class other than a desire to learn. We'll provide everyone with some some cultures and everyone will be heading home with some basic material to start growing their own kombucha.

Courses at ChiTownBio are open to everyone, and we believe that working in a biotechnology future should be accessible to all Chicagoans, regardless of race, gender expression, sexual identity, national origin, or any other protected class. Our lab is a space for open and friendly sharing of ideas, and we are all responsible for ensuring everyone feels safe and respected. We are committed to hosting inclusive events, and will not tolerate any actions or attitudes contrary to our deeply held beliefs in inclusivity. By attending this event, you are agreeing to uphold this standard and acknowledge that the organizers reserve the right to restrict attendance.

If you have any concerns about another person's behavior, you may file a report via email with our organization's president Andy Scarpelli ([email protected] ). ChiTownBio is a safe space for all, and we will take precautionary measures or responsive actions to uphold these ideals.

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