Kombucha: Water Sources

[morningglory]

So what kind of water CAN you use for kombucha ?  The Laurel Farms instructions said distilled water.  Wal-Mart has been out for the past two weeks, but they still have the spring water and filtered water.  Makes me wonder if I have fellow kombuchers in my town !  Even Kroger's was almost out of the distilled water, and I need to make tea tonight or tomorrow.  I'm only on my second batch, so I guess I'm still alittle overprotective of my babies.  They look so nice and healthy, I would hate to kill them.  Besides, I've already got 4 requests for SCOBYs .

[4myhoonie]

So what kind of water CAN you use for kombucha ?  The Laurel Farms instructions said distilled water.  Wal-Mart has been out for the past two weeks, but they still have the spring water and filtered water.  Makes me wonder if I have fellow kombuchers in my town !  Even Kroger's was almost out of the distilled water, and I need to make tea tonight or tomorrow.  I'm only on my second batch, so I guess I'm still alittle overprotective of my babies.  They look so nice and healthy, I would hate to kill them.  Besides, I've already got 4 requests for SCOBYs .

i think the main thing is not to have any chlorine in it.  my mom used to make distilled water by leaving reg. water out for 24 hours uncovered.

[lotsaboys]

We always use our good country well water and have very healthy scobys and great kombucha.

[amazonmama2five]

I second the well water.  I believe boiling for 5 minutes purifies the water sufficiently.  We have never had any problems with bad Bucha or mold on the SCOBY.  We just use our well water.
Lisa

[morningglory]

We have city water, unfortunately.  I might try a batch with just bolied tap water, but I have no idea what kinds of junk are in our water besides chlorine .  I don't know if boiling would get rid of other chemicals that are harmful to the kombucha .  If it does, I'm going to start boiling all of our drinking water too.  Anybody know if boiled city water is okay for kombucha-ing?  And how long would I boil it if it is?

[Whiterock]

The spring water from the grocery store is fine.
WR

[violet7]

Would it be okay to also use the water from the Berkley light? I am sick of buying gallons of water and want to get one of these. But I am wondering also if it can be use for Kombucha. We have city water and I don't like it, yuck! I also don't want to kill my first scoby.

[Nickole]

Would it be okay to also use the water from the Berkley light? I am sick of buying gallons of water and want to get one of these. But I am wondering also if it can be use for Kombucha. We have city water and I don't like it, yuck! I also don't want to kill my first scoby.

We use our water from our Berkey system.  That's some GOOD water!