MilieuxMake is happy to announce as part of the winter 2021 line-up, the first in a series of BioLab@Home Workshops, where we will begin to look at using the kitchen as a safe bio-research space, introducing methods of material-creation, adapted for the home.

Fermentation is a transformational and dynamic metabolic process that is intimately tied to the life cycles and environmental conditions of microorganisms.

After a brief introduction to fermentation techniques and theory, and a discussion of some of the research projects that have come out of the Milieux Speculative Life BioLab, we will give a live kitchen demo showing the process for creating — and caring for — your own kombucha cultures. We will close with a discussion of how to expand and adapt the techniques demonstrated to produce larger works and bio-materials.

Participants who can safely obtain the required ingredients on their own will have the opportunity to follow along in real time. A finalized list of ingredients will be made available to those who wish to follow along a week before the workshop.

• Black tea bags
• White sugar
• Kombucha (either store-bought or from a friend’s homebrew, ideally raw and unflavoured)
• Measuring cups 
• Large glass jar (ideally, 2L or larger)
• Tightly woven cloth (such as, tea towel or coffee filter)
• String or elastic band

Fermenting Kombucha @ Home

Large-scale Kombucha Cellulose Fabrication

* This workshop is open to members of all Milieux research clusters and groups.
** Registration is required! Please email: marc.beaulieu@concordia.ca to register for this workshop, including ‘Kombucha’ in the subject line.