Best commercial soap & lotion dispensers according to redditors

You can get pumps that screw on the top of normal threaded gallon containers. Something like this.

It should be fine. I made mine from a bottle of store bought kombucha. It's likely good to err on the side of caution with the first brew (as in, get it started, but don't drink the first batch and check the scoby for mold or other things with the second batch). Avoid any sources of metal in your set up (a sun tea jar or a big ceramic rig used for serving giant bottles of water are good.

If you're completely unfamiliar, I use the ratio of 1 gallon water (tap since you're going to bring it to boil anyways): 1 cup white sugar: 8 bags black tea (steeped for 5 minutes or so). Let it cool to room temperature and pour it into your container without the scoby in the jar (not overtly harmful but it will rip up the scoby somewhat).

There are two camps (not ideological, but practical) for making kombucha, one is continuous brewing and the other is something like individual batches (forget the correct nomenclature). The former, means you use the same fermenting vessel continusouly and the other involves transferring the scoby from a finished batch to a new one (useful if your container doesn't have a spigot).

So, all in all, make sure you have the ingredients for the sugar tea mixture and have a glass/ceramic container you're going to brew the kombucha in (with a towel to cover it and some way to keep it secure--rubber band or what not). If you've got local ethnic marts (especially Asian) you can find really good deals on black tea (I get like 100 bags for $5) that you won't find at most local supermarkets. Cheap white sugar is fine.

When you start getting neck deep in scobys and have no one to give them to, you can certainly toss them in the compost pile, but you can also make a mean vegan jerky out of them, or chewy candies of most any flavor variety.

I've been making kombucha for more than a year, happy to help you with any questions if you want.

I second this idea. Something like this, I have two. I love them!

Plain old Amazon dispenser: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KCP0O9U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the stand it's on is a little end-table from Hobby Lobby (I can't find it on their site, but our local Hobby Lobby always has a few in stock)

I'm on a well so I've been making my own water using this method for a while with success.

I keep this near my brewing station and get 5 gallons of distilled water from Whole Foods as needed. That costs $2 each time. The chemicals per 5 gallon are like $.10, I think, last time I did the math. It's a little work every few weeks, but I let one of my boys "play scientist" mixing it up. It also gives you the freedom to change your recipe.

The capsules seem convenient but you don't know what's in them and you're hamstrung to their recipe. At $1 per gallon it's also more expensive.

Hi NargleEater! Thanks for tip. :) I'm brewing in this "New Wave Enviro Porcelain Water Dispenser" from Amazon. It is advertised as "certified lead-free"; made in China.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KD3R7A0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I had previously purchased a glass continuous brewing vessel online but it broke in shipping. :-/ Where did you purchase your glass vessle? :)