I recently started brewing Kombucha and one thing I noted is how they tell you it's required to do open vessel fermentation. The main reason why I am asking is because I wanted to ferment it under pressure in a keg, but based on what I can read - that's not advised as it can kill the scoby. So what's the difference why beer can be fermented under pressure and Kombucha can't?

Does anyone know how they manage to stop all these (naturally) fermented drinks sold commercially from fermenting once they are bottled? I’ve seen kombucha bottles coming from another part of the world sold in local large supermarkets. Even assuming ideal transport conditions (cold temps) how can they maintain alcohol levels low enough? Do they treat them thermally or chemically? I know a refrigerator helps slow down the fermentation process but even so, my ginger ale keeps fermenting at 2 Celsius …

I am in the process of making my third batch of Kombucha and ingredients that I have used were Darjeeling Black Tea Darjeeling Green Tea SCOBY (of course) Note: i haven't flavored yet Now, the issue is for my third batch I am a little worried about the health of my SCOBY as when today (after exactly 7 days ) when I opened the jar to check on it, i suspected small green area near the circumferences of my SCOBY. …

I have been brewing Kombucha for about two years. I tried growing a few Scobys in small jars to give to friends, but I noticed that the liquid in the jars, which should have been mature Kombucha an taste very sour was instead neither sour nor sweet. The Scoby on top has grown but I am worried about the potential lack of acetic acid and how this affects the culture.

I've been having luck brewing kombucha this past year and am interested in trying out ginger beer since I have been lead to believe the processes are quite similar (besides the 1 way valve for 1F). Whenever I've brewed kombucha I've stopped 2F after 3-5 days simply by putting the bottles in the fridge. However, I've read a few instructionals on ginger beer that recommend pasteurizing. Is there a difference with a ginger beer bacterial culture (vs a SCOBY for …

I recently bought an inexpensive little hydrometer in the goal of roughly measuring the alcohol and sugar content of my home-brewed kombucha. I didn't think too hard about the methodology of this process until it actually came with its instructions. In the end (if I understand it correctly), it seems that the process of estimating alcohol/sugar content via comparison of starting and ending specific gravities operates under the following idealized assumptions: The starting measurement deviates from a specific gravity of …

I've been giving brewing my own kombucha a try, following this guide. It's been going well, and I've made it all the way through my first batch! \o/ The one bit where I differed from the guide was in the last fermentation, where I also add in the flavors: instead of using flip top fermentation bottles, I used mason jars. I did this because I didn't want the final bottles I'd drink from to have bits of fruit, etc., so …

I can not seem to find an answer to the question how kombucha is made from scratch without already posessing SCOBY or kombucha. For example a sourdough starter is grown only from flour and water, flour being a form of wheat. Something similar I found for miso paste which is produced by combining soy beans and mouldy rice. Although mouldy rice is a bit shady biznis, there are ways to grow it without a starter. I would like to hear …

So I am into making kombucha at home: I made a SCOBY, grew it, and I have successful kombuchas. My normal recipe makes a "ginger kombucha", pretty much kombucha with sugar and ginger. It disappears after around a week. However, I decided to make a plain batch: kombucha and just kombucha. It's been in the fridge since the first of February, getting drunk every now and then. I tasted it today (~45 days) and it smells / tastes slightly reminiscent …

Does anyone have an idea of how to brew a homemade tea? The idea is to take tea leaves and boil the water to get the tea base . What do Ido from here???

I am a kombucha brewer, and for a long time I have been trying to avoid SCOBY formation in the bottle during the second fermentation. Does anyone know some way to do this?

I recently bought a 3 gallon fermentation vessel which came with a scoby package that said it's good for one gallon. Do I need to use 3 of the scoby packages or will one do with just a little extra fermentation time?

My friend recently gave me the idea of making a kombucha-inoculated beer. Having never done it before, the principle seems fairly straightforward to me (this is my own guesswork): Ferment kombucha as normal (done!) Prepare base beer recipe/wort, let it cool Pitch enough kombucha starter to inoculate wort (for my 8L batch, about 1L of starter according to normal kombucha ratios) Let it ferment normally as with any other yeast pitch It seems that this would inoculate the wort with …

Does cold crashing kombucha work in terms of removing yeast and creating a brighter product? I am using a continuous brew process where I decant from the primary fermenter in to a secondary fermenter where I add fresh ingredients to infuse flavor. After removing the ingredients I was wondering if I could use a glycol chiller to drop the yeast similar to what I'm reading about beer. I'm not a huge fan of cloudy kombucha with a pile of sediment …

The most-recent episode of Basic Brewing Radio has got me thinking about making Kombucha. What would be a typical OG (original gravity) and FG (final gravity) for a Kombucha?

I am going cross-eyed trying to tell if there are fruit fly larvae on the walls of my continuous brew kombucha. I have seen fruit flies on the outside, but I don't think they can get in through the two towels and rubber band sealing the top. I assumed that the specks I saw on the walls were just bits of tea and bubbles, but after doing some research I got a little paranoid. I set a trap to deter …

Some of my kombuchas form a strange, greenish-grey powdery substance inside them. This looks like moss or dust, and appears embedded in the transparent matrices of strands inside the liquid, although many of them sediment to the bottom as well. This substance is exclusively inside the kombucha liquid, given that the rule of thumb is that "mold grows on top only", I assume it's not mold. I have also tasted this kombucha before and it tasted ok, I didn't get …

I'm getting all sorts of feedback as for the fermentation times when brewing kombucha from internet blogs, friends brewing at home,... I believe different fermentation times will give the kombucha different properties. What is your experience with this? How many days for primary fermentation with Scoby? How many days for secondary fermentation without Scoby and with herbs for instance? What is the absolute minimum and the absolute maximum time of fermentation?

What is the proper way to store SCOBY for periods over 3~4 months? I've stored some discs/plates of SCOBY in the fridge (not freezing temperatures) on its own fermented tea, but after 3 months when I picked it up to do some kombucha, it did not ferment the tea. I've used the same process for periods of 1 month and the fermentation went well.

I am brewing my Kombucha for about four months now, starting a new batch every four to five days. Since three weeks my Kombucha got a little thick (viscous, syrupy). I did not change my recipe, the SCOBY just got bigger. Is this normal? Is this caused by the bigger SCOBY?