BrightEyes

Recipes 

Hi,
I'm trying to figure out the best way to bottle my kombucha without having to refrigerate or getting bottle bombs. I want to let it ferment until dry, but I don't want to end up with vinegar.
My idea is to let it ferment aerobically for the usual amount of time, put an airlock on it until it is dry, then prime with 1 ounce sugar per gallon before bottling? Wouldn't this just make it have a slightly higher alcohol content but keep me from getting bottle bombs and keep it from turning to vinegar?
Thanks for your input!
Scott

jambafish

Recipes 

When you bottle don't give it any headspace. That's what commercial brewers do to keep the alcohol down and keep new SCOBYs from forming.

Personally, I let it go dry, keg it with late additions, force carb, then bottle to the very top. You don't get the same carbonation you would with carbing in the bottle with headspace, but my goal is to stabilize the flavor, keep the alcohol low and prevent acetic acid, the agent causing the vinegar taste, from dominating.

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Tap: DIPA, oaked Baltic porter, XXX pale ale, dark IPA

Bottle: vanilla kombucha, oaked puh-er kombucha, blueberry kombucha,

Primary: rose hip kombucha, oaked honey and oolong kombucha, hopped kombucha brewed with green tea infused with cab. grapes