othellomcbane
Well-Known Member
I've been making kombucha for about four months now, and I've been bottling it ever since I started. I use 500 ml PET plastic beer bottles with screw-caps from Northern Brewer — no worry about bottle bombs. And I admit, I am not super scientific about when I bottle; I don't take gravity readings. Now that my SCOBY is grown, I generally bottle after 10 - 14 days.
When bottling, I've been experimenting with adding either plain ol' regular sugar and different fruit juices / syrups. And this has led to an odd (to me) and unexpected realization: my kombucha never carbonates when bottled with plain sugar. Maybe a tiny trace amount of fix that might as well be leftover from the initial fermentation. I have added between 1 and 2 tablespoons of sugar to each 500 ml bottle, and something definitely consumes the sugar, because the kombucha with 2 tablespoons never tastes sweeter, as it should if the sugar was just sitting in there.
However, when I bottle with fruit juice or syrup—regardless of how much I add—I always get good carbonation. 2 tablespoons or more and I get intense carbonation; more so the longer I let the kombucha sit.
So, my guess is that the plain sugar, being a simple sugar, succumbs to the non-CO2 forming bacteria before the yeast can get to it. The fruit juice/syrup, containing more complex sugars, requires a longer fermentation and gives the yeast more chance to create CO2. Or something like that. But I'm not kombucha expert, and I'm hoping someone here can shed more light on this curiosity.
Also, I will add that my kombucha has been coming out shockingly well so far; better than my expecations. Even un-carbonated, I prefer it to the majority of the store-bought kombucha I've had.
When bottling, I've been experimenting with adding either plain ol' regular sugar and different fruit juices / syrups. And this has led to an odd (to me) and unexpected realization: my kombucha never carbonates when bottled with plain sugar. Maybe a tiny trace amount of fix that might as well be leftover from the initial fermentation. I have added between 1 and 2 tablespoons of sugar to each 500 ml bottle, and something definitely consumes the sugar, because the kombucha with 2 tablespoons never tastes sweeter, as it should if the sugar was just sitting in there.
However, when I bottle with fruit juice or syrup—regardless of how much I add—I always get good carbonation. 2 tablespoons or more and I get intense carbonation; more so the longer I let the kombucha sit.
So, my guess is that the plain sugar, being a simple sugar, succumbs to the non-CO2 forming bacteria before the yeast can get to it. The fruit juice/syrup, containing more complex sugars, requires a longer fermentation and gives the yeast more chance to create CO2. Or something like that. But I'm not kombucha expert, and I'm hoping someone here can shed more light on this curiosity.
Also, I will add that my kombucha has been coming out shockingly well so far; better than my expecations. Even un-carbonated, I prefer it to the majority of the store-bought kombucha I've had.