calcium carbonation

I ran across this article:
http://www.happyherbalist.com/bottlingtips.aspx

Has anyone tried adding calcium to carbonate their kombucha prior to bottling? Its described in this paragraph of the above article:

Calcium Adds FIZZ and decreases the acidity/ (use 1/2 tsp. per gallon or about 1/4 of a calcium pill/capsule per 16 fl oz bottle or a pinch or two to a glass of kombucha.) This was done with the German KOMBUCHAL of the 1920's and Dr Robert Barefoot (The Calcium Factor). http://tinyurl.com/2wzbcb

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Has anyone tried this with other fermented drinks such as cider/mead/beer?
I'm also interested i combining this with pasteurization (i know most people don't like to pasteurize).

So basically I'd like to pasteurize then add calcium prior to bottling. Anyone know if this would work? If the only issue is that it may affect flavor, I'd like to try it.

taleman said:

I ran across this article:
http://www.happyherbalist.com/bottlingtips.aspx

Has anyone tried adding calcium to carbonate their kombucha prior to bottling? Its described in this paragraph of the above article:



Has anyone tried this with other fermented drinks such as cider/mead/beer?
I'm also interested i combining this with pasteurization (i know most people don't like to pasteurize).

So basically I'd like to pasteurize then add calcium prior to bottling. Anyone know if this would work? If the only issue is that it may affect flavor, I'd like to try it.

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I'm a novice, but I'd think you'd want to pasteurize after secondary fermentation. If you kill the yeast and bacteria, they'll stop producing CO2. So unless the calcium is doing all of the carbonation, I don't see how it would work if you pasteurized and then bottled.

Fire Me Boy! said:

I'm a novice, but I'd think you'd want to pasteurize after secondary fermentation. If you kill the yeast and bacteria, they'll stop producing CO2. So unless the calcium is doing all of the carbonation, I don't see how it would work if you pasteurized and then bottled.

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Your right. The article didn't make it very clear. But I assumed the calcium was doing all the carbonation. I don't know, I'm also a novice.

The calcium won't carbonate the brew on it's own, it just helps the liquid hold more carbonation. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) could also be used, and is where soda gets it name from.

theDREWery said:

The calcium won't carbonate the brew on it's own, it just helps the liquid hold more carbonation. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) could also be used, and is where soda gets it name from.

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How much is used per gallon?

theDREWery said:

The calcium won't carbonate the brew on it's own, it just helps the liquid hold more carbonation. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) could also be used, and is where soda gets it name from.

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Do you know of any way to add cO2 after pasteurization?

zipper8650 said:

How much is used per gallon?

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I really don't know, haven't tried this in any of my kombucha.

taleman said:

Do you know of any way to add cO2 after pasteurization?

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Only way that I know of is force carbonation, which would require a CO2 cylinder and either a keg or a carbonation cap.

theDREWery said:

The calcium won't carbonate the brew on it's own, it just helps the liquid hold more carbonation. Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) could also be used, and is where soda gets it name from.

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From the OP I see that they are talking about using calcium from dietary supplements, which is usually Calcium carbonate which DOES react with acids and release carbon dioxide, just like Sodium bicarbonate. Keep in mind that there are other forms of Calcium that may be used in dietary supplements which won't necessarily work as expected, best bet is to just use Calcium carbonate, which is what chalk, limestone, sea shells, snail shells, eggshells, and pearls are (mostly) made of.

One last note: adding Calcium carbonate to your brew will neutralize some of the acids, making it "sweeter" (or more accurately less acidic), so some experimentation on how acidic you want to make your brew before adding the Calcium carbonate will likely be needed.