Kombucha Sweetness + Timing.

[khumbu76]

Hey all -- I have (another) question about Kombucha timing. I'm a long-time homebrewer of beer, but this is my first foray into Kombucha. My wife and I brewed up a 5 gallon batch, transferred to a 20-liter Speidel fermenter, then introduced a big ol' scoby to the mix. We are using a heating pad with a thermostat set at 75F. After 5 weeks, the scoby is HUGE, floating at the top and seems to have replicated already. The ph is 3.5 and the vinegar smell is nice and strong. But when tasting a sample, it's still very sweet. We used 1 cup of white sugar per gallon - which seemed to be about the norm from what I've read online.

What do you guys think -- Did I add too much sugar? If so, should we just ride it out until the sweetness goes away? I was thinking that 5 weeks into it, the sweetness would have fermented out at least a little bit..but maybe not?

For those that are brewing larger batches, what has been your average fermentation time based on your temps, times and volume?

Any and all advice for this noob is welcome!

 

[stout12]

I have no experience with brewing large batches. The largest I have done is 1 Gallon.

The Big Books of Kombucha gives an approximate guide for brewing cycle based on batch size:

0.5 Gallon = 3-7 days
1 Gallon = 7-21 days
2.5 Gallon = 10-28 days
5 Gallon = 18-42 days

From my understanding a pH of 3.5 sounds about right. From what I have read 3.5 - 2.4 is acceptable.

I hope someone with more experience can be more helpful.
Good luck!

 

[khumbu76]

I have no experience with brewing large batches. The largest I have done is 1 Gallon.

The Big Books of Kombucha gives an approximate guide for brewing cycle based on batch size:

0.5 Gallon = 3-7 days
1 Gallon = 7-21 days
2.5 Gallon = 10-28 days
5 Gallon = 18-42 days

From my understanding a pH of 3.5 sounds about right. From what I have read 3.5 - 2.4 is acceptable.

I hope someone with more experience can be more helpful.
Good luck!

Thanks - that’s a handy chart!