How did I get into this mess? Help a dad out …

[kestrelbrewing]

I am a relatively adept home brewer, 7 years and well over 400 gallons brewed … . My daughter got two kombucha kits for her birthday (from two different well meaning relatives), and we followed the instructions and now have a half gallon and a gallon batch of kombucha polluting sitting in my basement. One of these things seems to be about ready to bottle and suddenly the instructions are very, very vague.

My understanding is that the rest of the process goes like so:

1. Remove the SCOBY from the jar
2. Put SCOBY in another jar with a bit of the kombucha
3. Fill swing top bottles using a funnel
4. Close bottles and let sit for 4-7 days

Here are my questions:
Can we simply brew another batch and transfer the SCOBY into another gallon jar we have lying around or does it actually need to rest?
Will the kombucha lightly carbonate in a couple of days without additional sugar being added?
If we add fruit flavorings, does that increase the carbonation and do we run the risk of exploding bottles?
I understand that brewing sanitizers are not appropriate for kombucha. At this point we are just boiling stuff to sterilize. Is this adequate or should we be doing something different?
As my daughter is 12, my wife is worried about the possibility of her getting hammered off of alcoholic kombucha. Can I follow the standard process for measuring OG/FG using my refractometer or am I being overly optimistic?

Thanks in advance.

 

[hottpeper13]

I soap and water clean my fermenters and then rinse with distilled white vinegar,also my hands. You need to prime the bottles to get a good fizz. Fruit will add sugar for fizz but it really makes it more tart. If you enjoy this new beverage the best upgrade is a fermenter with a spigot. This is my syrup for 14 -16 oz swing tops, weigh out 160 grams of sugar in pyrex measure ,add water to 400 ml mark and micro until dissolved, then put 30 ml into each.

 

[NeoBrew]

Yes, you can transfer the scobie to another jar with sweet tea in it. I never rested mine. I was much more lax in my sanitation for kombucha than I am with beer.

My favorite flavor was black tea with some fresh ginger and about a teaspoon of sugar added at bottling. I used plastic PET bottles to minimize the danger of explosions. When the bottle got firm from pressure I would put it in the refrigerator.

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Thanks for the info. My daughter says she doesn't want a lot of fizz, just a little like the one she gets from the store which comes in 64 oz growlers (this has been very handy for me as I now have enough growlers for an entire 5 gallon batch of beer and then some). It seems to me to be around 1.7 vol is my guess. She is planning on putting mango in the first half gallon and apple in the second based on the book "The Big Book of Kombucha" which we picked up. I'm hoping it is more helpful than the (lame) instructions.

 

[ahnavbilauvaq]

Can we simply brew another batch and transfer the SCOBY into another gallon jar we have lying around or does it actually need to rest?
You can do that, just keep in mind that there should be enough SCOBY to ensure safe fermentation. If you can measure the pH, below 4.0 is recommended.

Will the kombucha lightly carbonate in a couple of days without additional sugar being added?
It will if there's still enough sugar in the kombucha. But in my experience, bottles with fruits can carbonate faster than syrups. Maybe it's due to added yeast from the fruits.

If we add fruit flavorings, does that increase the carbonation and do we run the risk of exploding bottles?
Fruit flavorings does make it carbonate faster. But even with only sugar it can carbonate enough to explode if left unattended. I usually carbonate my booch for 1-2 days with fruit flavorings, 3-5 days with syrups (I live in tropical climate so do keep that in mind, it may be slower in colder climate).

I understand that brewing sanitizers are not appropriate for kombucha. At this point we are just boiling stuff to sterilize. Is this adequate or should we be doing something different?
It's really adequate. I never even boil stuff, just wash it with water and soap. I think with alcoholic drinks, you need to sanitise that well so that acetobacter contamination can be avoided. Kombucha is acetobacter fermentation from the start, so there's really no need to sterilise that rigidly.

As my daughter is 12, my wife is worried about the possibility of her getting hammered off of alcoholic kombucha. Can I follow the standard process for measuring OG/FG using my refractometer or am I being overly optimistic?
You can measure it to make sure there's little alcohol in the booch. kombucha alcohol gets up slightly after being bottled (and also does CO2), it is usually below 0.5% after the first ferment. For me, I wouldn't worry that someone would be hammered off homemade kombucha. You need like abt 10-20 bottles of kombucha to really consume the same amount of alcohol as a bottle of 10% wine, you'd be having diarrhea before reaching the point of inebriation.

Good luck on brewing kombucha!!

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Update: First batch went well. She decided on apple for the fruit. Today is day 5 of bottle conditioning so we will be trying it for the first time tonight. Or rather, she will be trying it. I'm making smoked steel head trout caesar salad which should pair nicely with the witbier that just became ready to drink.

 

[hottpeper13]

Smoked steel head, soooooooooooo jealous!

 

[kestrelbrewing]

Smoked steel head, soooooooooooo jealous!

Well … the beer, food, and kombucha (I'm told) were all delicious. But, in terms of a wholistic experience, I should add that the meal and beer were balanced out by the fact that my in laws came over and we had to have a socially distant conversation outdoors with my mother in law who is 80% deaf and has a malfunctioning hearing aid.

 

[NGD]

Well … the beer, food, and kombucha (I'm told) were all delicious. But, in terms of a wholistic experience, I should add that the meal and beer were balanced out by the fact that my in laws came over and we had to have a socially distant conversation outdoors with my mother in law who is 80% deaf and has a malfunctioning hearing aid.

WHAT????

 

[kestrelbrewing]

WHAT????

AHHH! Flashbacks!