I want to make high alcohol Kombucha

[Jacob M Brown]

I want to make high alcohol kombucha. I watched a video about it on Youtube which piqued my interest. I was about to buy a bunch of stuff on Amazon but I thought I should get better information from my friends at Homebrew Talk.

What kind of wine yeast should I get?
The youtube video said I need a titration test kit. Would this one work? Is there a better one? I already have a refractometer.
https://www.amazon.com/Vintners-Bes...ation+test+kit+for+wine&qid=1596870614&sr=8-2
What is a good guide for making high alcohol?

Thanks

 

[ahnavbilauvaq]

You can do it by putting it in an airlock container for the 2nd fermentation, you can either add yeast or just ferment naturally

 

[susanmcm]

Regarding hard kombucha, anyone have a recommendation, based on experience, for the best yeast to use, and why? At what point in the 2F is fermax or another yeast nutrient added, and why? How do I know it's even needed? Thanks in advance!

 

[Meowmeow]

Hi! I’ve done a bit of research on this as well. I’m sure i have more to learn. This is what I’ve found so far.

From my understanding choosing your yeast depends on a few things.

1. Their “yeast’s” ability to activate at specific temperatures. What temperature will you be doing this at?
2. Flavor additions. I’ve learned that different yeasts add different flavors. I think the flavors are mild generally. Not certain.

3. Certain yeasts carbonate more or less. Or they have different carbonation characteristics.

I hope this helps.

 

[Hank Hill]

I was pointed in the direction of "Champagne" Yeast.

 

[pctech101]

I'm curious about going with a higher alcohol content, is it not going to kill off some of the probiotics?

 

[ouranos]

Hi

I'm curious about going with a higher alcohol content, is it not going to kill off some of the probiotics?

Great question! short response "it depends" - let me explain
A quick overview of what I found suggests the following themes from both the scientific literature and the google universe

1. Health benefits of K [such as probiotics etc.] are assumed but not necessarily gleaned from robust human clinical trials: some question the assertion that kombucha has any health benefits as no controlled trials in humans e.g this article [ Kombucha: a systematic review of the empirical evidence of human health benefit ] by Julie Kapp suggests that our assumptions about the health benefits of Kombucha are inferred as there have not been controlled human trials evaluating the purported health benefits.
2. Probiotics may survive alcohol environment: most of the stuff I found was from people making hard kombucha some suggested that probiotic absorption may be altered but other beneficial compounds such as polyphenols might not - see this blog [ www.health.com/food/hard-kombucha ] which does a decent job of reviewing some of the info.
3. Variability: given the presence of so many variables in temperature, yeast used, sugar content , duration for the 2ry ferment to make hard kombucha, it might be very difficult to provide one answer to your question - perhaps probiotics are less bioavailable, or might need to be enhanced by some process as in how pre-biotics are converted to pro-biotics - the question probably merits someone to do the study and see...I would not be surprised if the manufacturers of hard kombuchas have some of this data and hopefully they can share it with us!

If we assume that the pro-biotic availability is lessened then it might make sense to either consume the beer booch after taking some relevant supplemnts or other nutritional enhancements or getting your probiotics elsewhere - sort of like what Dave Asprey recommends for alchol use eg b and C vitamins before drinking and he suggests other supplements after drinking to minimize absorption...again, this is all speculation but your question has really got me thinking!