I've been brewing Kombucha for a few years now and my wife and I love a frothy head on ours but I can't seem to get a consistent result from batch to batch. Now for the last few batches I have no head and no fizz. Basically I've just made juice. I don't know what my issue is. Here's my process (it's worth sayin that I haven't changed my brewing process over the years):
Brew 4 cups of tea with 1 cup of sugar (I use 1 Tbsp of South African Rooibos and 1 Tbsp of English Breakfast)
remove 2 cups of kombucha from the previous batch
let the tea cool in the fridge
For a syrup I usually take 2-2.5cups of juice and add 2-3Tbsp of sugar. Reduce for about 15'
let the syrup cool in the fridge
After that I just combine everything and top off my gallon jar with filtered water and the SCOBY.
Add the syrup to what remains in the gallon jar (after removing the 2 cups for the new batch), stir and put in individual bottles for the second fermentation.
A few things that I've tried differently over the last few months to try and get the head back is a longer first fermentation (I usually only do 2 weeks since I don't like the kombucha to taste vingery) but have extended it to 3 weeks. I've also started leaving less room in the bottles used for the second fermentation. I've never put much thought into room in the bottles until I read that too much room and make the carbonation fill up the empty space instead of being in the liquid.
Another thought is that it's possible that my water filters need to be changed and that could be my issue.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Brew 4 cups of tea with 1 cup of sugar (I use 1 Tbsp of South African Rooibos and 1 Tbsp of English Breakfast)
remove 2 cups of kombucha from the previous batch
let the tea cool in the fridge
For a syrup I usually take 2-2.5cups of juice and add 2-3Tbsp of sugar. Reduce for about 15'
let the syrup cool in the fridge
After that I just combine everything and top off my gallon jar with filtered water and the SCOBY.
Add the syrup to what remains in the gallon jar (after removing the 2 cups for the new batch), stir and put in individual bottles for the second fermentation.
A few things that I've tried differently over the last few months to try and get the head back is a longer first fermentation (I usually only do 2 weeks since I don't like the kombucha to taste vingery) but have extended it to 3 weeks. I've also started leaving less room in the bottles used for the second fermentation. I've never put much thought into room in the bottles until I read that too much room and make the carbonation fill up the empty space instead of being in the liquid.
Another thought is that it's possible that my water filters need to be changed and that could be my issue.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
