So, after 8 months I've now managed to scale up to 25L of Kombucha a week and IMO perfected the 2nd stage carbonation process. I stick with a pretty boring ingredient list of Ginger, Turmeric and Lemongrass. All up my 25L batch takes 7 days for the 1st ferment and 5 days for the second ferment. My question is now, how do I step up to the next level and incorporate an alcoholic stage? I'm guessing the second stage ferment now has to be totally re-wired?
Taking it to the Next Level?
- Thread starter Hank Hill
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madscientist451
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Full disclosure: I really don't know much about Kombucha, so I'm posing this response as more of a question than an answer.
I've been interested in making my own hard Kombucha for a while, but just haven't gotten around to trying it.
Kombucha usually starts with sugared tea that is fermented with yeast, but then a bacteria converts the alcohol to acetic acid resulting in a very low ABV?
I'm thinking the commercial producers of "hard" Kombucha make some sort of traditional Kombucha, pasteurize it and then use it to flavor a fermented fruit juice beverage. A sugar/water mixture could also be fermented to produce a low flavor beverage that would let the Kombucha taste come through. Another way to go would be to make a 50/50 pilsner/rice light lager and add Kombucha to that. I'm thinking that a commercial producer would just add CO2 for carbonation, so the second fermentation mentioned above would be eliminated. If the Kombucha bacteria was present in the final package, would that eventually turn to the alcohol to acetic acid?
The label from a commercial producer, Boochcraft, lists raw Kombucha and apple juice and lime juice.
So how are they getting the 7% alcohol? Regular apple juice doesn't produce very high ABV, and if a cider is blended with a low ABV Kobucha, you'd need to start with a 9% ABV cider? I'm not sure if they are being completely open with their ingredients which they are allowed to do since its an alcoholic beverage. Perhaps the original "raw Kombucha" listed has enough sugar in it to put the ABV up to 7%? Perhaps they don't have to pasteurize the Kombucha at all, the alcohol in the cider kills the bacteria?
June Shine makes a 6% ABV hard Kombucha by using sugar and honey:
Another producer, Kombrewcha , has a lower ABV, 4.4% and uses it looks like they use sugar to get the alcohol.
https://boochcraft.com/blog/rad-recipes/diy-high-alcohol-kombucha-recipe-straight-from-the-source/
I've been interested in making my own hard Kombucha for a while, but just haven't gotten around to trying it.
Kombucha usually starts with sugared tea that is fermented with yeast, but then a bacteria converts the alcohol to acetic acid resulting in a very low ABV?
I'm thinking the commercial producers of "hard" Kombucha make some sort of traditional Kombucha, pasteurize it and then use it to flavor a fermented fruit juice beverage. A sugar/water mixture could also be fermented to produce a low flavor beverage that would let the Kombucha taste come through. Another way to go would be to make a 50/50 pilsner/rice light lager and add Kombucha to that. I'm thinking that a commercial producer would just add CO2 for carbonation, so the second fermentation mentioned above would be eliminated. If the Kombucha bacteria was present in the final package, would that eventually turn to the alcohol to acetic acid?
The label from a commercial producer, Boochcraft, lists raw Kombucha and apple juice and lime juice.
So how are they getting the 7% alcohol? Regular apple juice doesn't produce very high ABV, and if a cider is blended with a low ABV Kobucha, you'd need to start with a 9% ABV cider? I'm not sure if they are being completely open with their ingredients which they are allowed to do since its an alcoholic beverage. Perhaps the original "raw Kombucha" listed has enough sugar in it to put the ABV up to 7%? Perhaps they don't have to pasteurize the Kombucha at all, the alcohol in the cider kills the bacteria?
June Shine makes a 6% ABV hard Kombucha by using sugar and honey:
Another producer, Kombrewcha , has a lower ABV, 4.4% and uses it looks like they use sugar to get the alcohol.
https://boochcraft.com/blog/rad-recipes/diy-high-alcohol-kombucha-recipe-straight-from-the-source/
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