Using an airlock "bubbler" instead of a cloth

[docweathers]

is it okay to use a bubbler/airlock instead of a cloth over the brewing container? would limiting oxygen reduce the vinegar taste or just kill the scoby?

 

[Vellum]

I'm pretty sure the organisms that make up the SCOBY require some oxygen to do their thing. My understanding is limiting the oxygen does limit the production of acetic acid but is most commonly done in a secondary ferment (when adding additional fruit/fermentable after the initial ferment is completed).

My advice (or rather what I would try first if I was having your results):

If too vinegar like:
try a different mother culture from a different source
and/or bottle sooner (leaving more fermentable sugar unfermented, thus creating a sweeter product)

 

[theDREWery]

Without the oxygen coming in, no acetic acid can be produced, so you would just be making alcohol.

Over time, you're acetic acid bacteria would starve, and you would just have funky tasting yeast left.

 

[docweathers]

I just took the bubbler off and replaced it with cheese cloth. I hope I have not screwed up the whole works . I had the bubbler on for a week and a half, though I did open it several times to taste to see if it was finished. Only timen will tell.
Thanks for the help

Larry

 

[joshesmusica]

You haven't screwed it up. No worries. There are all kinds of bacteria and wild yeast in each scoby, not just acetobacter. Limiting the acetobacter won't leave you with just alcohol. More than just the aceto convert the alcohol to different acids. So essentially, you would be able to limit acetic acid production, but still have a sour, low-alcohol, fermented tea if you went that route.

Next week I'll be bottling a batch of a rye pale ale that I had about 1 liter leftover of the batch so I decided to ferment it with kombucha. I didn't have it completely sealed, but I tried to limit the oxygen a bit - it was in a large mason jar with the lid closed, but no gasket to seal it.

I would try it if I were you, but maybe split the scoby that you have now, in case you don't like the results.

 

[dye4me]

I just ran an experiment this weekend with my office scoby, i put a plastic sheet over the lid with an elastic band and poked 3 pin holes in it. I felt the vinegar was talking over last week and i wanted the other bacteria and yeast to catch up. This morning i tried it and it is very well balanced and quite possibly the best buch I've ever made. the vinegar taste did not go away but the other flavours caught up to it.

 

[docweathers]

I can confirm dye4me's experiment. As previously reported I had an bubbler airlock on my kombucha for the first couple of weeks of fermentation. Then I replaced the airlock with some cheesecloth for about three days. As of today, the fermentation had stopped, so I harvested my brew. Rather than a vinegar taste has a very slight sweetness with a taste like Bubbly Apple juice... Very nice.

Though I thought I had screwed up my Kombuchai by using an airlock, I think it actually made mine much tastier than friends that I had tried. Friends come Kombucha all tasted very vinegary, some indistinguishable from apple cider vinegar.

I think using the airlock is a good strategy for part of the brewing time. Now the question is, should I use the cloth first or the airlock first and for how long. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[docweathers]

After giving my last post some more thought, my current game plan is to use cheesecloth over the top until there is a slight acetic taste and then go to the bubbler. My hope is that this will limit the acetic taste to not much more than what I switch to the bubbler.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[joshesmusica]

I believe the reason for the cloth in the first place is that acetobacter are an aerobic bacteria. This should work in theory, though, depending on how much headspace you have in your fermenter, there will be some oxygen left after switching to the airlock. Though I can't imagine much.