Wide-Mouthed Bowls vs. Tall, Narrow Jars?

[bsb]

I've been brewing kombucha in bowls, which of course are shorter and wider than gallon jars, etc., so the bowls allow more surface area to be exposed to air at one time.

Not only is there greater surface area exposed to air, but it's more of the total brew that's exposed too, since the bowl holds less than a larger jug.

My question to the community here is, what differences have you noticed in the length of time it takes to brew in a gallon jug/jar versus a bowl, and how thick is the scoby supposed to get in the jug? Thicker than it a bowl I'm guessing, but I'm not sure.

I want to switch to using jugs because they take up less space and are easier to store away, but I like the way my kombucha tastes now and it brews pretty quickly. I'm afraid if I switch to larger containers with narrower areas exposed to air, it may take longer and affect the taste due to maybe a thicker scoby accumulating at the narrower entry.


So what's the deal here?

 

[kyt]

The acetobacter oxidize ethanol to produce acetic acid.
So the more air you let them get at, the more volume of ethanol than can, in theory, convert.
However, the yeast produce the ethanol in a mostly anaerobic environment.

Let's setup a hypothetical.
If your yeasts can produce 1ml of ethanol per day, regardless of vessel size; and your acetobacter can oxidize 2ml to acetic acid per day in a bowl, but only 1ml in a wide mouth jar, you're not going to be able to tell the difference. The thickness of the pellicle isn't going to matter as much because once it is formed, it starts limiting the amount of air that can contact the surface.
Additionally, yeasts produce carbon dioxide, which is heavier than air. This will form a layer as it sits on the surface of the pellicle further limiting the air exposure. In an open area with some air current, this layer can be wafted away and would have more of an effect on a bowl than a jar with a liquid level ~1" below top.

You may find that jars will take up less square footage of counter space and may be less easily spilled than a bowl.