- Welcome to You Brew Kombucha,
this is your guide to
knowing when your brew
is done and ready to bottle.
(optimistic electronic music)
You're waiting for your
home brew to ferment,
you've already watched my
vide on first fermentation,
and what to expect during
first fermentation.
Now we're gonna walk through how
to tell if your brew is
done and ready to bottle.
The easy answer is that it's done when
it tastes done to you.
So what does that really mean?
A lot of people recommend that you
taste your kombucha a few times
during the fermentation process,
so that you can familiarize yourself
with how acidic it gets over time.
I don't recommend tasting it during the
first few days of fermentation,
because it will likely
be too sweet anyway,
and because that's when your scoby is
trying to form, but I'd say it's probably
safe to start tasting it at around
day five or six.
Since I'm familiar with how long it takes
for my brew to ferment,
I typically don't start tasting it
until around day seven.
The easiest way to do this is
just to take a straw and take some of
the liquid out and taste it yourself.
I like to use a wine thief,
only because it's fun to shout,
there's a thief in the house!
But you can use whatever.
It should have a nice acidic tang,
but it shouldn't be overpowering.
But really, you can bottle it whenever
it tastes right to you.
Some people like to let it go longer,
and get even more acidic,
some people like to bottle it while
it's a little bit on the sweeter side.
It's really up to you, how acidic
and how sweet you want it to be.
If your kombucha tastes too sweet,
all you have to do is let it ferment
a little bit longer.
The longer you let it ferment,
the more the yeasts
will eat up that sugar.
If you taste it and it
feels a little too vinegary,
you can go ahead and bottle it.
If you wanna offset how vinegary it is,
just make sure that
you use flavorings that
are on the sweeter side,
to help balance that out.
For more information on flavoring,
check out my video on flavoring.
A common misconception is that you
can use pH strips or a pH testing meter
to tell when your brew is done;
pH doesn't measure done-ness,
and it doesn't measure sugar content.
So even though you can use a pH meter
just to tell if your brew is acidifying
and fermenting at a good pace,
it's not really gonna tell you whether
your brew is gonna be
ready to bottle or not,
the best thing you can
do is just taste it.
If you want more information on checking
the pH of your brew, be sure to check out
my video on pH.
After about four or five days of it
going through the first
fermentation process,
it'll be ready to drink.
But for the most part, it'll still be
too sweet for most people's palates
to actually drink it at that stage,
so you can let it go longer,
but pretty much at any
stage of the process,
it's already got a lot
of that good bacteria
and yeast that's really
great for your gut.
Some people like their kombucha on
the sweeter side, and some people like
it on the drier side, it really is just
up to your personal preference,
but for me, I love flavoring it with
lots of different types
of fruits and herbs,
and I love building up that carbonation.
For me, that's what makes this whole thing
so great, so if you're like me,
and want to build up
that great carbonation
and want to flavor your kombucha with a
limitless variety of fruits and herbs,
check out my next video on bottling.
And as always, if you
want more information
and details, check out
YouBrewKombucha.com,
happy brewing.
(optimistic electronic music)
