- Welcome to You Brew Kombucha.
This is your guide to carbonation.
If you're looking to make sure
that your homemade kombucha
is nice and bubbly,
make sure that you check out
my second fermentation video first.
If you're still having some trouble
getting good carbonation
in your homemade kombucha,
here are some tips that might help you.
First off, I want to describe
what, in my mind, makes good carbonation.
I want it to be nice and
fizzy and effervescent,
right out of the bottle,
straight out of the fridge.
I don't want it to lose
carbonation when it chills down,
and I don't want it to be over-carbonated
to the point where I make a huge mess
every time I open a bottle.
It should have a nice,
good, bubbly mouth feel,
and it should have nice,
visible bubbles when I pour it
or when I pop the top off the bottle.
Not everyone is looking for carbonation,
and some people like their kombucha
to be more fizzy than others.
But if you're like me,
and like your kombucha
to be nice and fizzy,
here are some tips that
will help you do that.
The first tip is to make sure that,
before you bottle your kombucha,
you stir your fermentation vessel
a few times to make sure that you
evenly distribute any yeast
that might settle at the
bottom of the vessel.
Yeasts are a really important part
of getting good carbonation,
since they're gonna be the ones
eating up all the added sugar
that you add through the fruit flavorings,
and turning it into carbon dioxide,
which, of course, makes
your drink nice and bubbly.
So you want to make sure
to give your brewing vessel
a nice stir before you bottle
to evenly distribute any
yeast that might settle.
My next tip is to use fresh fruit puree
during the second fermentation
or bottling process.
I don't recommend using
chopped up fruit pieces,
because that'll just make it harder
for the yeasts to access the
sugars that are in the fruit.
If you do a little bit of
the work for the yeasts,
and puree your fruit or juice it,
then it's a lot easier for the yeasts
to access that great sugar
that's locked in the fruit.
And the more sugar is in the bottle,
the more fizzy it'll get.
There are some homebrewers out there
that say that you should add
one or two raisins into your bottles,
or that you should even add some
crushed up eggshells to your bottles.
I personally don't do that,
because it just sounds a little bit weird,
and I don't really think
that the work is necessary
when I'm able to get
really good carbonation
just using the fruit flavoring
that I'm already using in the first place.
My next tip to ensure
really good carbonation
all lies in the bottles.
I have a whole other video dedicated
to bottles and caps
that walks you through the pros and cons
of using different types of bottles
and walks you through all the bottles
that I use to make sure
that I get great carbonation
in my kombucha every single time.
But, in a nutshell,
you wanna make sure that you have
a good quality bottle
that can hold carbonation.
Make sure that it's food-grade
and not cheaply made,
otherwise it might break on you.
And make sure that you have a cap
that can withstand that pressure.
You also wanna make sure that you're able
to close your bottle nice and tight.
A lot of the times,
if your bottle isn't
sealed up super tightly,
it can actually loosen itself
over the course of the
second fermentation process,
which releases air.
And the more air is
released from your bottle,
the less carbonation will
get trapped into the liquid.
The main way I like to make sure
that my bottles are nice and tight
is to use these simple rubber grippers
just to make sure that they
have a nice, tight seal
every single time I bottle.
One more thing you wanna
do when you're bottling
is make sure that the top of the bottle
is nice and dry before
you put the cap on there,
and, of course, make sure
that the cap is dry, as well.
And my last tip, and this one is
going to be a bit controversial,
is to not burp your bottles.
I have a whole other video dedicated
on burping and why I personally
don't burp my bottles,
but, basically, burping is
when you open your bottles slightly
to release some air or
release some built-up
pressure that's in the bottle,
and then you close it back up
and let it continue its
second fermentation process.
I don't recommend burping
because it's really counterintuitive
if you wanna build up
that nice carbonation.
If you have good quality bottles
and bottles that can
withstand good pressure,
there's really no need
to burp your bottles,
because it just releases
that good carbonation
that you wanna keep in your liquid.
So make sure you check out my video
on burping for more details on that.
I promise, I will not burp,
and it is not disgusting.
Some people like to keg their kombucha,
which is a great way to add carbonation
if you don't wanna bottle it.
Using a keg or using
something like a soda stream
will basically force carbonation
into your kombucha,
so you don't need to go through
the second fermentation process
to get that carbonation.
If you wanna keg your kombucha,
just go ahead and add your flavorings
after the first fermentation stage.
Then add it to your keg,
which will force-carbonate
your kombucha for you.
I know there are some brewers out there
that'll have tried all of these tips
and they're still not able
to get good carbonation,
and to you, I'll say that sometimes,
it's scoby-dependent.
So, depending on the unique makeup,
and the unique yeasts and bacteria
that live in your particular scoby,
you might have a scoby that's not
particularly susceptible to
building up good carbonation.
Maybe it doesn't have enough yeasts,
or maybe it doesn't have the right yeasts.
So, if you've done everything
you can possibly think of
to ensure good carbonation
and you're still not getting
that good bubbliness,
you might wanna consider
getting a different scoby
or finding a scoby from a friend
who you know has really
great carbonated kombucha
and asking them for a scoby.
So make sure that you check out
the rest of the videos on my channel
to find out more information
on making great kombucha,
and particularly, I really wanna recommend
that you check out my
video on bottles and caps
to find out more about the
different types of bottles
I use to make sure that
I get great carbonation
every single time.
Happy brewing!
('80's-style music)
