- Welcome to You Brew Kombucha.
This is your guide to picking the
best bottles for good carbonation.
(upbeat music)
Ever since I first
started bottling Kombucha,
I was on the hunt to
find the perfect bottle
that would keep in that great carbonation
that I worked so hard to
build up in the bottle,
and I tested quite a lot
of options, as you can see.
So, I'm here to walk you
through all the different types
of bottles that have worked well for me,
and pros and cons for each type of bottle.
So, you can see that I
have a bunch of different
clear glass options and some
dark glass options as well.
It's really up to you whether you want
to use clear glass or dark glass.
The advantage of using
dark bottles is that
it lets less UV light from
the sun filter through.
So, UV light has some
antimicrobial properties,
which could hinder your
fermentation process,
but I don't really worry about it too much
because when I do my second ferment,
I keep my bottles in
a dark cupboard anyhow
and then they go straight
from there into the fridge.
So, I'm not really exposing
it to a lot of sun light,
so it doesn't really matter whether
I'm using dark glass or clear glass.
I prefer clear glass only
because they look really nice.
You can see exactly
what's inside the bottle,
and it's really helpful
when you're opening up
a bottle of Kombucha for the first time
and you're not sure how fizzy
or how aggressive the
bubbles are gonna be.
You can really easily see
how fast and how aggressive
the bubbles are building up,
so you know whether you should
open it slowly, whether you
should open it over the sink,
or take other steps to minimize that mess.
A lot of home brewers like to
use these Flip Top bottles.
They're a really great option because
they're fairly easy to
find, fairly inexpensive,
and they do a really great job
of creating an airtight seal,
so that you're keeping as much of that
carbonation in the bottle as possible.
I really like them, but I find that
they're a little hard to open,
especially when they're new,
and if you have any types of
joint problems, like arthritis,
you might have a really hard time
opening these types of Flip Top bottles.
Another great option for home
brewers is reusing bottles
that you've gotten from the store.
If you've ever gotten a GT Synergy bottle,
you probably recognize
this type of bottle.
They work really, really well
to hold in the carbonation
as well, and same with
these Health-Ade bottles.
I'm a really big fan of these other
types of bottles that you see here.
So, this is a Stout bottle,
a Boston Round bottle,
and a Ring Neck bottle.
You can find these at a lot of wholesale
bottle distributor supply stores.
There are a lot of great ones online.
You can find them in 16
ounce sizes, 12 ounce sizes,
and I really like the
fact that you can get
a variety of sizes and a variety of shapes
that suit your personal preferences.
I just happen to like these ones the best
because they look really cool,
but they all work really well
to keep that carbonation
in and I haven't had
a single one make a
mess, or explode on me.
So, I was talking a lot about
how these are really great
bottles for keeping in that carbonation
that we know and love so well,
but a lot of that isn't
so much dependent on
the bottle shape or the bottle size,
it's dependent on the bottle cap
and the liner that goes along with it.
Bottle caps, super, super important topic,
and the liners are
really important as well.
In my experience, I've found
that the Flip Top bottles
really do the best job of
making an air tight seal.
That can work for and
against you in a lot of ways
because they are a little bit
more prone to getting over
carbonated and making a fizzy mess.
Aside from that, I haven't
really noticed a stark difference
or even a stark drop off in
the quality of airtight seals
between all of these non Flip Top bottles.
If you have any of these GT
Synergy bottles lying around,
reusing those caps are
really, really great.
You'll notice that there's a liner,
kind of a plastic liner, on the inside.
That's what really helps build
up that great carbonation
and make this an airtight
of a seal as possible.
The other two types of caps that I use
are F217 caps and Polycone seal caps.
You might hear about Polycone seals.
They have kind of conical
plastic liner on the inside
that's meant to make your
bottles as airtight as possible.
The F217 caps are more basic.
You might not even notice
that there is a liner inside,
but it's basically a very thin, foam liner
sandwiched in between plastic
and there are a lot of people
that say Polycone seals do a better job
of holding in carbonation
and making an airtight seal.
Honestly, I haven't noticed
a difference between them
and, frankly, Polycone seals are a lot
more expensive than a basic F217 cap.
So, I prefer to go with the F217s only
because they work so fantastically for me
and I haven't found a need
to use a Polycone seal cap
at all in any of my home brewing.
Both the F217 cap and
the Polycone seal cap
come in a range of sizes that'll fit
a variety of bottle necks.
So, for instance, with the Stout bottle,
I use a 38 by 400 size
F217 cap and it works perfectly
and creates a nice, tight seal.
That same cap size, the 38 by 400,
also works as a reusable
cap for a GT bottle
that you may have lost a cap on,
or if you've misplaced it or broke it.
That 38 by 400 is a really
common, versatile size.
The other size that I like
to use is the 28 by 400,
and that works really well as a
replacement cap for
smaller necked bottles,
like this Boston Round and
like this Health-Ade bottle.
The 28 by 400 or 38 by 400
number is just a measure
of the size of the cap, itself,
and the type of thread that's
on the inside of the cap.
You do also have the option
of using beer bottles
and capping them with a bottle capper,
but I do want to caution you that
most glass beer bottles
are not thick enough
to withstand the CO2 pressure in Kombucha.
If you do decide to use beer bottles,
don't ferment them at room
temperature for longer than day,
and make sure to do it in closed cabinet
or a cooler as a fail safe
against potential glass breaking.
I have had a beer bottle break on me
after I left it second
fermenting for a couple of days
too long over the summer,
but reusing beer bottles is a
great affordable option for
people who want to flavor
their Kombucha after first fermentation,
but don't want carbonation.
In that case, just add
your flavoring and Kombucha
to the bottle, cap it, and put
it straight into the fridge.
Regardless of which type of
bottle you end up deciding
you want to use, you wanna make sure
that you are sealing it
up as tightly as possible
to make sure that the seals
in the caps can actually do
their job and keep the carbonation in.
I like to these really basic
grippers just to make sure
that I'm twisting it on
as tight as possible.
I don't recommend using any bottles
that are meant to be used
for decorative purposes.
So, if you go to a
garage sale and find some
pretty, colored glass
bottles with the Flip Top
and you think that you might
be able to use it for Kombucha,
that might not necessarily be the case.
There are a lot of really
pretty Flip Top bottles
that are just meant to
be used as decorations
and they're not pressurated.
They're not meant to hold liquids,
let alone carbonated beverages.
So, I really recommend that
you stay away from using those.
Any cheaply made glass, not to diss IKEA,
but the vast majority of
stories that I have heard
about glass exploding have
been the result of someone
using an IKEA bottle and
thinking that it would be able to
hold the carbonation that
builds in their Kombucha.
They don't work well, and I
really, really wanted to be able
to say that I could recommend
Mason jars as a good vessel
for second fermentation,
but I just haven't been
able to get really good consistent
carbonation build up in my Mason jars.
So, even if I've tried to heat
up my seals before putting
them on my Mason jars
and sealing them uptight,
even if I've tried to
make sure that they were
as airtight as possible,
I've had some Mason jars
be fizzy and some Mason
jars be completely flat.
So, I don't want to live
with that type of risk
when it comes to Kombucha,
so I just prefer to go with
the ones that have consistently provided
really great carbonation for my Kombucha.
So, you're probably wondering
where I got my hands
on these types of
interestingly shaped bottles.
So, if you're in the
market and want to purchase
these types of bottles, just go online
and search for wholesale
glass bottle distributor
and you'll find a variety of options
depending on your price point.
They are really affordable,
but in my experience,
I've found that where they get you
is with the shipping costs.
So, if you're ordering
online and you think
that you've found a really great
steal on some cheap
bottles, just make sure
that you calculate the shipping costs
as part of that total cost
that you'll be paying for these
bottles because you'll find that sometimes
they're not that great of a deal
when you factor in the cost of shipping.
But, a good option for you is if you know
you live nearby a wholesale
bottle distributor
that's open to selling
directly to the consumer,
if they have a storeroom,
or if they have a number
you can call, I recommend
reaching out directly to them
to see if you can pop in,
see the bottles for yourself,
maybe take home a few
samples to try them out
with your Kombucha before you commit
to buying a large order and
if you do have one somewhere
near you, you can go in, place your order,
and pick it up directly, so you don't
even need to worry
about the shipping cost.
That's what I did to get these bottles,
and it ended up saving me a ton of money.
So, if you're serious about home brewing,
I strongly recommend that
you look into getting some
high quality glass bottles for you to use
during your own brewing process.
So, I hope this gives you
a good range of options
to pick from, depending on your needs,
when it comes to bottling your Kombucha.
If you have any questions,
or if you want more details,
make sure you go to YouBrewKombucha.com.
Happy brewing.
(upbeat music)
