How to Make a Big Batch of Kombucha

Step 15 Look for Bottles

When it's just the way you want it, or rather ALMOST, it's time to put it in bottles.
I say ALMOST because you should bottle it when it's just a little too sweet.
That's so the yeast can make that extra sugar into fizz and just a little alcohol.

Regular PTFE or PET type plastic soda bottles, plastic spring water bottles or anything like that are fine.

I once had fifteen gallons exactly ready for bottling and couldn't find any bottles to put it in.
My friends had found my collection of empty bottles and destroyed them in a fenzy of inventiveness,

So I put it in carboys with rubber glove vapor traps as shown here and let the yeast work while I spammed the institute for empty soda bottles.

You can blend old sour kombucha, young sweet kombucha and water to adjust the flavor when you bottle it.
Set the bottles them aside til they get hard from carbonation.
Put them in the fridge
drink it.

WARNING
If you wait too long to drink it the bottles can explode from excessive carbonation.
They can puff up til the soda bottle is round on the bottom and rings like a bell when you tap it.
Three of mine got like this and blew up at once. They blew the side out of the rubbermaid tub they were in, splattering kombucha all over the ceiling, and making a very loud noise.

This danger is why commercial kombucha can't be as good as the stuff you make yourself.
Commercial bottlers can't be blowing fingers off their customers, putting their eyes out and deafening them by shipping time-bomb beverages.
They have to terminate yeast fermentation in the bottles.
That means high acid, low sugar, or dead culture.

If you do it at home you get to have it all.
Sugar, live culture, carbonation, and a potentially dangerous bottle that could blow up if you don't drink it in time. Don't use glass bottles. Enjoy!!

Comments

[loki1138]

Plastic is NOT toxic. Silly.
Soda has the same PH as Kombucha and it will not WILL NOT leach killer chemicals into the brew. http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/petbottles.asp

[abadfart]

no its fine for storage but the mother doesn't like it

[wenpherd]

better safe than sorry

[Skai]

yeah plastic just scares the bejesus out of me in many applications

[triplenine]

 Sorry to keep commenting on an old Instructable but it is a good one and I want to offer a few things. :)
If I were making this I would use a hydrometer (cheap at $8-10) or refractometer (more costly at $60-75) to keep an eye on the fermentation of the sugar. When the specific gravity stabilizes for a period of a few days, you can then add 3 to 5 ounces of dextrose (corn sugar available at all homebrew stores) and bottle in glass. Easy as pie and you don't have to worry about bottle grenades. This is the standard practice for brewing beer at home and bottling.

[triplenine]

 Although, I am taking full attenuation into account. Some people may not like a fully attenuated kombucha and then you may bottle earlier than I would with my mthod to retain some sweetness and lose control over the carbonation. Typed faster than I thought on that first one. ;)

[ple]

DO NOT USE GLASS BOTTLES!!!! I HAVE BEEN USING THEM WITH NO PROBLEMS BUT MY DAUGHTER AND I CAME HOME THIS EVENING TO THE SOUND OF BOMBS EXPLODING AND I REALIZED IT WAS BOTTLES OF KOMBUCHA!!!!! FORTUNATELY, NO ONE WAS HURT. I WILL BE USING SOMETHING ELSE. THE TEA WAS NOT EVEN TWO WEEKS OLD.

[fety]

*correction.. unless you're talking about glass bottles to "store" the already made Kombucha, yeah, you need to refrigerate them to stop fermentation or else they keep growing and producing CO2.

[fety]

What? Did you seal the damn things?? They need air to breath.. and if you fill them too high the scoby will plug the top shoulder of the jar. I had that happen once but noticed it before too much pressure formed. I use a sun tea jar and I was able to relieve the pressure with the spigot. Glass is the only way to go.

[harveyparadox]

any fermented product needs to be refrigerated once it is sealed air-tight unless you are absolutely sure that there is no more sugar for the culture to "eat". two weeks is a long time for the pressure in a bottle to build up if the kombucha is still fermenting...if you aren't familiar with the term "specific gravity" then you are best off playing it safe and putting your kombucha in the fridge after a week or so in the bottle... i would stick to glass though...plastic is toxic! good luck!

[poormonkeyblues]

This is silly. You absolutely must use glass because as harveyparadox says: plastic IS toxic. The acidity from the kombucha will actually eat through layers of the plastic and toxic chemicals will leach out into the kombucha. Metal is also a no-no. To solve the problem of exploding containers - it's simple! After bottling, (fill to the brim) just refrigerate the brew. This greatly slows/stops the fermentation process. I have been brewing/bottling kombucha for months and never once had a container "explode." Also, you don't have to bottle it just before it's ready. Wait until it tastes just right, and the refrigeration will keep it at that point.

[un_breton_a_seattle]

This 'acid-based' comment is completely unfounded. The chemistry of PET is more complicated than that. Do a little research to understand why, before you post. Coke for instance as a pH that is often lower (meaning more acidic) that Kombucha. The comment about metal is true for most metals available (gold is one example of an exception, for instance).

[maker12]

Kiteman said plastic IS not toxic.