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Step 17Decant Over-Fizzed K'cha
The bottles will keep fermenting and carbonating until something stops them.
That could be running out of sugar, building up too much alcohol, acetic acid, lactic acid, or exploding.
This is why store-bought kombucha can never be as good as stuff you make yourself. They'd get sued when a forgotten bottle blew up and hurt someone. So they have to make it sour and not sweet. That way fermentation terminates or gets very slow and they can even put it in glass bottles.
I've seen plastic bottles of home brew k'cha puffed up round with no necks or puckers on the bottom. They ring like a bell if you tap them, and it's scary dangerous. Use bomb squad methods to deal with bottles like that. Three of mine once went off in a daisy-chain. They blew the side out of a rubbermaid bin and put dripping splatters all over the ceiling. Bottles like this could cripple, deafen, or blind you.
A more common problem ( opportunity ) is bottles with so much fizz it's hard to open them without champagning k'cha all over the room instead of into a glass.
Here's one way to deal with that. First refrigerate it. Gas solubility is higher in cold water.
Then rapidly open and pour the kombucha into an angled glass. The angled glass and angled bottle present a much larger area surface for the gas to diffuse out. If you set the same bottle vertical, the upper surface is too small and you can get a volcano effect.
If your stuff has too much fizz even for that, we're in the realm of art, devise your own methods.
Freezing is bad. Ice has poor gas solubility and plugs the neck when you open.
Some people like to barely open the cap so a slow hiss of air comes out, too slow for bubbles to erupt. I like to open the cap and instantly squish out the remaining air before the eruption. It's amazing how the bottle re-inflates every time you do that. There can be a huge quantity of gas dissolved in the liquid.
Enjoy your super-delicious fizzy healthy K'cha!
That could be running out of sugar, building up too much alcohol, acetic acid, lactic acid, or exploding.
This is why store-bought kombucha can never be as good as stuff you make yourself. They'd get sued when a forgotten bottle blew up and hurt someone. So they have to make it sour and not sweet. That way fermentation terminates or gets very slow and they can even put it in glass bottles.
I've seen plastic bottles of home brew k'cha puffed up round with no necks or puckers on the bottom. They ring like a bell if you tap them, and it's scary dangerous. Use bomb squad methods to deal with bottles like that. Three of mine once went off in a daisy-chain. They blew the side out of a rubbermaid bin and put dripping splatters all over the ceiling. Bottles like this could cripple, deafen, or blind you.
A more common problem ( opportunity ) is bottles with so much fizz it's hard to open them without champagning k'cha all over the room instead of into a glass.
Here's one way to deal with that. First refrigerate it. Gas solubility is higher in cold water.
Then rapidly open and pour the kombucha into an angled glass. The angled glass and angled bottle present a much larger area surface for the gas to diffuse out. If you set the same bottle vertical, the upper surface is too small and you can get a volcano effect.
If your stuff has too much fizz even for that, we're in the realm of art, devise your own methods.
Freezing is bad. Ice has poor gas solubility and plugs the neck when you open.
Some people like to barely open the cap so a slow hiss of air comes out, too slow for bubbles to erupt. I like to open the cap and instantly squish out the remaining air before the eruption. It's amazing how the bottle re-inflates every time you do that. There can be a huge quantity of gas dissolved in the liquid.
Enjoy your super-delicious fizzy healthy K'cha!
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I would try adding some STEVIA leaves to the bottle as a sugar substitute that would increase the fizz.. Stevia leaves are good because, though not as sweet as sugar work well as a natural substitute and helps diabetic persons with their illness.
I noticed that when preparing any sweet fruit juice with water and stevia leaves, after bottling it and keeping it for a week, it starts fermenting and becoming alcoholic. As if stevia would be eating the sugar of the fruit and transforming it into alcohol...
I must try kombucha!
THXs!
Alberto
While it's a great idea, i don't think stevia would be an adequate fermenter for adding fizz... sweetness yes, fizz no...
Though it can't hurt to try and prove me wrong ;)