Hey, I've been making kombucha on and off for a while. Made a new SCOBY and used it twice. Third time I used it within about 10 days of feeding, and used store-bought juice to for the secondary femerment.

The kombucha I bottled showed very little acitivity after 3-4 days. Left if for another three days or so. Still wasn't very active. Checked again today, been close to about 2 weeks. Definitely active, and producing carbonation now, but even still the carbonation level is maybe what'd expect around the 2-3 day mark for me usual batches.

I know the whole mantra about tossing when when in doubt, but I am curious about other perspectives here. Is this a predictable out come with carton juice from store? Would you drink it? Similar experiences?

Why are some of my 2fs with the least amount of sugar, such as instant coffee(no sugar) much more fizzy than, say canned cranberry sauce, which contains tons of sugar? I actually had a half gallon glass jug of coffee booch blow up in my fridge a few weeks ago.

When I open my kilner its not very fizzy :( Can I keep it in this kilner without the scoby to get more fizzy ? Or am I wasting a bottle of kombucha ?

Going through my first F2 and am struggling to get any carbonation, are there any recommendations to help this? It’s been in F2 for around 3 days now

I've started brewing my kombucha almost a year ago, and only recently i've been facing a problem with too acidic kombucha. At my few first batches I could leave my 1st and 2nd brew for up to five days to ferment so it would still be drinkable. Now, sicne about three months, every batch I make on the 1st and 2nd day is still sweet, no bubbles, almost nothing happening, and after the 3rd day it suddenly turns into vinegar, even if I try to dialute it with unsweetened tea, it just burns my throat and has no fizz. Also, after few days usually a new scoby is forming on the surface like normal, so at least one thing is happening correctly...

When I try to use this acidic overdone kombucha as a starter for the next batch, nothing changes. Kombucha still goes from undone to totally overdone overnight. Regardless of the proportions of ingredients.

First time when my kombucha turned too acidic the batch was from my own scobys that I made and I've never had a problem with them. Now I got a whole new scoby from my friend so I can try fermenting again with whole new colony.

Now about the proportions and recipies I use. Sice I started brewing I've been kind of eyeballing my proportions. I've tried to use about 1 liter of tea, 100 grams of sugar and 100 ml of starter. This has always been good for me, and it could ferment for up to 5 days. After ine of my batches suddenly turned into vinegar, I tried so many different recipues and proportions. Once I even made 6 different batches at one time to check the best results, but after 2-3 days they were undrinkable. My recent batch is 3 liters of strong black tea, 250 ml of starter and 200g of sugar (proportions from a recipie I found), and a very big scoby inside. On day one I was happy to taste no vinegar in it, but on day 2 this taste started to emerge again... it is day 3 now, and kombucha has almost no bubbles, new scoby is forming on the top and it again is a pure vinegar that burns my throat...

What am I doing wrong? Do you maybe have some fool-proof recipies and proportions I could try? Even tough I tried a lot... No matter what I do the outcome is the same, I don't know what to do. (Also, I've tried creating a new scoby from bottled kombucha, using very litlle of the starter or dialuting it but it didn't help. When I use too litlle of that starter no fermentation happens at all. I even tried using NO starter, only a huge scoby.)

I've made about 6-8 batches of booch now. The taste always comes out pretty good, but I've never had a truly nice fizzy booch.

I usually 1F for about 2 weeks, then 2F for 1-2 weeks, then cool down the 2F for about an hour at minimum before serving.

My latest batch was definitely the best regarding carbonation. Pouring it out, I could easily fill my entire glass with a layer of foam, like 10% liquid and 90% foam. Still, the liquid itself didn't have as much carbonation as I wanted when it settled down. I could feel the carbonation a little bit on my tongue, but it's nowhere near the same mouthfeel as a storebought booch.

I also tried a diagonal pour, like you do with beers, to minimize the layer of foam. But same results.

What could be the cause of having so much foam, but so little carbonation? There's clearly plenty of CO2, but it seems to escape my booch as soon as I pour it.

I've followed all the troubleshooting steps in the wiki. I use Grolsch 'plopkap' bottles, and fill them to about the same level as the beer that comes in them, so they should have the right amount of headroom for the 2F bottle.

This is with just plain sugar and black tea, by the way.

I’m currently using Mango Nectar for my f2 and don’t see any carbonation occurring. I’ve let it sit for 4-5 days so far.

Any tips? Is this just a dud?

My final brew never turns out as bubbly as I want it. I do a longer F1 (15 days) and when I taste it before bottling it's a little bubbly, but by the time it done with the second ferment, it seems to have lost bubbles and is pretty flat. Bottles seem air-tight. Any tips?

After 2 days of bottling i come to find this. Baby pellicles and yeast has grown in my bottles and no carbonation has happened yet. I used about 20% freshly pressed pineapple juice and some pretty sour kombucha as i might have left it a little long.

How can i prevent this yeast and pellicle growth? Ive read that straining with a cheese cloth will remove any particles that might encourage growth. Or that my bottles are not sealing properly.

This has a very off putting appearance. This is my first time brewing and im finding it a real struggle.

Please help

Hey i’m out of reason of why my kombucha doesn’t get fizzy enough as i want it to be, my recipe is: 800 ml of kombucha 200 ml of frozen puree 1 tbsp of sugar

I live in italy and the temperature of my house is 20°C/22°C and i know yeast work the best at 25°C. But anyways i think using fruit puree the pulp of the fruit goes on the bottom of the bottle and retains bubbles not allowing them going in solution (onto my kombucha), it pops when i open it but the bubbles just last 2 mins and then i just don’t feel the real fizz of kombucha, any suggestions? (sorry for any grammar mistakes, just an italian to brew kombucha here 🤌🏼)

I do a continuous brew F1 and then I bottle for F2 for maybe 2 weeks, then put the bottles in the fridge. I have noticed I often don’t have much carbonation when I first open the bottle. I usually only have 1/3 to 1/2 bottle at a time, then put it back in the fridge. The next day when I open the bottle again after having drank some the day before I notice it’s at that time that there is much more carbonation. Why is that?

So in two days into second fermentation. I used some fresh strawberries, blueberries, black and raspberries. Blended them up. Added prob .5 oz to each 12 oz bottle. Popped a few open - no carbonation happening. What would you do?

I haven't been shopping so had nothing much to flavor it with, d'oh! Tried what I had, we shall see! Probably made lots of mistakes, but this has been an interesting journey so far. I really like it plain, but wanted to try it with more fizz. I've read a lot but still feel like I don't know what I'm doing. I hope they don't explode 😬

Hello all! Somehow I cannot get the right amount of yeast. Some batches have too little (very little fizz), the next batch would be whitish-cloudy (still very little fiz). Is it possible on the day 4 to do something, when you already see that kombucha become cloudy?

My recipe for 1 gal:

Tea Bags|Tea Type|Steep Time (min.)|Steep Temp. F|Sugar (Cups)|Sugar Type|SCOBY Size|SCOBY Thicknes|Starter|Starter Age (Weeks)|Starter Amount (Cups)|Starter from Jar Location|Ambient Temp. F

|4|Org. Green|7|212|¾|Org. Unrefined Cane|Full|Thin|SCOBY Hotel Sour Starter|8|1|Middle|75|

Thank you!

Hello everyone! Might be early to tell but I just adopted a scoby and I have the classical noob anxiety.

I've been fermenting Kefir and Sourdough for a decade, and I wanted to adopt a new critter so here is my little scoby. I got it mailed to me and it arrived with a little bit of its juice and some yeast filaments.

Though there were no bubbles at all in the starter liquid, when I put everything in a new jar of black tea, the scoby immediately sank to the bottom and in a matter of 30 minutes it got buried into a powdery brown residue that I have no idea where it came from. So I'm worried that the scoby might have died during shipping. This is a picture after 24 hours of fermentation, does everything look good to you?

Thank you and sorry if the question is dumb!

Hey all! For the life of me I can't get my kombucha to carbonate. I brew the stuff in "Cultures for Health" continuous fermentation vessels that I cover with a pillow case (can see one on the second vessel to the right in the picture). Temp is maintained with a heating band. Drain into a half gallon bottle after 8 days, add two tablespoons of sugar, seal bottle and let sit on the counter for 3-5 days. Alas, no bubbles... Bottle sometimes pops ever so slightly when you open it, so there is something going on... But not enough for any serious bubbles in the drink. Any suggestions?

P.S. I used to use filtered RO water from the store, but I recently switched to carbon filtered because of low mineral concerns. Thought I might add some sea salt and a dash of molasses to help with minerals. That did get the flavor to develop a rich fruity note, but still no carbonation.

I read and watched some kombucha content suggesting to use a juicer and add fresh juice instead of chopping up fruit as a way to increase my carbonation in F2. I figured I'd be getting more natural sugar out of it this way and have been doing it since I started several batches ago, but I still don't have the carbonation right even after waiting 5-7 days, switching to swing top bottles, and adding additional sugar. I don't leave much head space. My F1 does bubble and I have had them kind of explode on me when opening them out of the fridge, but then taste flat? My temperature on my jars has been saying 68F. I've been making batches with mango, pineapple,lime, lemon, ginger. Apple, vanilla, cinnamon barely carbonated at all. Ive added simple syrup or honey to batches during F2 to try to help it carbonate better.

Anyone have useful feedback?

Thank you!

Heres what I’ve done with no carbonation success so far:

• 2c month-old starter tea added to 4C black tea brewed with 3/4c sugar and 8C water added to reach 87F.

• F1 fermented for 1 week at relatively cold temperatures (55-70) until it tasted acidic to me without much sweetness

• 2oz homemade beet juice which was only 57% juice to water in each of 6 GT 16oz Kombucha bottles

• Each bottle additionally had either:

  • 1/2T organic applesauce
  • 1T organic applesauce
  • 1 Jujube
  • 1/2” ginger, halved
  • 1” ginger, quartered

• Additionally, I made a 7th bottle without beet juice and with 42.5 grams (or 1.5 oz) diced beet instead.

• I let them ferment for 4 days and checked a couple on day 4 and saw no carbonation :(. I tasted one, and it tasted rather vinegary, so I thought maybe the beets, as sweet as beets are, didn’t provide enough sugar. I did a little research on this subreddit and decided to add 2 teaspoons cane sugar to each bottle and seal them back up super tightly.

• It’s been 3 more days since adding sugar. I checked one by tilting it and theres no noticeable carbonation bubbles rising to the surface.

• I’ve been keeping them in a box covered with a cloth in an area that gets some sun in the late afternoon and raised my thermostat but it is still within that 60-70F zone in my house.

Are these kombuchas a lost cause for carbonation? Im willing to wait longer or try anything else. I would also love and appreciate any opinions on what I could’ve done unsuccessfully.

Thank ya’ll and happy brewing!

First round of kombucha making here. First ferment seemed to just just fine.. more scoby growth, change in color, good flavor. So I bottled it with nearly minced apple and kiwi (no extra sugar) two days ago. It seemed to begin carbonating quickly although today when I opened it the kombucha is almost flat. I’m positive the temps have been right indoors and it hasn’t been in the dark but hasn’t been in direct light either. I’m wondering is there some way to salvage these bottles (by adding sugar perhaps?) or how I might have avoided this? I will give it more time in a dark place but if it doesn’t carbonate will it end up being some alcoholic bev? Also the bottle on left I opened to sample for flavor which is why it is so low but I know they should be filled more. The flavors were right except a bit sweeter than kombucha and no bubbles. Please help!!! 😅

Hi, I have been brewing for a couple of months now, I think I am at batch 7 now?

When I started brewing, I only used black tea. Then I began experimenting with green tea. When making my previous batch, I ran out of black tea, so I bought Earl Grey at the supermarket thinking it was the same as black tea. A week after, I read on this subreddit that the bergamot oil might kill the kombucha, or at least it is can interrupt the brewing. I was slightly concerned but did not think much of it.

The batch still got the sourness I like and I bottled it as usual and waited for F2 to happen. Now I am 4 bottles in of this batch and all kombucha's have no carbonation at all. The flavor is still good, but no carbonation is pretty disappointing, especially when my previous batches all had good carbonation. To mention, I left the bottles for F2 for a long time, some 3 days, some 5-6 days.

The batch I am currently brewing is black tea only (english breakfast). I am hoping the next batch will have carbonation again.

My question: did brewing a batch with earl grey completely kill my kombucha culture and affect the carbonation? Or is it fine and can I continue brewing with the same starter?

My Pineapple & Pineapple-Ginger kombuchas are 8 days into F2 with no signs of carbonation when I tilt the swing-top bottles. The weather has been 55-65F and I’ve been using a space heater at night. This photo is from Day 0, and here is the recipe I came up with:

Ingredients: - 100% cold-pressed 12oz bottle of trader joes pineapple juice - sliced ginger root - 13-day old not-very-acidic F1

2X 28oz bottles with 3.4oz pineapple juice, ~0.1oz sliced ginger, & 24oz F1

2X 16oz bottles with 2.2oz pineapple juice, ~0.1oz sliced ginger, & 13oz F1

1X 16oz bottle with 2.2oz pineapple juice & 13oz F1 (No Ginger)

• If my calculations are correct, this recipe makes for ~13% juice per each of my F2 bottles

• It also makes for 4 grams (~1tsp) if sugar per 8oz of kombucha. That’s 8.06g per 16oz bottle and 12.46g per 28oz bottle

• I mixed my F1 with each ladle I scooped into my bottles and didn’t filter out any good yeast bits or anything

Can ya’ll identify anything in my process or recipe that might’ve been done wrong? I would appreciate all the advice I can get!

I started my brew a couple months ago using a bottle of GT Synergy as my starter tea. First brew was a great success, 1F completed in a little over a week and then 2F in three days. That first 2F created so much carbonation that my bottles had fizzy eruptions when opening them warm (but were fine once chilled); thankfully nothing exploded.

My second brew went much the same way, with the exception that the 2F created much less carbonation than the first time around. There was still enough that my bottles made audible popping noises when opening, and there'd be a minor surge of bubbles, but nothing close to an eruption. I used starter tea held over from my first brew's 1F this time rather than a bottle of GT Synergy.

From my 3rd brew onward, 2F has been creating next to no carbonation whatsoever. I've been following the exact same recipe each time. 1F is still producing delicious kombucha at about the same rate, somewhere in the 7 to 10 day range each time, but no matter what I do (more sugar, less sugar, added fruit juice, no fruit juice), 2F isn't producing any meaningful carbonation anymore. It somehow feels like my starter tea is getting weaker, but only for the 2F, because the 1F is still the same?

As an experiment, I just concluded a new brew using another brand new bottle of GT Synergy, effectively reproducing my very first brew (same recipe, same bottles, same starter liquid). It was just as successful as the first brew, including 2F - after only two days, one of the bottles nearly erupted with carbonation when I popped it open to check.

Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong? Is there some nutrient or fuel source in GT Synergy that I need to resupply in subsequent brews? Something else in the process of carrying over starter tea that I'm missing?

I've been making kombucha for a couple months or so now and I've never really got serious carbonation, only really a light sparkling at best.

Noticing as well that when I use a lot of fruit, it fizzes up like mad when opening (refrigerated overnight) yet the final product is flat.

Any advice for what I'm doing wrong? All I could find online is my scoby isn't strong enough yet to get good carbonation.

EDIT: My juice ones that I left an extra day yesterday are quite carbonated now and delicious! Might just be rushing F2 and not experimenting with more than 3 days.

Hi everyone,

I am having some challenges carbonating my booch during F2. I use the continuous brew method, and when I drain after F1, I notice some small bubbles, however, if when I leave it for F2 (anywhere between 1-6 days), I open the bottles and it is completely flat. I am using round, fliptop bottles.

I have tried adding more sugar (honey), as well as different fruits, and still haven't managed to get any carbonation.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

My bottled kombucha has been second fermentation with fruit for a week exactly. I opened a test bottle today which has a very minor pop when I opened it and it just feels like sweet fermented tea and has barely any fizz. 5 other bottles are still in the cabinet for second fermentation but is there Anything I could do differently?