Also, make sure your bottles are round. Glass bottles with any corners can’t withstand the pressure of carbonation and could explode. Learned that the hard way this morning.
I was getting so irritated trying to remove the labels of GTS bottles! Easiest way was to fill with water and microwave 2.5 mins, and the heat loosens the glue to release. Next I dumped out the water and capped it, then rubbed olive oil and let it sit for 10 mins. A little baking soda on a sponge and it came right off!! Followed up with a squirt of dish soap and rinsed for no residue.
Great video; I really appreciate your thoughts here. When I started, I bought fermentation grade Grolsch bottles with Amazon Prime which saved a lot on shipping. We found out the hard was that my wife (who has arthritis) can't open them, so I'm designing a tool to flip the mechanism easily. Kind of like a bottle opener but it reaches all the way down to the piece you have to flip.
Amazing! I'd love to hear more about it/see a photo of it once you design it. Feel free to reach out to me at youbrewkombucha@gmail.com if you're OK with sharing more info about it. :)
Awesome video - thank you! Quick question, do the GTs lids go bad over time. I was using GTs bottles for my kombucha and got great carbonation. After a few brews I don't seem to be getting as much carbonation and I was told the caps go bad and so I'm losing air? Curious for any advice or thoughts from you or any other brewers! Im happy to buy more lids but I want to know if this is typical and you only get so many uses out of each lid. I do feel like a couple of them has distorted slightly along the edges to maybe so? Thanks so much!
I’m so glad I saw this video. I’m about to bottle my first batch of kombucha and had bought a bunch of bottles from ikea. I’m going to a local beer brewer shop to get some proper bottles
This video was fantastic. Thank you so much for doing all the investigation; a wealth of information... very much appreciated. Though, I've found those flip-top bottles to be "iffy". It depends on the individual bottle. Some of the ones I've gotten really don't have a very good seal which is why I'm searching for alternatives. Thank you again.
@@erinjohnson9873 of course, use the tea you want. Traditionally green tea has honey added instead of sugar with a different strain of bacteria. However you are the brewmaster and the one in control of your brew. If the outcome is not to desire, you learned what not to do next time. When in doubt, only change one thing for a brew.
@@erinjohnson9873 The caffeine is one of the main food sources for bacteria in the scoby, so you don't want only to use strictly caffeine-free teas. You can also reduce caffeine content of the kombucha by varying the amount or steeping time of the sweet tea that you use to get the batch started.
Hi! Thank you for your great informative video's!! I'm new to fermentation,and i have a silly question, about using plastic bottles, I know, plastic I don't prefer at all, but I wonder is it possible to use plastic bottles/cans for second fermentation?
I used to drink Grolsch beer and being a pack rat, saved all of those great bottles in my basement. When I first started making kombusha, I reused the old GT bottles and the second fermentation didn't always fizz. Recycled those and started using the Grolsch bottles and haven't had any problems. And they are a lot thicker than other beer bottles.
tayliegh My last batch didn’t turn out. I didn’t use all spring water and it didn’t carbonate. I have a reverse osmosis filter and I’m thinking it doesn’t really get all the city water chemicals out. So use all bottled spring water and save yourself some disappointment.
@@winebox wow, i went to our vintner and he gave me sanitizer to process my bottles. I had also purchased new red seals as well. I do agree about the water. My local hardware store is where i purchase my filtered H2O because my sink filter just does not get it all out. I have had some H2O samples done on my tap and also on the uv/coal filtered/ozone/declorinator type water i get from the local hardware store. I donot cook or drink from my tap anymore.
I would not recommend the “flip top” bottles, bc yesterday one of mine exploded all over me when I opened it. The problem is, you cannot open it slowly, its all or nothing, and when you open it, all of the fizz wants to come out all at once , and you will have a mess all over your kitchen. I would recommend anything that has a screw-top, because you can open it slowly and let the extra gasses out slowly, so the kombucha will not explode all over the counter. If you have these flip-top bottles and really active kombucha like I do, then I would recommend burping your bottles every day, and once in three days if they are in the fridge. But there is no “right” and “wrong” with kombucha, you have to experiment yourself, because every scoby is different and makes different types of kombucha.
Great video!! I've been thinking about using a bunch of sparkling wine bottles that I have laying around, but I am not sure on how to cap/seal them perfectly, do you have any advice on this?
Nice video. I would think the thinner neck / smaller cap bottles like the flip-tops (or Health-Aid if you fill high enough) would allow less of a baby SCOBY to form during the 2nd fermentation. I threw out my older foam-lined GT bottle caps because they left indentations and broke down. The Kevita caps seem a little better but haven't tried them yet I think the cone shaped caps are the worst for holding pressure and they easily break because they're only held together by a small nipple of brittle plastic. I broke many of those cone shaped caps by simply dropping them on the floor.
Can I second ferment in a larger vessel with my desired flavour and carbonation and then put that into beer bottles and cap them so they don't explode?
I have a question about Grolsch reusable lager bottles. Will they work for second fermentation? The also have the flip tops and are green color. They look much more thicker than heineken bottles.
Have you tried with those? I'm thinking on buying a bunch of bottles of Grolsch because it's not so easy to buy good bottles here where i live and this could be a good/not that expensive option. My first attempt of second fermentation end up with no gas, so I need to get new bottles.
I'm not brewing kombucha (yet), but will be brewing cold brew teas. What cap would you recommend for a leakproof seal on the top? I'm only asking because I might be shaking the containers every now and again to disperse sugar. Thank you!
Thrift stores. Thrift stores, local or chains like Goodwill or Value Village, are GREAT for finding bottles, especially the flip-top kind. Rarely see them charging more that $4, and that's even for the larger flip-tops.
Canning jars and more specifically the flats are designed for a vacuum not pressure. As a canner, kombucha, mead, and wine brewer/ maker, I would absolutely not use canning jars.
Your channel is awesome! Exactly what I was looking for!! May I ask you something more, is it ok if we use plastic bottles for F2? I'm a new kombucha brewer and last time I tried to do F2 using plastic bottles with fresh fruits, there was no carbonation at all. That was really disappointing. Why this happened and why everyone is talking only about glass bottles? Why not reusing empty clear water bottles?
@@estergrant6713 lol doesn’t expect getting reply from this. But 2y since, still haven’t try it yet… Guess I accumulate knowledge like a squirrel with nuts lol
if you are looking for (grolsch) flip top/captive top style bottles check out a homebrew beer store in your area. often times they have many bottle options.
Very great video! Just a quick question that I normally boil the bottle before I use to clean thoroughly but I have doubt with boiling the bottle cap since it is plastic which I have no idea if it could sustain the high temperature of boiling or not. Did you also boil the bottle before using it, too? appreciate it!
thank you for this wonderful video! Very informative! I love to use the flip-top bottles to avoid plastic- my grandfather used to work in a bavarian brewery and in ancient times they only used the flip-top bottles.. I kind of like the "retro" idea and the fact of avoiding plastic.. Love your videos !!!!
I cold brew my own coffee and iced herbal tea in mason jars with a vacuum sealer. Would you think once the second firmentation started, if you were to apply a vacuum to the head of it, would the mason jars maybe work?
How to clean those bottles? Especially the flip tops with those narrow necks. And how sterile do they need to be? Do I need to rinse them with boiling water or is hot water from the tap enough? Some say they use a dishwasher, but a flip top bottle won't get cleaned inside. 🤔
Cleaning the flip top bottles has been the most challenging and time consuming part of making my own kombucha. I have a nice Bosch dishwasher but it never cleans those bottles well enough. I've searched all over Amazon for a good brush but I ended up going to multiple restaurant supply stores for different ones to try. I find that cleaning the bottles is easiest right after you consume the kombucha so any fruit, spices or yeast film don't dry on the inside. I'm still looking for a better method. I use just a drop of dish soap and warm water for cleaning.
@@pistontube Thank you for your answer. I now DID buy flip-top bottles as they shall be best for 2nd fermentation. (I just started brewing Kombucha.) And I have a similar experience. I need to use soooo much water to rinse them. Thought there is an easier way to clean them, but it seems there isn't. Found a video where they show how they clean their bottles and it is what I thought. A drop of dish soap into the bottle and filling it up with hot water. Letting it sit a bit. Cleaning it with a bottle brush. (I found a really good one in a tiny store. Metall wire with natural fibre. It cleans well, but doesn't scratch anything. It just has a weird smell when drying.) Then rinsing it well and letting the bottle dry upside down. For that I stick it in a glass and empty out the water a few times until the bottle is dry. But I want to see if I get something where I can stick it upside down above my sink so it can dry on its own - dripping down into the sink. I clean the bottle right after I drink the bottle. Restaurants have those things where they press the glass upside down on something and it gets rinsed super fast with little water. One would need this for the flip-top bottles at home!
@@katharina1788 A friend of mine recently had a baby and purchased one of those baby bottle cleaner attachments for his sink. You simply set the bottle upside down on it and press slightly to activate. I've considered getting one of those but I'm not certain it's worth the cost and hastle to install. 🤷♂️
@@pistontube Thanks for letting me know. I didn't know that this exists. Well, I already have a second tap for my filtered water. Not sure if I want to install another thing. ;-) But I will check it out. Thanks!
FastRack sells a tower type bottle drying rack that may work for you. Layers of the tower can be removed if you have less bottles to dry. Grey & red color.
@@HoneyPoohBear I use the mason jars I place a cheap freezer bag between the metal lid and jar. It holds the fizz and works for me. I am collecting the flip-top bottles and the store bought kombucha bottles but still like the 16 oz small mouth mason jars as well.
😂 I paused the video to check if the internet peeps had had success with the Ikea korken bottles only to push play again and have you immediately tell me not to
Love the excellent information you gave. Thank you very much. I like to know if you ferment vegetables? It would be nice if you are able to help with that. Blessings, Laura M
I'm not an expert, but veggies don't have the amount of fructose (the natural sugar of fruits that kombucha tea needs to eat during F2 to create carbonation). So I guess veggies will not do the same job as fruits, except if u use a vegetable that contains high sugar (if there is any).
Just wanted to note that if using beer bottles, they should be special bottles for homebrewing/craft beer, since those have thicker glass and are prepared for the beer bottle conditioning and carbonation. When using proper craft beer bottles, they will not blow up.
Ricard Illa Pujagut Yep, exactly. When I mentioned explosions, I was mainly referring to recycled beer bottles/ones that people re-use from store bought beer. Since those are the most easily findable. So those are the ones to be careful for. 😊
Hi, I was wondering how you clean the bottles and the jar. Do you sterilise them by cooking them in hot water? Or do you just normally clean them or put them in the dishwasher? Thanks!
PET plastic bottles are the bottles I recommend. Kombucha can build a huge pressure, so glass bottles are a risk even if you use high quality glass. I've seen experts have bottles shatter, so being careful is not enough.
That's a great tip. We all have various levels of risk we're willing to take on, so that's a great recommendation if you want to completely avoid any possible risk associated with glass breaking. Do you have a type/brand of PET plastic bottle you recommend? I'd love to give them a shot to see how well they work for my homebrews. :) I've bottled hundreds (maybe thousands) of bottles using my good quality glass ones. And with my precautions, I haven't had any glass break on me. So, especially since I ferment in a closed cabinet space, I'm personally willing to take on that minimal risk, given my preferences and practices. But of course, everyone's preferences and practices are different.
I've heard good things about IKEA BEHÅLLARE and Soda Stream bottles. You can also reuse most bottles that came with the drinks you buy from the store. In that case you should look at the Resin Identification Code, where the numbers 1, 2, 4, 5 are commonly considered safe for reuse. www.scoopwhoop.com/Ever-Noticed-Numbers-Printed-Inside-The-Recycle-Triangle-On-Plastics-Heres-What-They-Mean/
@@mariailiadigr I absolutely does and from reading their reply it seems like this channel thinks it's okay too. Sources I regard as the top Kombucha experts recommend only using plastic for F2. Source in Swedish: www.egenkombucha.se/2018/02/den-allvarliga-fragan-om-glasflaskor.html?m=1
@@zalastax Thank you very much. I'm using plastic bottles for F2 and i have an issue with low carbonation. I don't know why my kombucha doesn't want to carbonate with the fruits I choose!
I started with swing top and now I repurpose kombucha bottles with the screw lids and I won’t turn back. I need replacement lids so I’m hoping these lids fit my bottles!
I just started today the 2f of my first ever batch, I am using mason jars because that's what I had handy, let's see how they go. I suppose there's no risk of exploding since they are not even very properly sealed, then? I am thinking of letting it ferment at room temperature for 2 or 3 days, I suppose one is too little, right? :P
I bought 20 square bottles on Amazon that said they were ok for kombucha, but they were not. No carbonation at all! So disappointed ☹️ The tall flip top ones worked excellent for carbonation. I guess I just got to buy more of those. Anyone try to add something to the lid to make it seal do carbonation happens?
Don't use squared bottles for 2nd fermentation. They can easily explode. Only use round ones that are specifically built to withstand pressure. Not sure if that's how one describes it. Sorry, but English ain't my first language. If it is a good flip-top bottle it actually should seal very well. It could be that the rubber part is too old and needs to be replaced if it doesn't seal. Don't burp the bottle in order to build up carbonation during 2nd fermentation. To be save, put them in a closed box in case a bottle explodes. Check them regularly.
My understanding about the square bottles is that the pressure likes to collect in the corners, which then causes the bottle to break/shatter. The round ones build pressure more evenly throughout the bottle, so much safer.
I just started my first fermentation. i've ordered some flip top bottles from Amazon and saving my GT's bottles. I just keep thinking that cleaning will be easier in the GT's since it's got a wider mouth. Do you ever have problems with getting bottles clean after?
I'm having a hard time trying to source glass bottles in Tijuana, Mex. Ill start looking for suppliers in California, do you know some suppliers/ distribuitors of glass bottles? :)
Hi your bottle selection is amazing! Please can you tell mewere did you buy the glass bottle 7th from the left to the right? with black cup and is like round and fatty! is so beautiful i need for my project! :)
I'm not surprised you had trouble with mason jars. They're designed to release excess pressure during the canning process so you have a vacuum seal at room temperature. The same thing is likely to happen as the yeast feeds on the sugars in the bottle.
Hi I have a question. I have been successfully brewing kombucha based off your videos but recently I realize my kombucha is having almost no carbonation... During F2, I fermented the kombucha using air tight bottles for 1 week and putting them in the fridge. When I would take them out after 1 day, It had zero carbonation... I did not have this problem before until now...
Did you solve the carbonation problem?Unfortunately I'm having the same issue too. I wonder if it's because I'm using plastic bottles instead of glass ones.
I had a bottle explode, glass shards flying. So I'm a little freaked out. Now I burp burp burp my bottles, all day for days and there's still a lot of fizz. Maybe I'm using too much fruit. 1/4 cup of fruit. Why would you want it too fizzy when you end up losing half the bottle in the sink? You sound like you don't burp your bottle at all. And you said nothing about plastic. I know it's not as cool. But is there some reason why it shouldn't be used? I like the idea of plastic now, instead of glass shards flying. And those plastic lids...I have one that looks like it's ready to split. If you don't care so much about fizz, but you want the good 2nd ferment flavor, why not 2nd ferment in a bigger mug, with one of those gasket rings, instead of individual bottles...leave lots of air space...I wonder if that would work. And the only other idea I'm thinking of is some kind of rubber bottle tit cap. I have some for fermenting vegi's in mason jars, and I thought I saw some for bottles...it slowly let's out the air, without letting any air in...
Pearly Baker Sounds like your brew is so good it just needs to be put directly into the fridge after bottling with your fruit puré! No extra second fermentation needed!!!
What’s your opinion about reusing gin bottles? The ones I’m thinking of seem to be a good quality, thick glass. However, while generally cylindrical, they are squared off on the bottom, and at the top before the neck.
Personally, I wouldn't use them -- if they're square (even just at the bottom), it's totally possible for the pressure to be unevenly distributed as the carbon dioxide builds. And that could cause the weaker parts of the glass to break. Plus -- the lid of the gin bottle likely won't be as airtight as you need it to be to trap carbonation in. Gin isn't a fizzy beverage, so that bottle or cap won't be built to withstand carbon dioxide pressure.
I bought a Gallon jar at the Christmas Tree shop. Was a great deal, $7.99. Poured about 1 cup of my hot tea into it and POP, the whole bottom popped off.
Some glass isn't tempered. I tend to brew my tea in another container that I know can handle the hot temp and then pour the cooled (or warm) tea into a glass vessel
Your videos are amazing, great information, thanks. I was about to start saving screw top wine bottles (HaHa, ALDI Red wine, $2.85 a bottle or some Grolsch Swing top Beer bottles.. After watching your video, I'll put my hand in my pocket and buy some proper bottles. As we say in Australia, you could talk underwater!
I've read that the older GT bottles and the current GT bottles (with the embossed logo on the cap) have slightly different caps. Can you recommend a replacement cap for the current GT bottles on Amazon? Or some other affordable site for around a dozen caps?
Hey there -- I have seen some mixed reviews about whether or not they fit too, but I’ve never had any issues with F217 caps fitting GT bottles...even ones that I’ve purchased in the last month or so. So I’m not sure if there are other GT bottles out there that I just haven’t encountered. But for the ones I have, the F217 caps fit and hold in fizz just fine. I purchase my caps in bulk online from wholesale specialty bottle site, so I unfortunately can't speak to other sites. But as long as they're marked as "F217" caps, the sizing should be consistent wherever you decide to purchase them. Hope that helps!
Thanks for this video! I tried using old store-bought kombucha bottles and they didn't work. Also, other twist on bottles haven't really worked for me either. They work for a while until the seal starts to compress. The only thing that has actually worked has been flip-top bottles!
what an awesome series of videos. thank you so much for making it easy to understand and showing us how we can get supplies and save money. I literally had time to cancel and order of bottles on Amazon that was quite expensive and ordered them from a wholesale supplier and got many more bottles for the same price. Thank you!!
@@mariailiadigr Yes, it generates a lot of gas, in addition, you can control the internal pressure. When the bottle is hard to squeeze it is because it has a lot of gas.
Thank for your content it is amazing! I keep getting glass explosions and I wonder is it because I second ferment too long? Is a week too long for second ferment at room temp?
Michal Wawrzenczyk thank you for watching!! And yes, I think a week is likely way too long. I usually just ferment for around 3 days at room temp without burping. I hardly ever have to leave it at room temp that long (even in the winter when it’s colder) so that’s likely why you’re having issues. Have you already checked out my videos on second fermentation, burping and carbonation? I have full write-ups and more details at youbrewkombucha.com too! I hope that helps.
I cap beer bottles & the carbonation is fantastic! However I need to get them in the fridge soon enough. I've had some messy batches that overcarbonated.
Do you have any suggestions for the newer GT bottles? Unfortunately, the lids you suggested no longer create a tight seal on the bottle because the company has changed the bottle style they are using. (It's a really subtle change!!) Have you heard of any ads that will create a tight seal on the new GT bottles?
Interesting! I've heard a lot of mixed accounts on this, but the caps I have (38/400 F217 caps) still work with the GT bottles that I've purchased even just a week or so ago. I haven't yet encountered a GT bottle that my replacement caps didn't work on, unfortunately. :/
That's interesting. I wonder if my region has transitioned to different bottles. I've noticed a very distinct difference in the carbonation between using the original cap and using the 38/400 F217 caps. The originals result in great carbonation, and the new caps are really flat (with the same batch and flavorings.) I'm pretty sure the new caps are not getting a tight enough seal.
Certain types of metal can corrode because of kombucha's acidity. It depends on the type of metal/cap. If it's stainless steel or if you're storing the kombucha in a way that the liquid doesn't touch the cap, it may be fine. It just has to be airtight to hold carbonation.
