Kombucha is the IT beverage these days. Everyone is drinking it from hipsters, to crossfitting moms, to real foodies. Naturally this includes me! No shame here, it’s seriously delicious and cheap to make. I learned to make the special tonic from an awesome two part video series at The Healthy Home Economist. 
Like many other people I do what is called a second ferment. After the original brew period with the SCOBY, I pour off the finished kombucha into jars add some fruit. I screw on the lids and stick the brew in a dark place for a few days.
This method was leaving me disappointing!
Instead of a sparkly, fizzy and tasty beverage I was hoping to get, I was left with a tasty but slightly flat drink. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved it, but where was the fizz? I wasn’t sure what the problem was, so I tried more fruit, juice or adding honey. I thought, maybe it needed more to “eat” to create the fizz. Sadly, this didn’t really improve things.
Little did I know that a walk by my local watering hole would solve this issue. Turns out just screwing the lids on canning jars was not creating a tight enough seal. All my glorious sparkle was escaping! All it took was a walk by a new beer filling shop to solve my problem! Growlers! A growler is used by beer sellers to sell a half gallon of beer. They are glass and have a special top to keep the beer from going flat too fast. Perfect for my kombucha!
If you are already making kombucha with a second ferment just do what you normally do, just remember to scale the amount of fruit or juice for the larger container. See below for more detailed instructions!
The Second Ferment Secret – Growlers
- For this method I make two batches using the Part 1 and Part 2 video tutorials from the Healthy Home Economist. This means two bowls, two SCOBYS etc… I make the recipe twice in one day and it’s ready in 7-10 days.
- Clean three growlers.
- Dump your flavorings into the growlers, I use about a cup of frozen strawberries or 3/4 cup fruit juice for each growler.
- Split your finished kombucha into the growlers, screw on the cap and store in a quiet spot for 3 or more days. The longer you store it the fizzier and more sour it will get.
- Once the flavor is too your liking, store the bottles in your fridge.
I have not tried it but you should be able to get the same result with these re-sealable flip top bottles
, but three growlers is a lot cheaper!
Looking for a culture to start your kombucha– I have heard good things about this facebook group, but try asking around first, I got mine from a friend of a friend! You can also get this continuous brew set up which is what I switched to recently!
Growler Photo Credit
Cheers,
Heather
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