Commercial kombucha runs in nine steps: brew sweet tea, cool it, add starter from a finished batch, ferment, check the pH at the end, flavor, test the alcohol, bottle cold, and code. The starter goes in first so the tea is acidic from the start, which keeps unwanted microbes out. The end of the ferment is set by a pH target in the maker's plan, read on a calibrated meter. The alcohol test matters because kombucha keeps fermenting: sold as a non-alcoholic drink it has to stay under 0.5% alcohol by volume, so it's bottled and kept cold, and tested. In the example below, a Portland kombucha maker runs a 20-gallon batch from brew day to bottles.
The short version
- Nine steps: brew, cool, add starter, ferment, check pH, flavor, test alcohol, bottle, code.
- Starter first, so the tea is acidic from the start.
- Ferment to the pH target in your plan, read on a calibrated meter.
- Kombucha keeps fermenting: keep it under 0.5% alcohol.
- Bottle cold and keep it cold.
- Code every bottle with its lot and date.
- TaroStack records each brew as a batch with its tea and sugar lots. More below.
The nine steps
| Step | What happens | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Brew | Tea steeped, sugar dissolved | Tea and sugar lots, weights |
| 2. Cool | Cooled before the starter goes in | Temperature |
| 3. Add starter | Starter from a finished batch, then the culture | Starter volume, pH |
| 4. Ferment | Covered, at a steady temperature | Days, temperature |
| 5. Check pH | Read on a calibrated meter | pH |
| 6. Flavor | Ginger or herbs steeped in, strained | Ingredient lots |
| 7. Test alcohol | Sample sent to the lab or tested in house | Result |
| 8. Bottle | Filled cold, capped | Bottles |
| 9. Code | Lot and date on each bottle, into the cooler | Lot, date |
The food safety plan for kombucha is in kombucha haccp plan, and what a bottle should cost in how to price kombucha.
An example: a 20-gallon batch
Brightwater Ferments, the made-up fermented food and drink maker in Portland, Oregon, I use in these examples, brews kombucha in 20-gallon fermenters:
| Step | What happened |
|---|---|
| Brew and cool | Black and green tea lot TE-0901, cane sugar lot SG-0828, cooled to 72°F |
| Add starter | 2 gallons of starter from batch K-0822; starting pH 4.1 |
| Ferment | 9 days at 75°F |
| Check pH | Day 9: 3.1 on a calibrated meter, at the plan's target |
| Flavor and test | Fresh ginger, lot GN-0909; lab result 0.3% alcohol |
| Bottle and code | 160 bottles of 16 oz, lot K-0910, straight into the cooler |
The starter brought the tea to pH 4.1 at the start, under the plan's 4.2, so the ferment began acidic. Ginger was steeped and strained rather than added as juice. The alcohol result, 0.3%, went on the run sheet before the bottles left, and they're kept cold from bottling to the grocer's cooler. How long they keep is in kombucha shelf life.
Get the run sheet
Download the kombucha production run sheet. Two sheets: a blank run sheet to print for each batch, with the nine steps, the check at each and its target, and spaces for the actual reading, the time and initials; and the same run filled in from the example. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The run sheet covers one batch. Four fermenters at different days, a dozen flavors, and kegs and bottles out to cafés and grocers: when a batch tests high for alcohol, the bottles from it have to be found.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack records each brew as a batch with its tea, sugar and flavor lots, so a bottle's lot leads back to its fermenter.
Brews as batches. Each brew takes the tea, sugar and ginger off stock with their lots, and records how many bottles and kegs it filled.
Bottles by lot. Each batch gets its lot and date, and lot labels print for the cases.
Where it went. Each order records the lot it got, so if a batch tests high, one recall report shows every customer.
| The job | Clipboard | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Which tea went into a batch | A note on the fermenter | Batches by lot |
| Bottles and kegs filled | Counted at the end | On the batch |
| Who got a batch that tested high | Invoices | One recall report |
Recipes, batches, lots and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.