Going from home brewing to establishing micro brewery - Which equipment (fermentation vessels) needed?

[Simon Hamacher]

Hi there!

I've been brewing Kombucha at home for quite a while now. Because I enjoy it so much I have been toying with the idea of opening a Kombucha micro brewery here in Europe. Only question now is what equipment do I need here, and I am mainly talking about thefermentation tanks.

What I have figured out so far is that I probably need different tanks for first and second fermentation. For the first fermentation I am thinking a simple food grade stainless steel tank with an outlet on the bottom. For the secondary fermentation I am definitely more clueless since it also has to be able to cool down the content (double walls probably) and carbonate (has to resist some amount of pressure). Any ideas which type of tanks I need for the second fermentation and what features they have to have? Thanks so much!!

Cheers,
Simon

[Jared Englund]

I use variable capacity wine fermenters for primary fermentation. 

To avoid alcohol, we do not secondary ferment.  Instead we carbonate in a Brite tank which holds pressure, and has a glycol jacket that is cooled by a G&D chiller.  We use a pump and brewers hose to transfer from one container to another.  We bottle directly from our brite tank.

Jared

[Jeev Sood]

I fail to understand how so many Experts propagate a Strict NO for use of Stainless Steel { https://redd.it/1xquia } included. I am advised to use Stoneware instead and very difficult to find this here. Specially in large capacity and with Spigot is impossible. Please clarify, do these Stainless Steel fermenters have a glass lining ?? Should I get a SS 304 ( Food Grade) Tank fabricated to specification instead without fear??

[Jeev Sood]

Hello 

Just a quick response. Can Kombucha be brewed in  Food grade SS tanks or does it HAVE to be a Glass vessel or a Glass lined vessel. I am told SS is a strict no for KOMBUCHA.  And your views on ...What about Food Grade Plastics??

Thanks

On Friday, April 8, 2016 at 10:46:10 PM UTC+5:30, Jared Englund wrote:

[Jared Englund]

We use stainless steel tanks.  We had to replace the chrome faucet with a stainless one, but the tanks have been working great for 6 years and still basically look shiny new.

I am not a fan of using plastic, stainless is the only way to go.  You DO have to passivate a new tank before use to remove the manufacturing chemicals.

[ianceppos]

What size brite tank do you use?

[bas...@kombucha.com.br]

You don't need a glass lined SS. A vassel made of 316 or 304 SS is just perfect.

[Jared Englund]

Yes 304 SS is good enough, 316 is better.  Glass lined is not necessary, plus less desireable as glass is breakable and porous.

Our brite tank is 10BBL which we can carbonate overnight and empty into bottles in 1-2 days using 2 beer guns.

[katb...@gmail.com]

Along the same lines as equipment, what kind of ratio of sugar to water, and tea, do you use when scaling up from a 1 gallon system to a 10-15 or even 55 gallon system? Thanks so much!

[Jared Englund]

It will take some testing to get it  perfect, but you are basically just multiplying by 55.

[Michelle]

Assuming all things are constant, is there a flavor or mouthfeel difference between fermenting in glass vs stainless steel?

[thor...@gmail.com]

Just curious...do you prefer brewing containers with a spigot or do you end up siphoning your kombucha off each time?  I am expanding to a 10 gallon SS kettle and wondered if I should invest the extra in one with a spigot.  My small glass containers have them and I do like it for sampling to pH and such but could easily use a straw.  

Pam

[Jared Englund]

I find that stainless steel gives a very pure taste.  The container does not affect the flavor at all UNLESS there is other contaminants that you don't properly remove.  Biggest thing is if you buy a stainless steel fermenting you probably need to passivate it with hot cleaner cycled for long periods of time to remove the manufacturing oils.

Glass containers are hard to keep totally clean, but if you clean it really well you can get a clean flavor.

Some people say glass is better, which I agree but I think the main reason is that glass is used in smaller batches and that it's easier to get a small batch to taste good.  When you move into larger sizes in which you would need stainless steel, small mistakes become big mistakes.  The same would be true if you were to use a 50 gallon glass tank, small mistakes would all be amplified.

I love using stainless steel and would never consider using any other material.  But for home use I think glass is awesome, just keep your jars clean. 

Kombucha will pull the toxins out of your body, but it will also pull the toxins out of aluminum or other metals that may be used on some containers.  Plastic is frequently used but not ideal for the same reasons glass is not ideal - it is porous and hard to get completely clean.

[Jared Englund]

Faucets are awesome if you can use one that is 100% stainless steel and cleanable.  When you buy a stainless steel tank it usually will come with a brass faucet.  You need to upgrade to a 100% stainless faucet because of Kombucha's acidity.

I also feel like the faucet at the bottom provides a better sample of what the batch actually tastes like. 

[summer...@gmail.com]

How do you flavour your kombucha if you don’t do a secondary ferment?

[Jared Englund]

We use an infusion method by soaking the ingredient in Kombucha at 38F, the vinegars extract the flavor and color and we strain out the solids.  If you can keep the sugar, oxygen, and sediment levels low enough in the bottle, a secondary fermentation will not be triggered.  Our raspberry Kombucha is the best example of this, it has a beautiful color and tastes like fresh raspberries.  Cheers!