flavoring large batches to be kegged

Hi Everyone,

I am starting in on a large batch of kombucha, ~5gallons. I have a kegging system I use for homebrew beer etc. already. I am wondering since I don't intend to do 2F (I would pref to go straight to keg with the bulk of the batch) does anyone had experience on how to flavor this quantity? I am wondering if I should just put a bunch in to keg, bag some fruit, let it do a short 2F at room temp and then finish off the carb in the keggerator, or if it would be better just to let the batch go more sour than usual and blend it down with some juice to balance it.

also wondering, for a 5g batch, how much do you reserve as starter for the next round? I am guessing somewhere around 0.5-1 gallons?

Thanks for the help!

Posted Dec 16, 2019, 9:51 PM UTC

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lordvvarthog•6 yr. ago

a cup of starter per gallon so 5 cups. and for flavoring you can buy or make fruit syrups. usually you can just boil down 100% fruit juice to concentrate it. and flavor how you’d like bud say like 2-3 cups of a syrup

hahayepyep•6 yr. ago

I tend to favor fruit juices over whole fruit when kegging (for simplicity). Juice content of 10-12.5% works well. The 10% number is usually good for flavor and is a tidy number to work with at this volume (1/2 gallon). Rack into the keg (reserving the space for the juice) and cold crash (overnight) to slow/stop fermenting. Also, that 1/2 gallon not racked can be starter for the next batch. Once well chilled, add the juice (chilled) and force carb per your usual methods. Little-to-no continued fermentation should occur given the cold temps. You could also use a strainer bag to add fruit instead of the juice, but I’ve become so fond of some of the juice flavors I can make that I haven’t bothered with that for a while, now.

Hope that helps!

ETA: my focus on stopping/slowing the ferment is for consistency in carbonation. If you’re force carbing AND there’s continued CO2 production, it can messy.