# Brewing Community Reads

> Reviews of published kombucha brewing guides and food safety sources, saying what each one
> is good for and linking to the original.

Kombrewcha does not republish these articles. Each entry below is our review of someone
else's work, with a link to the original. The app's own Learn articles are separate and live
inside the app.

## The best guide to why your brew is taking so long

Kombucha Kamp lays out fermentation time as a range that moves with temperature, and makes the case for tasting rather than counting.

- Read it if a batch is running slower or faster than the recipe promised, and it is not obvious why.
- Topic: Timing
- Source: How Long Does It Take to Ferment Kombucha?, Kombucha Kamp
- Kind of source: Supplier
- Original: https://www.kombuchakamp.com/fermentation-time
- Our review: https://kombrewcha.app/reading/why-your-brew-is-taking-so-long.md

## Where the jar sits decides the brew

Cultures for Health puts a number on every temperature band, from the ideal window to the point where mold risk climbs to the heat that kills a culture outright.

- Read it if the house runs cold, or before moving a jar somewhere that seems warmer.
- Topic: Temperature
- Source: Kombucha Temperature: Brewing and Fermenting, Cultures for Health
- Kind of source: Supplier
- Original: https://culturesforhealth.com/blogs/learn/kombucha-temperature-brewing-fermenting
- Our review: https://kombrewcha.app/reading/where-the-jar-sits-decides-the-brew.md

## Eight things that decide whether a bottle fizzes

Deanna Talerico breaks the second ferment into the variables that actually move carbonation, and is blunt about which bottles are safe to use.

- Read it if bottles keep coming out flat, or if the bottles in the cupboard were bought for looks.
- Topic: Carbonation
- Source: Kombucha Carbonation Tips for a Bubbly Second Ferment, Homestead and Chill, by Deanna Talerico
- Kind of source: Working brewer
- Original: https://homesteadandchill.com/kombucha-carbonation-tips-second-ferment/
- Our review: https://kombrewcha.app/reading/eight-things-that-decide-the-fizz.md

## The case against burping every bottle

Angelica at You Brew Kombucha argues that daily burping is the thing flattening a flavor run, and gives a test that settles the question without opening the batch.

- Read it if bottles get opened every day out of nervousness and the result is always flat.
- Topic: Carbonation
- Source: Guide to 2nd Fermentation, You Brew Kombucha, by Angelica
- Kind of source: Working brewer
- Original: https://www.youbrewkombucha.com/guide-to-2nd-fermentation
- Our review: https://kombrewcha.app/reading/the-case-against-burping-every-bottle.md

## The acidity and alcohol numbers, from a university

Colorado State University's food safety fact sheet gives the pH window, the alcohol figures and the contamination risks, with 34 references behind them.

- Read it before deciding a batch is fine, and before repeating any figure about kombucha to someone else.
- Topic: Safety
- Source: Food Source Information: Kombucha, Colorado State University, by Laura Bauer
- Kind of source: University
- Original: https://www.chhs.colostate.edu/fsi/food-articles/complex-food/kombucha/
- Our review: https://kombrewcha.app/reading/the-acidity-and-alcohol-numbers.md

## What a state food safety bureau asks of kombucha

Pennsylvania's brewing and bottling guidelines set a pH floor as well as a ceiling, treat a sealed bottle as a physical hazard, and say plainly that bottled kombucha will pass 0.5% alcohol.

- Read it before selling a single bottle, and read it anyway for the clearest list of what can go wrong.
- Topic: Safety
- Source: Kombucha Brewing & Bottling Guidelines, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
- Kind of source: Government agency
- Original: https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/pda/documents/consumer_protection/foodsafety/manufacturing-packing-holding-distribution/documents/Guidelines%20for%20brewing-bottling%20Kombucha.pdf
- Our review: https://kombrewcha.app/reading/what-a-state-bureau-asks-of-kombucha.md