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Best Bottles for Flavoring and Storing Kombucha

best bottles for flavoring and storing kombucha

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Once fermentation one is finished, your kombucha is ready to flavor. You can create endless recipes and it is fun to experiment and create interesting new variations.

You can flavor the kombucha in a second large fermentation vessel, but most folks do it in the bottle. That way, you can make more than one flavor from one batch of brewed kombucha.

Related: Discover the fun of creating your own kombucha flavors

Bottles make it easy to store your finished kombucha in the refrigerator and transport to share with friends and family. There a number of different bottles that will work to flavor and store kombucha, but there are certain must-have characteristics.

1. Strong Glass

2. Secure, Airtight Lids

3. Easy to Clean

4. Large Openings

In a hurry? See our top picks for the best kombucha bottles…
CLICK on any button below to see Ratings and Reviews on Amazon

Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

Our favorite bottles, like these available on Amazon above, are perfect for flavoring and bottling kombucha. They are made of strong glass, have tight-fitting lids, as well as wide mouths that make it easy to add flavoring ingredients and clean with a bottle brush.

1. Strong glass

The bottle should be made of strong glass. The glass in many bottles, like those that beer or soft drinks come in, is often not strong enough to withstand the pressure that builds up as the kombucha eats the residual sugar and creates the carbon dioxide that makes the bubbles. In some instances, they could even explode.

2. Secure lids

The bottle lid should fit securely and not allow any gas to escape. Bottles that are not sealed properly will not hold in the pressure that makes kombucha fizzy. They could also leak, which could get messy.

kombucha glass bottles2

3. Easy to clean

Since you will be using the same bottles many times over, you want ones that are easy to clean.

4. Large openings to add ingredients

In the fermentation two phase, you add fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs to the bottle to flavor the kombucha. Bottles with larger openings make it easy to add diced or chopped fruit or vegetables.

Storing kombucha in plastic bottles? Maybe not.

People often ask “Can I store kombucha in plastic bottles?” The answer is yes, you can store kombucha in plastic. But, we would only consider doing so as a last resort.

Plastic bottles, like the kind that bottled water and soft drinks come in, can work in a pinch to store kombucha if the tops screw on tightly. However, plastic, even food-grade plastic, may contain undesirable chemicals that can leach into the kombucha.

Many plastic bottles have walls that are too weak and will soon stretch and deform as the pressure from the carbonation builds up inside. Also, plastic is easily damaged, and scratches can harbor foreign bacteria.

Swing Top Bottles for Storing Kombucha

Although not our personal favorites, many folks like to bottle their kombucha in swing-top bottles like these. They are made of strong glass and have tight fitting lids. They are just a little more trouble when it comes to adding diced or chopped fruits and vegetables.
Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

Keeping the bottles that you flavor and store your home brewed kombucha in clean is obviously important. You can usually just rinse them out with hot water, or run them through the dishwasher, and then dry them.

Sometimes sediment or pieces of fruit can get stuck inside the bottle. We find a brush like this one is very useful.

This nylon brush is 16″ long and 2.5″ in diameter, so it easily washes the inside of kombucha and other types of brewing or wide bottles. It features a big and wide brush cleaning head with long handle to wash bottles in one go. It is also flexible and long for hard to reach places and includes a firm and sturdy handle.

Learn More at Amazon.com

16" Long Bottle Brush Cleaner for Washing Wine, Beer, Swell, Decanter, Kombucha, Thermos, Glass Jugs and Long Narrow Neck Sport Bottles

Related: Our choice of the best budget kombucha brewing jar

What bottles are your favorites when it comes time to bottle your booch? Please leave your comment below.

 

8 Comments

  1. Marissa Myers
    Marissa Myers on October 21, 2019 at 3:42 pm

    I have been using /recycling store bought buch bottles, except with purchased F217 lids. Also the swing top bottles. I have also found heavy glass soda bottles with screw on lids work. I am trsting purchased stout bottles. It seems to be holding the fizz just fine.

    Reply
    • neilalan
      neilalan on October 22, 2019 at 1:42 am

      Thanks for your comment Marissa. We have used recycled kombucha bottles and swing top bottles, as well as screw top wine bottles. The screw top bottles seem to work, but I do think they lost a bit of the carbonation, depending on how long we kept them. As you said, it is best to use bottles with strong glass. We haven’t had a bottle explode yet, but we know that folks sometimes do. We recommend burping the bottles, which is also a good way to check on the carbonation.

      Reply
  2. Alex
    Alex on May 8, 2020 at 5:29 pm

    Hi! What are the bottles shown on the header of the website? They are tall, round and have a plastic cap. Looking to buy these in bulk so the ones listed from amazon with the metal caps will quickly add up in price.
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • neilalan
      neilalan on May 8, 2020 at 8:18 pm

      Hi Alex,
      Thanks for your comment. Right now the best, low cost bottles are these on Amazon https://amzn.to/2SOqyqf . They are $21 for six and include sleeves which is nice. The ones in the kombuchajournal header are actually GTs bottles that are recycled from kombucha that we bought, before we started brewing ourselves. For slightly more money than buying bottles, you could buy GTs Kombucha (sometimes it is on sale) and reuse the bottles. The good thing is that bottles are used over and over for years, so the expense isn’t really that much over time.

      Reply
  3. Patricia
    Patricia on October 5, 2020 at 9:41 am

    Great explanation! Do you know if the smokes growlers make any difference? I can’t barely see kombuchas in those bottles, only in transparent ones. Thanks!

    Reply
    • neilalan
      neilalan on October 11, 2020 at 10:15 pm

      Hi Patricia. Thanks for your question. Commercial kombucha is sold in both dark and clear bottles. Anyway, once it is finished getting fizzy in the bottles, it needs to be kept refrigerated, so it will be in a dark place anyway. So, I don’t think it matters if the bottles are clear or smoked.

      Reply
  4. Odetter
    Odetter on April 6, 2023 at 4:08 am

    Hi I was just wondering, if I had to store my kombucha in a plastic bottle just for a day will it harm the kombucha?

    Reply
    • neilalan
      neilalan on May 12, 2023 at 1:58 pm

      Hi and thank you for your question. It seems reasonable to me for you to be able to store kombucha in plastic for a very short time. Make sure the plastic container is clean and dry.

      Reply

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