Kombucha producers
Carbonation for kombucha producers
Control the carbonation step while keeping the fermentation story honest. Forced carbonation in a chilled, pressure-rated tank separates "how fizzy should it be?" from "how much gas will the culture make next?"
The process decision
Natural secondary fermentation keeps producing CO2 and ethanol, and refrigeration is used to slow it down. Sugar, fruit, yeast activity, time, temperature, headspace and closures all vary, which makes bottle-level carbonation hard to standardize.
Commercial producers using a chilled, pressure-rated tank can force carbonate before packaging, so carbonation is set by the process rather than by what the culture does in each bottle.
Where it goes wrong
- Carbonation varies bottle to bottle with sugar, fruit and yeast activity.
- Too much pressure in the package causes gushers or package hazards.
- Fermentation continues if product warms up, changing flavour and carbonation.
- Manual forced carbonation varies with temperature and timing.
Labelling
Keep the fermentation story honest
Forced carbonation changes what you can say on the label. Kombucha Brewers International's code of practice, for example, requires infused CO2 to be declared in the ingredient statement and reserves "naturally carbonated" language for products without forced carbonation.
Rules and terminology vary by jurisdiction. Check the requirements where you sell before changing your process or your label.
Before you switch
- Review your ingredient statement for added CO2.
- Review any "naturally carbonated" or "naturally effervescent" claims.
- Confirm local labelling requirements.
A FizzWizz workflow
- Chill the kombucha in a pressure-rated tank.
- Enter the batch and target, and let FizzWizz carbonate to the endpoint.
- Confirm carbonation with a calibrated meter.
- Package with head pressure held in packaging mode, and keep product cold.
Compatibility checklist
- A pressure-rated tank with suitable relief protection.
- A carbonation stone sized for the vessel.
- A CIP arm and a thermowell, or ports for them.
- Beverage-grade CO2, leak-checked from cylinder to tank.
- Refrigeration that keeps the product cold before and after packaging.
FizzWizz does not control fermentation, ethanol or refrigeration, and a pressure reading does not show that a beverage is stable. Keep your existing controls for those.
Check your setup
Tell us about your tank, stone, ports and packaging and we will recommend a configuration for review.