# Scoby & Spout — full reference > The fermented-drink stack — vessels, cultures and bottling — compared on > published specifications, not on testing we did not do. https://scobyandspout.com Contact: info@scobyandspout.com Published by Slate Mill Group (https://slatemillgroup.com) Last updated: 2026-09-01 Pages: 57 ## What Scoby & Spout is An independent publication about the equipment for making fermented drinks at home. It exists for a specific reader: someone who has already decided they want one particular piece of the stack — a one-gallon jar with a spigot, a swing-top bottle that can actually hold pressure, a SCOBY, a heat mat — and wants that one thing answered exhaustively on sizes, materials and what fails. ## What this site claims, and what it refuses to claim Scoby & Spout compares equipment for making fermented drinks at home. Every specification on the site is compiled from the manufacturer's or retailer's own published document and is attributed on the page, with the date it was retrieved. We have NOT tested this hardware and we never claim to have. There is no test lab, no owned units, no "in our testing". Instead the scoring rubric is published with its weights and a worked example you can recompute on a calculator: /methodology. Where a maker publishes no figure, the page says "not published" rather than estimating. Mouth diameter on brewing jars is the commonest such gap. Prices are NOT stated anywhere in this file, and on the site they render only from a live data layer that expires after 48 hours. Where no live price exists, every buy button reads "check price on Amazon" rather than showing a remembered number. The site carries no reviews or testimonials of itself, and emits no Review or aggregateRating structured data, because there is nothing real to put in one. ## How it is funded Scoby & Spout is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and earns affiliate commission on qualifying purchases. No CJ or Awin programs are joined, so no link on the site earns through either network. Commission does not affect rankings: the score is computed from five weighted criteria applied to published specifications, and commission rate is not one of them. No paid placement, no sponsored reviews, no free products. Full disclosure: /affiliate-disclosure ## Author Written by Scooter M., an enthusiast — someone who reads the manuals, compiles the published specifications and does the arithmetic. Not a credential, not a laboratory, and not a medical or food-safety authority. Nothing on the site is health advice. ## Scope In scope: fermented DRINKS and the gear that makes them. Kombucha, jun, water kefir, milk kefir, ginger bug, tepache — plus vessels, cultures, bottles and temperature and pH control. Out of scope, deliberately: vegetable-ferment equipment. Fermentation crocks, weights and airlock lids for sauerkraut, kimchi and pickles serve a different buyer and are not covered. ## The scoring rubric Five weighted criteria, applied to published specifications. The weights are niche-specific: kombucha sits at roughly pH 2.5 to 3.5 for weeks at a time, which is a hostile environment for hardware, so materials carries the most weight here. - Materials (28%) — what it is made of, and whether that survives months at pH 3 - Documentation (22%) — how much the maker publishes, and how checkable it is - Capacity fit (16%) — how well the stated size matches a real batch - Cleaning (18%) — whether it comes apart far enough to clean without a fight - Value (16%) — what you get for the money against the alternatives on the page Every score on the site is computed by one function from those five numbers. None is typed in by hand. The full method, including a worked example, is at https://scobyandspout.com/methodology ## Reference figures used throughout the site These are the numbers a home brewer of fermented drinks actually needs. Each is either a working range used consistently across the site or a figure published by a named maker. - Kombucha first fermentation: 7 to 14 days, temperature-dependent - Kombucha brewing temperature: about 75 to 85 F. Below 70 F a batch stalls; above 85 F it goes thin and sour - Finished kombucha pH: about 2.5 to 3.5 - Safety checkpoint: a new batch should drop below about pH 4.2 within two or three days - Starter tea: roughly 10 percent of batch volume — about 12 to 13 fl oz for a one-gallon batch (rule published by Fermentaholics) - One gallon yields about seven 16 oz bottles after holding back starter tea - Second fermentation: 1 to 5 days sealed at room temperature, then refrigerate - Continuous brew: 2 to 5 gallons (Kombucha Kamp); a 1-gallon jar is explicitly not suitable - Water kefir: 24 to 48 hour cycle; 1 to 2 tsp grains per 4 cups; 68 to 85 F; dehydrated grains rehydrate in 3 to 4 days, up to 7 (Cultures for Health) - Safe spigot materials: 304-grade stainless or better, named professional-grade hard plastic, wood. NOT brass, NOT consumer-grade translucent white plastic, NOT metallic-coated semi-hard plastic (Kombucha Kamp) - EZ Cap 16 oz amber swing-top bottles: published pressure rating of 100 PSI — the only such figure any bottle on this site states - Micro Essential Lab Hydrion 9200 pH strips: 0.0 to 6.0 in 0.5 intervals, 100 strips per vial - VIVOSUN 10 x 20.75 in seedling heat mat: 18 W, IP67, UL and MET certified, published to reach about 104 F from a 68 to 77 F ambient — above kombucha's band, which is why it needs a thermostat - Inkbird ITC-308 controller: -50 to 120 C, ±1 C accuracy, 10 A relays, 1100 W maximum at 110 V ## Sections in detail ### Starter kits — https://scobyandspout.com/kits What is actually in the box, and when a kit is the wrong purchase. - **Best Kombucha Kit for Beginners: 4 Compared | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/kits/beginner-kits) Four beginner kombucha kits compared on what they publish, not what they promise. Which include the instruments, which leave you shopping again on day two. - **Continuous Brew Kombucha Kits: What Size | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/kits/continuous-brew-kits) Continuous brew needs a bigger vessel than a starter kit provides. Published capacities and heights for three brewers, and why one gallon does not work. - **Kombucha Kits as Gifts | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/kits/gift-kits) A kombucha kit is a good gift when it arrives complete and a bad one when it needs a second order. Which kits give well, and what to add to the box. - **Kombucha Kit vs DIY: Which Is Better Value? | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/kits/kit-vs-diy) A kit is a jar, a culture, tea and sugar in one box. Here is exactly what you give up by assembling it yourself, and when doing so is the better call. - **What Equipment Do I Need to Make Kombucha? | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/kits/what-equipment-do-i-need) The complete kombucha equipment list, split into what you genuinely need, what helps, and what you can skip. With the sizes and materials that matter. ### Vessels and jars — https://scobyandspout.com/vessels Glass, spigots, sizes and the materials that survive pH 3. - **Continuous Brew Kombucha Vessels Compared | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/continuous-brew) Continuous brew needs 2 to 5 gallons, a tap and somewhere to put it. Three vessels compared on published capacity, height and spigot material. - **Kombucha Jar Covers: A Cloth, Not a Lid | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/covers-and-lids) The first fermentation needs air exchange and no fruit flies. What weave actually works, why coffee filters fail, and when a solid lid belongs on the jar. - **Glass vs Ceramic Kombucha Vessels | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/glass-vs-ceramic) Visibility against light protection, weight against thermal stability, and the lead question. The two materials compared on published specifications. - **Best Kombucha Jar With a Spigot: 304 Stainless | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/jars-with-spigot) A spigot is the only moving part on a fermentation vessel and the only one that can leach. Which jars publish their valve grade, and which do not. - **Can You Brew Kombucha in Plastic? Materials | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/materials) Glass, ceramic, stainless and plastic ranked for kombucha, with the lead question on ceramic and the honest answer on food-grade plastic. - **What Size Jar for Kombucha? | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/sizing) A table of batch size to jar size to bottles filled, plus the headroom and surface-area rules that decide whether a vessel actually works. - **Kombucha Spigot Safety: Safe Materials | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/spigot-safety) Stainless grade, plastic type and the brass trap. What Kombucha Kamp publishes about spigot materials, and how to check a tap before you trust it. ### Cultures and SCOBYs — https://scobyandspout.com/cultures SCOBYs, jun, water kefir grains and ginger bugs. - **Ginger Bug: How to Make One | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/ginger-bug) A ginger bug is the one drink culture you build rather than buy. The daily feed, the signs it is working, and how it differs from a kombucha SCOBY. - **Jun vs Kombucha: What Actually Differs | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/jun-vs-kombucha) Green tea and honey against black tea and sugar, a cooler ferment and a different culture. Where jun genuinely differs, and why you cannot convert one. - **Kombucha vs Water Kefir | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/kombucha-vs-water-kefir) A fortnight against 48 hours, tea against sugar water, a pellicle against grains. The two ferments compared on published cycle times and ratios. - **Kombucha SCOBY: What It Is and How to Read It | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/scoby) The pellicle is not the culture. What a SCOBY actually is, how much starter tea it needs, how long one takes to grow, and how to tell a healthy one. - **SCOBY Hotel: How to Make and Feed One | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/scoby-hotel) Where spare cultures live between batches. What jar to use, how strong the liquid should be, how often to feed it, and whether to refrigerate. - **Tepache: The Three-Day Pineapple Ferment | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/tepache) Tepache is made from pineapple rind, sugar and water in two to four days with no culture to buy. How it works, and how it compares to kombucha. - **Water Kefir Grains: Buying and Rehydrating | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/water-kefir-grains) Published rehydration windows, working ratios, temperature bands and shelf life for dehydrated water kefir grains — plus what to do when they stop multiplying. - **Where to Buy a Kombucha SCOBY | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/where-to-buy-a-scoby) Culture houses, marketplaces and other brewers compared. What each publishes, what to check before ordering, and why free is not always the best option. ### Bottling and carbonation — https://scobyandspout.com/bottling Which bottles hold pressure, and which only look like it. - **Kombucha Bottle Sizes: 16 oz vs 32 oz | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/bottle-sizes) How many bottles a gallon fills at each size, and the trade-off nobody mentions: fewer bottles to fill against faster loss of carbonation once opened. - **Swing Top Gaskets and Flat Kombucha | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/gaskets-and-seals) A perished gasket is the most common cause of a flat second fermentation. How to test a seal, when to replace, and why crown caps are more reliable. - **Can You Put Kombucha in Plastic Bottles? | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/plastic-vs-glass) Glass for serving and storage, plastic for exactly one job. Why a PET soda bottle is the best pressure gauge a home brewer has, and where plastic fails. - **Bottles for a Kombucha Second Ferment | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/second-ferment-bottles) Which bottles are built for pressure and which only look like they are. Mason jars, decorative bottles, plastic testers and the one published rating. - **Best Swing Top Bottles for Kombucha | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/swing-top-bottles) Only one bottle in this category publishes a pressure rating. Which swing tops hold carbonation, which are storage bottles, and how to tell them apart. ### Brew control — https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control Temperature and pH — the two readings that decide a batch. - **Kombucha Heating Mats: Why You Need a Thermostat | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/heating-mats) A seedling heat mat published at 104 F is too hot for kombucha on its own. Which mat, which controller, and how to set the pair up safely. - **What pH Should Kombucha Be? | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/ph-testing) Finished kombucha sits at 2.5 to 3.5, and a new batch should pass 4.2 within days. Which strips read that band properly, and how to test without ruining it. - **Kombucha Brewing Temperature: The Right Band | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/temperature) Brew between 75 and 85 F. What happens above and below, why the jar is not the room, and how to fix a kitchen that sits too cold. - **Kombucha Temperature Controllers: The Specs | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/temperature-controllers) Published relay ratings, accuracy and alarms on the Inkbird ITC-308, and what each figure means for a jar of kombucha on a heat mat. - **Kombucha Thermometers: Strips vs Probes | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/thermometers) An adhesive strip reads the liquid through the glass for a couple of dollars. When that is enough, and when you need a probe instead. ### Guides — https://scobyandspout.com/guides How to brew it, and what to do when it goes wrong. - **Cleaning Kombucha Equipment: What to Use | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/cleaning-and-sanitizing) Kombucha is not beer and does not need the same sanitizing regime. What to clean, how often, and the products that will damage a culture. - **Is Home Fermentation Safe? | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/fermentation-safety) Acidity is the protective mechanism. Which precautions genuinely matter for home drink ferments, which are folklore, and where to stop and ask someone qualified. - **Kombucha First Batch Timeline, Day by Day | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/first-batch-timeline) A day-by-day account of a first batch: what you should see, what is normal, when to worry, and when to start tasting. - **Flavoring Kombucha: What to Add | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/flavoring-kombucha) Flavor goes in the bottle, never the brewing jar. How much fruit to add, which additions carbonate hardest, and what to avoid entirely. - **How to Bottle Kombucha | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/how-to-bottle-kombucha) Reserve the starter, strain, fill with headroom, seal and condition. The whole bottling process with the quantities and the two things people get wrong. - **How to Brew Kombucha at Home | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/how-to-brew-kombucha) The full one-gallon method with real ratios, temperatures and timings. What to buy, what to do each day, and what the two fermentations are for. - **Kombucha Alcohol Content | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/kombucha-alcohol-content) Every fermentation makes some alcohol. What the US 0.5 percent threshold means, why homebrewed kombucha is unmeasured, and what raises the level. - **Kombucha Mold vs SCOBY: Telling Them Apart | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/kombucha-mold) Mold is fuzzy, dry and raised. A new pellicle is smooth, wet and flat. The distinction that decides whether to throw a batch away, and how to prevent it. - **Why Your Kombucha Isn't Carbonating | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/kombucha-not-carbonating) The five causes of a flat second fermentation, ranked by how often each is actually the problem — starting with the one people never check. - **Kombucha Second Fermentation, Explained | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/second-fermentation) What the second ferment is, how much sugar to add, how long it takes, and how to know when to refrigerate without opening every bottle. - **Best Tea and Sugar for Kombucha | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/guides/tea-and-sugar) Black, green, white or oolong — and plain cane sugar. Which teas damage a culture over time, why herbal infusions do not work, and the ratios for a gallon. ## Trust and policy pages - **About Scoby & Spout | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/about) Who runs Scoby & Spout, what we do and do not claim, and why a site about kombucha gear publishes its method instead of a test lab it does not have. - **Affiliate Disclosure | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/affiliate-disclosure) How this site makes money, which links earn a commission, which do not, and the specific things commission is not allowed to change. Plain English, no hedging. - **Contact Scoby & Spout | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/contact) Report a specification we have wrong, suggest a product worth comparing, or ask a brewing question. One inbox, read by the person who writes the site. - **Editorial Policy and Corrections | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/editorial-policy) What Scoby & Spout will and will not publish, how specifications are sourced, how often pages are reviewed, and how to get something corrected. - **Kombucha FAQ: 20 Questions Answered | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/faq) Brewing times, temperatures, pH, mold, carbonation, vessels and cultures — the twenty questions that come up most, answered directly and without hedging. - **How We Compare Kombucha Gear | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/methodology) The full scoring rubric, its weights, where every specification comes from, and the disqualifiers. Recomputable on a calculator, because we publish the math. - **Privacy Policy | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/privacy-policy) What data Scoby & Spout collects, what it does not, which third parties are involved when you visit, and how to get in touch about any of it. - **Sitemap: Every Page on This Site | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/site-index) Every page on this site, grouped by section. The plain, crawlable index that guarantees nothing here is more than two clicks from the homepage. - **Terms of Service | Scoby & Spout** (https://scobyandspout.com/terms-of-service) The terms you accept by using Scoby & Spout: what the content is, what it is not, and the limits on what we can be responsible for. ## Questions this site answers directly - What temperature should kombucha be brewed at? - What pH should kombucha be, and when is a batch safe? - How do I tell mold from a SCOBY? - Why is my kombucha not carbonating? - What size jar do I need, and how many bottles does a gallon fill? - Which spigot materials are safe, and why is brass not one of them? - Can I brew kombucha in plastic? - Where do I buy a SCOBY, and how much starter tea should come with it? - What is the difference between kombucha, jun, water kefir and tepache? - Which bottles can hold a second fermentation, and which cannot? - Do I need a heat mat, and why does it need a thermostat? - How much alcohol is in homebrewed kombucha? (Honest answer: nobody knows — it is untested, and a hydrometer cannot measure it.) ## Machine-readable endpoints - https://scobyandspout.com/sitemap.xml — every indexable URL, priority set by commercial intent, last-modified from real content dates and never the build timestamp - https://scobyandspout.com/feed.xml — Atom, 20 most recent pages, excerpt only, declares the WebSub hub at https://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/ - https://scobyandspout.com/robots.txt — every major AI crawler explicitly allowed, including Google-Extended and Applebot-Extended, which are default-blocked - https://scobyandspout.com/site-index — the HTML sitemap, linked from the footer of every page ## Complete page list (57) - [Best Kombucha Brewing Gear | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com) Kombucha gear compared on published specifications, not on testing we did not do. Vessels, cultures, bottles and brew control, with every figure sourced. - [About Scoby & Spout | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/about) Who runs Scoby & Spout, what we do and do not claim, and why a site about kombucha gear publishes its method instead of a test lab it does not have. - [Affiliate Disclosure | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/affiliate-disclosure) How this site makes money, which links earn a commission, which do not, and the specific things commission is not allowed to change. Plain English, no hedging. - [Best Bottles for Kombucha: Pressure Ratings | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/bottling) Which bottles hold carbonation and which do not. Published pressure ratings, swing tops versus crown caps, amber versus clear, and the sizes that suit a gallon. - [Kombucha Bottle Sizes: 16 oz vs 32 oz | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/bottle-sizes) How many bottles a gallon fills at each size, and the trade-off nobody mentions: fewer bottles to fill against faster loss of carbonation once opened. - [Swing Top Gaskets and Flat Kombucha | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/gaskets-and-seals) A perished gasket is the most common cause of a flat second fermentation. How to test a seal, when to replace, and why crown caps are more reliable. - [Can You Put Kombucha in Plastic Bottles? | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/plastic-vs-glass) Glass for serving and storage, plastic for exactly one job. Why a PET soda bottle is the best pressure gauge a home brewer has, and where plastic fails. - [Bottles for a Kombucha Second Ferment | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/second-ferment-bottles) Which bottles are built for pressure and which only look like they are. Mason jars, decorative bottles, plastic testers and the one published rating. - [Best Swing Top Bottles for Kombucha | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/bottling/swing-top-bottles) Only one bottle in this category publishes a pressure rating. Which swing tops hold carbonation, which are storage bottles, and how to tell them apart. - [Kombucha Temperature and pH: Control Gear | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control) The two numbers that decide a batch: temperature and pH. Which strips, mats, thermometers and controllers are worth buying, with published specifications. - [Kombucha Heating Mats: Why You Need a Thermostat | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/heating-mats) A seedling heat mat published at 104 F is too hot for kombucha on its own. Which mat, which controller, and how to set the pair up safely. - [What pH Should Kombucha Be? | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/ph-testing) Finished kombucha sits at 2.5 to 3.5, and a new batch should pass 4.2 within days. Which strips read that band properly, and how to test without ruining it. - [Kombucha Brewing Temperature: The Right Band | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/temperature) Brew between 75 and 85 F. What happens above and below, why the jar is not the room, and how to fix a kitchen that sits too cold. - [Kombucha Temperature Controllers: The Specs | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/temperature-controllers) Published relay ratings, accuracy and alarms on the Inkbird ITC-308, and what each figure means for a jar of kombucha on a heat mat. - [Kombucha Thermometers: Strips vs Probes | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/brew-control/thermometers) An adhesive strip reads the liquid through the glass for a couple of dollars. When that is enough, and when you need a probe instead. - [Contact Scoby & Spout | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/contact) Report a specification we have wrong, suggest a product worth comparing, or ask a brewing question. One inbox, read by the person who writes the site. - [Kombucha Cultures: SCOBYs, Jun and Kefir Grains | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures) Where to buy a SCOBY, how much starter tea you actually need, and how kombucha, jun, water kefir and ginger bug cultures genuinely differ. - [Ginger Bug: How to Make One | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/ginger-bug) A ginger bug is the one drink culture you build rather than buy. The daily feed, the signs it is working, and how it differs from a kombucha SCOBY. - [Jun vs Kombucha: What Actually Differs | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/jun-vs-kombucha) Green tea and honey against black tea and sugar, a cooler ferment and a different culture. Where jun genuinely differs, and why you cannot convert one. - [Kombucha vs Water Kefir | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/kombucha-vs-water-kefir) A fortnight against 48 hours, tea against sugar water, a pellicle against grains. The two ferments compared on published cycle times and ratios. - [Kombucha SCOBY: What It Is and How to Read It | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/scoby) The pellicle is not the culture. What a SCOBY actually is, how much starter tea it needs, how long one takes to grow, and how to tell a healthy one. - [SCOBY Hotel: How to Make and Feed One | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/scoby-hotel) Where spare cultures live between batches. What jar to use, how strong the liquid should be, how often to feed it, and whether to refrigerate. - [Tepache: The Three-Day Pineapple Ferment | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/tepache) Tepache is made from pineapple rind, sugar and water in two to four days with no culture to buy. How it works, and how it compares to kombucha. - [Water Kefir Grains: Buying and Rehydrating | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/water-kefir-grains) Published rehydration windows, working ratios, temperature bands and shelf life for dehydrated water kefir grains — plus what to do when they stop multiplying. - [Where to Buy a Kombucha SCOBY | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/cultures/where-to-buy-a-scoby) Culture houses, marketplaces and other brewers compared. What each publishes, what to check before ordering, and why free is not always the best option. - [Editorial Policy and Corrections | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/editorial-policy) What Scoby & Spout will and will not publish, how specifications are sourced, how often pages are reviewed, and how to get something corrected. - [Kombucha FAQ: 20 Questions Answered | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/faq) Brewing times, temperatures, pH, mold, carbonation, vessels and cultures — the twenty questions that come up most, answered directly and without hedging. - [Kombucha Brewing Guides and Fixes | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides) How to brew kombucha, why it is not carbonating, how to tell mold from a SCOBY, and the rest of the answers a home brewer actually needs. Start here. - [Cleaning Kombucha Equipment: What to Use | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/cleaning-and-sanitizing) Kombucha is not beer and does not need the same sanitizing regime. What to clean, how often, and the products that will damage a culture. - [Is Home Fermentation Safe? | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/fermentation-safety) Acidity is the protective mechanism. Which precautions genuinely matter for home drink ferments, which are folklore, and where to stop and ask someone qualified. - [Kombucha First Batch Timeline, Day by Day | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/first-batch-timeline) A day-by-day account of a first batch: what you should see, what is normal, when to worry, and when to start tasting. - [Flavoring Kombucha: What to Add | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/flavoring-kombucha) Flavor goes in the bottle, never the brewing jar. How much fruit to add, which additions carbonate hardest, and what to avoid entirely. - [How to Bottle Kombucha | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/how-to-bottle-kombucha) Reserve the starter, strain, fill with headroom, seal and condition. The whole bottling process with the quantities and the two things people get wrong. - [How to Brew Kombucha at Home | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/how-to-brew-kombucha) The full one-gallon method with real ratios, temperatures and timings. What to buy, what to do each day, and what the two fermentations are for. - [Kombucha Alcohol Content | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/kombucha-alcohol-content) Every fermentation makes some alcohol. What the US 0.5 percent threshold means, why homebrewed kombucha is unmeasured, and what raises the level. - [Kombucha Mold vs SCOBY: Telling Them Apart | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/kombucha-mold) Mold is fuzzy, dry and raised. A new pellicle is smooth, wet and flat. The distinction that decides whether to throw a batch away, and how to prevent it. - [Why Your Kombucha Isn't Carbonating | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/kombucha-not-carbonating) The five causes of a flat second fermentation, ranked by how often each is actually the problem — starting with the one people never check. - [Kombucha Second Fermentation, Explained | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/second-fermentation) What the second ferment is, how much sugar to add, how long it takes, and how to know when to refrigerate without opening every bottle. - [Best Tea and Sugar for Kombucha | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/guides/tea-and-sugar) Black, green, white or oolong — and plain cane sugar. Which teas damage a culture over time, why herbal infusions do not work, and the ratios for a gallon. - [Best Kombucha Starter Kits: What's in the Box | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/kits) Every kombucha starter kit compared on published contents, not marketing. Which ones include pH strips, which include nothing, and when to skip the kit. - [Best Kombucha Kit for Beginners: 4 Compared | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/kits/beginner-kits) Four beginner kombucha kits compared on what they publish, not what they promise. Which include the instruments, which leave you shopping again on day two. - [Continuous Brew Kombucha Kits: What Size | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/kits/continuous-brew-kits) Continuous brew needs a bigger vessel than a starter kit provides. Published capacities and heights for three brewers, and why one gallon does not work. - [Kombucha Kits as Gifts | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/kits/gift-kits) A kombucha kit is a good gift when it arrives complete and a bad one when it needs a second order. Which kits give well, and what to add to the box. - [Kombucha Kit vs DIY: Which Is Better Value? | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/kits/kit-vs-diy) A kit is a jar, a culture, tea and sugar in one box. Here is exactly what you give up by assembling it yourself, and when doing so is the better call. - [What Equipment Do I Need to Make Kombucha? | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/kits/what-equipment-do-i-need) The complete kombucha equipment list, split into what you genuinely need, what helps, and what you can skip. With the sizes and materials that matter. - [How We Compare Kombucha Gear | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/methodology) The full scoring rubric, its weights, where every specification comes from, and the disqualifiers. Recomputable on a calculator, because we publish the math. - [Privacy Policy | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/privacy-policy) What data Scoby & Spout collects, what it does not, which third parties are involved when you visit, and how to get in touch about any of it. - [Sitemap: Every Page on This Site | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/site-index) Every page on this site, grouped by section. The plain, crawlable index that guarantees nothing here is more than two clicks from the homepage. - [Terms of Service | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/terms-of-service) The terms you accept by using Scoby & Spout: what the content is, what it is not, and the limits on what we can be responsible for. - [Best Kombucha Brewing Vessels and Jars | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels) Kombucha jars compared on published dimensions, spigot grade and mouth width. What survives pH 3, what size fits your batch, and what to avoid entirely. - [Continuous Brew Kombucha Vessels Compared | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/continuous-brew) Continuous brew needs 2 to 5 gallons, a tap and somewhere to put it. Three vessels compared on published capacity, height and spigot material. - [Kombucha Jar Covers: A Cloth, Not a Lid | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/covers-and-lids) The first fermentation needs air exchange and no fruit flies. What weave actually works, why coffee filters fail, and when a solid lid belongs on the jar. - [Glass vs Ceramic Kombucha Vessels | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/glass-vs-ceramic) Visibility against light protection, weight against thermal stability, and the lead question. The two materials compared on published specifications. - [Best Kombucha Jar With a Spigot: 304 Stainless | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/jars-with-spigot) A spigot is the only moving part on a fermentation vessel and the only one that can leach. Which jars publish their valve grade, and which do not. - [Can You Brew Kombucha in Plastic? Materials | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/materials) Glass, ceramic, stainless and plastic ranked for kombucha, with the lead question on ceramic and the honest answer on food-grade plastic. - [What Size Jar for Kombucha? | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/sizing) A table of batch size to jar size to bottles filled, plus the headroom and surface-area rules that decide whether a vessel actually works. - [Kombucha Spigot Safety: Safe Materials | Scoby & Spout](https://scobyandspout.com/vessels/spigot-safety) Stainless grade, plastic type and the brass trap. What Kombucha Kamp publishes about spigot materials, and how to check a tap before you trust it.