Vessels & jars
The maker sells these for flour and rice and never mentions fermentation. That is worth knowing before you buy two of them for kombucha, because one detail makes them unusually good at one job.
By Scooter M.·Published September 21, 2026
The short answer
Buy these as SCOBY hotel jars, not as fermenters. The glass lid is the whole story: the maker states it does not suction seal, which is a defect in a storage jar and exactly what you want on a vessel holding spare cultures. As a primary fermenter it is wrong — a first ferment needs cloth and air exchange, not a lid. Two heavy American-made jars for the price of one branded brewing jar is the other half of the argument.
This site has no lab and has not brewed in these jars. What it can do is read what Anchor Hocking publishes, check it against the job a kombucha brewer actually has, and be clear about which claims are the maker's and which are a buyer's inference.
That distinction matters more here than on most products, because this jar is not sold for fermentation at all. Every figure below came from the published listing, read on 2026-09-21.
| Parameter | Published value |
|---|---|
| Contents | Two 1-gallon jars, two glass lids |
| Material | All-clear glass, stated lead free and BPA free |
| Lid | Glass with an oversized knob. Stated: they do not suction seal |
| Mouth | Described as wide mouthed. No diameter published |
| Construction | Described as thick walled, with a substantial weight to stay sturdy |
| Origin | Made in the USA, stated as Ohio since 1905 |
| Intended use | Dry goods: flour, cookies, rice, coffee, spices |
| Package | 16.75 x 8.9 x 9.5 in, 4.28 lb for the pair |
| Jar dimensions | Not published |
Read that table and the gap jumps out. There is no height, no diameter and no capacity tolerance for the individual jar — the only measurements are for the shipping box with two jars in it. For a vessel whose mouth decides whether your hand fits past a pellicle, that is the one omission that matters, and it is the same omission nearly every gallon jar on this site shares.
One published phrase decides what this jar is for: they don't suction seal. Anchor Hocking writes it as a caveat, because a storage jar that does not seal is a storage jar that will not keep crackers crisp.
For a fermenter it is the correct behavior. A resting glass lid keeps dust and fruit flies out while letting pressure equalize, which means a jar of live culture cannot quietly build pressure behind a gasket. That is precisely the property you want on a SCOBY hotel — a jar of spare cultures in sweet tea, fed occasionally, opened rarely, and left for weeks.
It is not, however, a substitute for a cloth cover during a first fermentation. That stage is aerobic: the culture needs real air exchange across the surface, not the trickle that gets past a resting lid. Covers and lids makes the full argument. Using this jar as a primary fermenter means putting cloth and a band on it and setting the glass lid aside, at which point you have bought a lid you do not use.
One is a storage jar with glass lids that happens to suit a hotel; the other is sold for brewing and ships the cloth covers and bands this one does not.
Anchor Hocking
Two thick American-made gallon jars with glass lids that deliberately do not seal — wrong for a primary ferment, close to ideal for a SCOBY hotel.
#ad Price as of October 18, 2026. How this is funded.
Fermentaholics
Two identical gallon jars, each with its own cover, band and temperature strip — which is how you stop having a week with no kombucha in it.
#ad Price as of October 18, 2026. How this is funded.
A hotel is not a fermenter and the requirements genuinely differ, which is why a jar that is mediocre at one job can be the best thing available for the other.
Measured against that list, this jar scores on three of five outright, fails nothing, and leaves one unanswered — the mouth diameter nobody publishes.
The honest comparison is not against a single fancy brewing vessel but against the other two-jar purchase on this site.
| Heritage Hill 2-pack | Fermentaholics 2-pack | |
|---|---|---|
| Jars | 2 x 1 gallon | 2 x 1 gallon |
| Cover supplied | Glass lid, does not seal | Breathable muslin cloth and band |
| Thermometer | None | Temperature strip per jar |
| Sold for | Dry goods storage | Kombucha brewing |
| Origin stated | Made in USA | Not stated |
| Dimensions published | Package only | None |
For brewing, the Fermentaholics pack is the more complete purchase: it arrives with the cover you actually need and a thermometer on each jar. For a hotel, the Heritage Hill pack is better, because a cloth cover on a jar you open once a fortnight is an invitation to fruit flies and a resting glass lid is not.
There is also a materials point worth making plainly. This jar is glass and glass only — no gasket, no metal band, no plastic anywhere near the liquid. Against a drink that sits at roughly pH 2.5 to 3.5 for weeks, that is the cleanest possible answer, and it is the same reasoning behind the materials page.
On materials and build this is a straightforwardly good jar: thick all-clear glass, made in Ohio, stated lead free, no gasket and no metal, two of them for the price most makers charge for one. On documentation it is poor — no jar dimensions at all, and not a word about fermentation, which means every brewing claim on this page including ours is inference from a storage-jar listing.
Judged as what it is, a lidded storage jar, it happens to be the best SCOBY hotel vessel this site has sourced, for the single reason that its lid does not seal. Judged as a fermenter it is incomplete, and the maker never claimed otherwise.
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Ranked on the published rubric. Every row jumps to that product's full write-up below; the button goes straight to Amazon.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anchor Hocking Heritage Hill 1 Gallon Glass Jar with Lid, Set of 2 Two thick American-made gallon jars with glass lids that deliberately do not seal — wrong for a primary ferment, close to ideal for a SCOBY hotel. | A pair of lidded jars for SCOBY hotels | 8.0out of 10 | |
| 2 | Fermentaholics One Gallon Plain Glass Kombucha Jars, 2-Pack Two identical gallon jars, each with its own cover, band and temperature strip — which is how you stop having a week with no kombucha in it. | Running two batches offset | 7.8out of 10 | |
| 3 | Score9.1 Ball Wide Mouth Glass Canning Jars, 64 oz (Case of 6) The only jar on this site that publishes its mouth diameter — 3 inches inside — which is the one measurement a brewer with a pellicle to lift actually needs. | A half-gallon batch you can get your hand into | 9.1out of 10 |
#1 · A pair of lidded jars for SCOBY hotels
Two thick American-made gallon jars with glass lids that deliberately do not seal — wrong for a primary ferment, close to ideal for a SCOBY hotel.
Who it is for. Anyone running a SCOBY hotel, or keeping finished kombucha and spare cultures in glass that will not stain, warp or hold smells.
Source: Anchor Hocking published Heritage Hill 1 Gallon Glass Jar with Lid, Set of 2 listing (two 1-gallon jars with two glass lids, all-clear glass with oversized knobs, stated not to suction seal, wide mouthed and thick walled, lead free and BPA free, made in the USA, published for dry goods storage, 16.75 x 8.9 x 9.5 in and 4.28 lb package), Amazon B01EIJ0P6W, retrieved 2026-09-21
Skip it if. You want a primary fermenting vessel. This is a storage jar with a lid, and a first fermentation needs air exchange through cloth.
#ad Price as of October 18, 2026. How this is funded.
#2 · Running two batches offset
Two identical gallon jars, each with its own cover, band and temperature strip — which is how you stop having a week with no kombucha in it.
Who it is for. A brewer past their third batch who has started running out between bottlings.
Source: Fermentaholics published 2-pack listing contents, fermentaholics.com/shop/kombucha-making/, retrieved 2026-09-01
Skip it if. This is your first batch. Learn on one jar; a second vessel solves a problem you do not have yet.
#ad Price as of October 18, 2026. How this is funded.
#3 · A half-gallon batch you can get your hand into
The only jar on this site that publishes its mouth diameter — 3 inches inside — which is the one measurement a brewer with a pellicle to lift actually needs.
Who it is for. A brewer running small or parallel batches, or anyone who wants a jar whose opening they can check against their own hand before ordering.
Source: Ball Wide Mouth 64 oz glass canning jar specification as published by distributor Uline (item S-19404: capacity, 3 in inner and 3.5 in outer mouth diameter, 9.25 in and 9.375 in heights, case quantity, materials, 250 F limit, 90 F thermal shock, freezer guidance, graduated markings, origin), uline.com, retrieved 2026-09-06
Skip it if. You want a gallon or more per batch. Half-gallon jars multiply fast, and four of them is a worse experience than one two-gallon vessel.
#ad No live price feed yet, so no number is shown rather than a stale one. How this is funded.
Every specification cited on this page came from one of these documents, retrieved on the date shown against the product it belongs to.
Jars compared on published dimensions, spigot grade and mouth width — plus the materials that do not belong near kombucha at all.
Gallon jars compared on tap or no tap, published dimensions, what ships in the box and when a gallon is the wrong size entirely.
Where spare cultures live between batches: the jar, the liquid strength, the feeding interval and the refrigeration question.
Why the first fermentation needs cloth rather than a lid, what weave actually keeps fruit flies out, and when a solid lid is correct.
Half-gallon and gallon jars compared on published mouth diameter, height and thermal shock — and why the lid it ships with is the wrong lid.
Half-gallon brewing compared with the standard gallon: the jar, a culture dosed for the batch, and the one thing that gets harder when you scale down.