PH of Kombucha, a lot people have been asking, what is the best PH level for Kombucha tea, well it's a combination or personal preference and personal safety. When you brew Kombucha, when you first make your Kombucha tea using a Kombucha tea recipe, you are starting with mostly, we recommend 80-90% regular sweet tea, which has a PH level way higher then the end result of Kombucha. This is why we add that start tea that Kombucha starter tea to your initial brew, why? Because if you left regular tea, just sweet tea out at room temperature, guess what's going to happen? 
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Right, you're going to get mold, you're going to get pathogens, it's not going to be pretty, because the reason why we refrigerate food, or we have it on a chaffing dish warming it up or in a crock pot or something, it's the acidity level that initially helps preserve your Kombucha tea, now there's other things, like the introduction of CO2, which helps you preserve your Kombucha tea, especially when you bottle it, but initially, it's really that PH level.
A good thing to do is, not just test your PH when you go to bottle, or when you go to consume and drink, test that PH when you initially make your Kombucha tea. When you go to bottle, a good PH level would be anywhere from 3.3, 3.4, down to 2.9. Now, getting to the tenths of a degree, like a 3 point something you would probably need to use a more accurate measurement than just those PH strips, something like a PH tester. Once you begin brewing though, you could, I'm not saying this is the best way, but for my own personal consumption, if you're selling Kombucha, you should be testing it, but for your own personal consumption, simply tasting it does it have that bite, reminiscent of apple cider, if it tastes kind of like apple cider, you have a PH of around 3.
Something also to consider is when you bottle your Kombucha at room temperature, it will continue, even though it's capped, there's still going to be some more fermentation happening, which means you PH level will continue to go down. One way to do this is, to bottle your Kombucha tea at a slightly sweeter, slightly higher PH level, certainly nothing above 4.0, but something a little higher, so a 3.5, versus a 2.9, so that when you go to bottle it, it continues to ferment to get that CO2 to build up and the PH level when you go to consume will still be enjoyable and be safe to drink.
Now many people talk about making sure your ph isn't too high when you begin the brewing process. But did you know you don't want it to be too low either? If the ph is too low it could kill of some of the yeasts before they even get a chance to convert the sugar into glucose. This doesn't happen too often… but if you've ever had a batch turn out to be super acidic AND super sweet, this could be your easy fix! You want to shoot for a ph of around 4.5 to 6 when you first start brewing (the lower end would be during winter months as since it will take longer to ferment, the lower ph starting level will provide a nice protection before the fermentation process gets rockin!).
Hope you enjoyed this lesson! We will have more on kombucha ph levels in the future on how to balance skin tone and sunburns. What do you want to learn next about kombucha? Write it below and Happy Brewin', -Dave 
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About Kombucha Dave
Happy go lucky guy who most recently (past 6 years or so), has been enjoying his time teaching people how to make kombucha, traveling, and playing dodgeball. If you are asking yourself what is kombucha? Fear not, as it is one of the most common questions I receive on a daily basis... that and why are you always smiling? :) Connect with me on Google+
How much kombucha can i safely drink? i drink about a pint a day now but would like more.
What are the reasons, that may cause a low pH level in the first Kombucha Brewing process?
the major factor would be too much starter tea.. or too strong of a starter tea. easy fix: if your starter tea is too strong, add a little less. if you are using a CBS method, your kombucha will always be in a low ph, but it’s ok b/c the yeast will already be working from previous batches!
Thanks for your good lessons. Is there any problem if the mushroom on the top detach itself from liquid surface and goes up in some area?
thanks for the love cyrus!
no.. it is perfectly fine for cultures to split (that is what a kombucha mother and a kombucha baby is referring to!)
dave
tw…
can I ask that you take 9 seconds to tell the world about the customer experience you have received (or just say some good stuff about me and my site!)
here’s the link:
http://tinyurl.com/
It would mean the world to me, our customers are our best form of advertisement!
Happy Brewin
Dave
Great lesson! I appreciate the detail in which you go into.
thank yoou so mucha elaine
btw…
can I ask that you take 9 seconds to tell the world about the customer experience you have received (or just say some good stuff about me and my site!)
here’s the link:
http://tinyurl.com/
It would mean the world to me, our customers are our best form of advertisement!
Happy Brewin
Dave
I want to take a starter to Mexico how long can I keep it safe. I will be on the road about 10 days??
Hi Sandy!
we include sotrage instrucitons with your order of a kombucha culture here:
http://www.getkombucha.com/buy-kombucha/products/Premium-Kombucha-SCOBY-with-Kombucha-Starter-Tea.html
If you use more tea bags to make the tea and so its stronger tea, does that help or hurt or have no effect on the Kombucha? I've been using 5 tea bags to make about 2 quarts of tea, I think. I keep changing things a little every day. I am just starting so I drink a bottle of Kombucha and save the gunk on the bottle along with some of the Kombucha and start a new batch, just to see what happens and see if the originbal flavor of the Kombucha has any effect on how the new Kombucha develops. I also seems to be adding different amounts of sugar: 3/4 cup once, 1/2 cup once twice, 1/3 cup once, I forget exactly how much every time. If you made two quarts of tea then how many tea bags and how much sugar would you use to make the best Kombucha? I have also used McDonlads sweet tea once and that seems to be a lot paler but its also the oldest (a week now). What do you think?
Also! What do you think about using instant tea to make Kombucha? Either just mixing it with room temp water or boiling water? Since I am juuuuust starting out I am not too concerned at the moment about the best possible, organic, magical, mystical tea to use because I bet I am going to mess everything up anyway at first. So if I went to a regular grocery chain store (you know, Kroger, Walmart, that kind of thing) and bought cheap tea bags so I can learn to make Kombucha before moving on to the better tea, then what kind should I get and what kind should I probably not get? Aaaaannnd… I had peppermint tea and it tasted pretty good and is brown (which surprised me, I thought it would be green) like normal tea and tastes a lot like it except minty (whodathunkit?), so can I make Kombucha using nothing but peppermint leaves and sugar like normal tea?
Hi Jon,
Personally I believe if you are gonna take the time to make kombucha, why not use better ingredients if they only cost 10 cents more a bottle? Never the less.. I believe even stronger that doing something is better than doing nothing.. however, I do not recommend instant tea mix or 1oo% peppermint leaves as both will weaken the culture and the benefits that the culture gives during the fermentation process over time.
So if you are gonna use “cheap” tea.. make sure it has good ole fashion camilias senensis and not a herbal variety like chamomile, peppermint, etc.
So Lipton? Yes. Did I choke a little writing that? Yes. Am I happy though if that’s what it takes for you to get going and get brewin.. abso-freakin-lutely!
Happy Brewin’,
Dave
I wrote a long reply but forgot the captcha and it erased it…
No instant and no peppermint tea because it will hurt the culture… so no McDonalds sweet tea I guess… 8D
I guess it wouldn't take any longer to make it with better tea. I have sort of generic tea bags so far, not even Lipton! 8o Scary, huh?
Its interesting looking at my "science experiments", one has little bubbles coming from the bottom, and some have little pads of foam in spots. Its tough not moving them but I don't want to keep a SCOBY from forming on top. I bet i have been using too much sugar though. Would that hurt them?
too much sugar could hurt your scoby… just as too little sugar can hurt it to. please follow our kombucha recipe here http://getkombucha.com/kombucha-recipe as a great guidline to how much sugar your kombucha needs.
dave
I just finished my first batch of kombucha. I did not know to check ph level before bottling it but it was brewing for 10 days. I bottled it and let it sit out for the last 3 days. Just opened my first one. Taste was good but no fizz. I checked ph level with the strips and it was a 4. Do I just leave the other bottles out longer or is that batch ruined?
Hi Vic,
Sig up for our free kombucha course.. it will show you when to bottle and give you an introduction on fizziness! here is the sign up: http://www.GetKombucha.com/Free
I tried to sign up. When it sent me the confirmation to my email, it took me to your website but then it said: The page you were looking for appears to have been moved, deleted or does not exist. What should I do?
did you sign up here:
http://getkombucha.com/free
Hi, Dave,
I am a new boocha-maker. The first batch, the baby mushroom was really wimpy and the tea was still very sweet, even after two weeks. So, I started over. The second batch, I just checked and have the same results. I used the same mother. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I blamed the first failed batch on moving it too much trying to find a warm enough place. However, the second batch has sat stationary for ten days but the baby 'shroom is thin and wimpy and the tea is still sweet. Two questions: What else could I be doing wrong? and, is the boocha still drinkable even if it's too sweet? Oops, one more question…Should I save the wimpy looking baby shroom or toss?
hi beth!
if you purchased the culture from us, please submit a customer support ticket and receive free one on one support! we will make sure you succeed (as we not only sell products we garauntee your success!)… if you did not purchase from our company I would suggest contacting the company you did purchase from for support.
hapyp brewin
dave
ps: also feel free to use our 50 plus free vids ad articles for self hlpe service which we offer to everyone with or without a purchase!
Hi Dave…great site.
Quick question….as I swilled down my GT's Kombucha a few minutes ago ($5 a bottle!!!!! wow!), I wondered if there is a more affordable way to drink this great beverage? Namely tea bags or instant dry powder?
I'm sure that the benefits won't be the same, however, i drink this once a week due to the high price. I would drink it daily if it came in tea bags or powder. I would actually drink a lot more, so that would probably make up for the lower nutrition that a tea bag would have.
Do you have a recipe OR is there a company that makes these?
thanks
Chris
sure is!
you can make it yourself here:
http://www.getkombucha.com/buy-kombucha/products/KOMBUCHA-CONTINUOUS-BREWING-SYSTEM-Gold-Package.html
or enjoy kombucha extract on the go at only $0.55 per serving!
http://www.getkombucha.com/buy-kombucha/products/Kombucha-Extract-Concentrated-Kombucha-Tea.html
Help! This is my first bat h of KTea. I am on day 8 of first phase brewing. I test ph everyday and it still shows no acidity! By taste, today it is not as sweet as it has been. I want to bottle it but am s ared to bottle something that may have bad bacteria in it. What do I do?
May 8th and I have not received an answer. Found the phone number to this business a d called twice. Each time I got a recording and had to leave a message. I still have not got a call back