Kombucha is the health drink of this generation
It seems that everywhere you look, some punter is trying to sell you Kombucha.
Look at the supermarket shelves and they are full of cider, raspberry and lime flavored Kombucha drinks.
Craft brewed or factory-made, you can guarantee that each batch was tested to the correct pH level before it was canned and shipped off to the health conscious.
But at three bucks a bottle in my supermarket (and gosh, do they trick you into spending money), many money saving drinkers are choosing to make their own Kombucha and part of getting it to taste right, you need to test the pH level,
For the average brewer, this means using pH test strips on a sample of Kombucha to ensure the level is just right.
You test the kombucha for two reasons, one to pass the taste test and the second to ensure the level is sufficient enough to prevent any nasty microbes from taking the brew.
A lower pH will also give the kombucha a chance to grow its own cells - which is exactly what you want for a healthy brew.
So, what are the best pH indicator strips for testing your homemade Kombucha?
You want to use any food grade pH strips you can get your hands on. This ensures there's no chance of spoiling your batch (if you are testing directly) but even then, we'd recommend you always isolate a small sample for pH testing.
A popular pH test indicator kit made for Kombucha is the Kombucha Chemistry range:
Featuring 100 pieces, the Kombucha Chemistry strips are ready to use straight out of the box.
✅ No tricky scraps of test paper to cut to length or tear-off
✅ No finger or bench staining to worry about
✅ Just test your batch and place the used strip in the waste
If you want to know a cool trick on how to double the number of strips, simply cut one down the middle with a pair of sharp scissors and you suddenly have two strips!
Great if you intend on making many batches! But frankly, 100 strips is probably enough to last most brewers a couple of years if you are making a batch of kombucha a week!
Check out the price on Amazon:
How to use Ph strips for testing Kombucha
It’s important to test the pH level of your kombucha both at the start and end of the 1st ferment
Testing before ensures that it will be free of harmful microbes. So aim for the starting pH of your kombucha first fermentation to be 4.5 or below.
After fermentation is complete, the target pH level for your kombucha is between 2.5-3.5 - this means your brew ready to bottle or drink.
So take a small sample from your batch and place it in a clean container - such as a washed shot glass. Add you strip and note which color it changes to. Compare this color with the guide that comes with your strips to determine what the level is.
The closest matching color is the approximate level.