My Kombucha's Air Flow

When Barb got me started on kombucha, she told me I needed to brew in a bowl with a wide top. She was brewing hers in mixing bowls. I didn't want to go out and spend money on Pyrex mixing bowls, and I wasn't about to tie up the few I had from Nanna for a week at a time. What would I serve salad in? What would I use to make granola? So I resorted to wide-mouth canning jars, covered with a cloth to cut out light. It worked decently enough. I've been making kombucha for five years now, and in "full production mode" for about three. Using sun-tea jars (the kind withOUT the spigot!!) had been working okay.


But something changed. I had to throw out a whole batch last week. It just wouldn't finish brewing. That set me behind. And now this week, well behind what we need, it seems that another batch is going to be stubborn. I anticipate that I may have to pour that one down the drain too. (Silver lining: it ought to be excellent for the septic system!)

Last week I purchased more "cracker jars" from Walmart. Those have served me well. There is proportionately more air space at the top of the cracker jars than there is for my sun-tea jars. But I sure would like to know why my taller jars worked for so long and no longer do.