And keep the fresh, homemade Kombucha flowing!
How to prevent your tap from getting blocked
- Remove SCOBY chunks which have dropped off of the main layer growing (which probably sits on the surface of the liquid) as these can get sucked into the tap when you remove batches of Kombucha
- Don't disturb the liquid too much before using the tap
- Never drain liquid / Kombucha to below 3 inches
- If flow of Kombucha significantly slows, it could be a good idea to try the clearing process below before it gets totally blocked (you could have a little SCOBY lump stuck, which over time will start to grow)
How to clean a blocked / slow tap
All of the below should be done after a batch of Kombucha drained, to keep liquid to a minimum and to prevent disturbing a brew mid fermentation. A tea refill can be added to the jar straight after to get the next batch of homemade Kombucha going.
- Pour whole contents of jar into a clean bowl / pan / jug
- Swish any sediment from the bottom of the jar out and discard (always make sure you have kept most of the clear liquid to use as starter liquid for your next batch of kombucha)
- Fill jar with cool water and open tap
- Gently use toothpick from the outside to see if any lumps can be dislodged to start / improve flow of water in jar out of the tap
- If flow isn't improved, empty jar of the water and unscrew the nut on the back of the tap structure inside the jar
- Hold tube of tap in open position under a strong-ish flow of water from a tap to see if you can blast it through to clean it out ... you could have a stubborn pieces of SCOBY actually growing in the tap
- As a last ditch attempt, you could use your mouth to blow a good puff of air through the tap (please do not attempt to suck instead as this is a choking hazard), whilst its in the open position, and then test it again under the tap
- Make sure any sediment / lumps which are dislodged from the tap are safely discarded after each attempt
- If you get this far, and have no luck, we recommend ordering a replacement tap here