We just finished brewing up a batch of Kombucha on the iGulu. Pretty happy with how it turned out! Bit of a learning curve, but so worth it when it was done.
Youtube video link below:
Have you tired making Kombucha yet? Any good recipes you've tried? Cheers!
Finished my first Kombucha using the iGulu with the adapter I printed from your STL.
Turned out great. Made a peach flavored one and took around 14 days total including the second fermentation. Easily built up to 36 pressure in the keg during second fermentation and was good carbonation. Let out some pressure to prevent nothing but foam from coming out, but worked good. Found the best pressure to dispense it is around 10. Can go up to 15 as seen in the below video and end up with a fairly large head that lasts for around 2 minutes. Any higher than that and it is mainly just spitting out foam.
The acutal Kombucha feature is broken on the unit, but the DIY option was fixed with a firmware that released in the past week.
They released an official video as well for making Kombucha in the iGulu S1, but their directions do not work at all with the F1. It looks like the Kombucha feature on the S1 does not need a pressure relief at all, and is actually uses the airpump of the unit to directly supply the air needed. I asked about how to do this on the F1 around 5 days ago and have got no reply back yet. I really hope they properly implement and get all these features working on the F1, as it is supposed to be the more expensive and premium of the two available units. If the S1 can supply air to the kombucha automatically, then the F1 which also has an air pump should be able to do the same thing. I feel that most of the issues with the F1 currently as all software related. It feels like its functional, but an alpha version that has a lot of things that still need tons of usability improvements and bug fixes, and it seems like they are focusing on the S1 currently instead of fixing the F1 problems. :)
Really gotta say, this machine is truly fantastic for Kombucha.
Saw there is another Kickstarter going right now for a Kombucha specific machine called the Kombu and that thing is $379 and does not do a fraction of what the iGulu does. It is essenitally just a storage chamber with standard tea dispenser, a few bottles, and heating element. Where as the iGulu does chilling, dispensing, Co2 injection, and more for a LOWER cost (on the Kickstarter). The only strong point it has over the iGulu is the use of Borosilicate Glass instead of plastic.
Have two more batches of Kombucha going right now in two kegs. One is in F2 with plum, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of vanilla carbonating naturally, and the other is F1 still with the 3d printed adapter. Third keg is sitting in the iGulu just filled with a gallon of fresh squeezed orange juice in chill mode right now so family can easily have sparkling OJ in the morning right from tap.
