How to Bottle Fermented Beverages (Extra Fizz and Probiotics)

How to bottle homemade fermented beverages for extra carbonation, bubbles, and fizz on par with commercial sodas. This secondary fermentation provides extra probiotics and enzymes too!

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I am a big advocate of probiotic fermented beverages.

A survey of ethnic drinks from around the world reveals that enjoyment of the unique, health-boosting refreshment furnished by traditionally fermented beverages is nearly universal.

These drinks are the healthy sodas of old, minus the additives, chemicals, GMO high fructose corn syrup, and artificial colors and flavors.

Plain water pales in comparison to the effective manner in which a homemade soda or fermented drink quenches thirst after a sweaty round of yard work, exercise, or adventure in the outdoors through rapid replacement of lost electrolytes.

Traditional beverages also promote the thorough digestion of food by supplying additional enzymes when sipped with meals.

When carefully made with quality ingredients, alcoholic fermentation is replaced with lacto-fermentation with complex flavors and a slight effervescence the enjoyable result.

With nearly all ancestral cultures boasting at least one delicious, artisanal fermented beverage made from the local bounty of the fields, the modern addiction to sugar and synthetically sweetened sodas suggests that our desire for a bubbly drink is a most basic and primal need.

Homemade fermented beverages are indeed the answer to the modern addiction to soda!

Primary Fermentation

If you haven’t yet embarked on a fermented beverage adventure in your kitchen, there are numerous how-to’s on this blog to help you get started or expand your repertoire as needed.

Here are a few of the recipes and video lessons I’ve posted over the years to give you some ideas:

• Hindu Lemonade
• Switchel
• Beet Kvass
• Orangina (fermented orange juice)
• Water Kefir
• Basic Homemade Kombucha
• Ginger Ale
• Advanced Kombucha Brewing
• Root Beer

Extra Carbonation

While all of these beverages will yield a satisfying, slightly effervescent drink, some people find that they want more fizz.

This is especially the case for those attempting to break a commercial soda habit.

This is possible, but an extra step…bottling…is necessary to produce extra carbonation.

Bottling is a secondary fermentation that adds not only high levels of fizz, but extra probiotics and enzymes too!

This will achieve a level of bubbliness comparable to store soda.

A successful secondary fermentation involves knowing:

• Where to find the right bottles
• How much to fill them
• How long to leave them on the counter
• Safe opening without an explosion and a big mess.

Note that you should only consider bottling after the initial fermentation process is complete.

In other words, bottling is an extra step to achieve extra fizz and probiotics if desired.  

In other words, secondary fermentation of cultured beverages is not necessary if you are already enjoying your homemade drinks just the way they are.

Pressed for time?

Try this 5-minute homemade soda recipe that my son invented and taste-tested as his school Science Fair project!