Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Mortier Pilon Jar-5L 5L Kombucha Brewing Jar, 5 L, White

A beautiful jar for making delicious Kombucha

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2017

I've had my brewing jar for almost a month now and am loving it. It's beautiful, easy to work with, and my SCOBY has been very happy in his new home. Our home stays in the 68-72 temp range. I keep my level at about 2/3 full, and I've been drawing off weekly. I'm having great luck with delicious second fermentations of grape, raspberry, tart cherry, blueberry, lavender and ginger (I use homemade jams for the fruits, and a tablespoon per 16-20oz makes a perfectly bubbly end product within 3-4 days). Last week I had a particularly stringy batch and was concerned about possible clog of the tap. Today I transferred the brew to another container so I could remove debris and deposits, peel off a baby SCOBY for a friend, and inspect the tap. I am very happy to report that the filter on the tap definitely works: no clogs. I definitely recommend this product.

15 people found this helpful

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Rick K

Excellent continuous brewing method

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

Excellent continuous brewing method. If you replace what you decant daily with some fresh sweet tea you'll be able to have a 12 to 16 oz bottle of kombucha every day.
Decant 12 to 16 ounces of kombucha & bottle it & place it in a dark place for a day or 2 so it can go through its secondary fermentation before placing it in the fridge, and have a couple of gallons of fresh sweetened tea in the fridge to replace what you decant daily. Use a long-neck funnel (you can see the one I purchased on Amazon by searching my reviews) so you can slip the longneck funnel along the side of the SCOBY so that you don't disturb it too much when adding the fresh tea each day, thus avoiding any new SCOBY babies from growing.
I use Silver Needle White Tea which makes the nicest tasting kombucha ever. You can but it from the Happy Herbalist. You'll find him on any search.
Good luck!

10 people found this helpful

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Andy Simmons

Pretty good for first-time kombucha brewers

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2016

Verified Purchase

I decided that I wanted to try brewing my own kombucha, and after looking at my options, I picked this as my first brewing jar. Please keep in mind, then, that I write this as someone who is still learning the ins and outs of brewing kombucha.

First of all, I've seen conflicting information regarding the advantages and disadvantages of continuous brewing. After a lot of research, I decided that I didn't want to do continuous brewing, but I still wanted a spigot. After using this vessel for three batches of kombucha now, I'm glad I got a jar with a spigot anyway; towards the end of the fermentation process, the spigot makes it easy to sample the kombucha to determine if it's finished or not. Without the spigot, one would have to sample from the top, which would mean disturbing the SCOBY, and possibly introducing contaminants. The spigot is just too handy to do without, as far as I'm concerned. I've seen other reviews that complain about the spigot getting clogged with bits of SCOBY or strands of yeast, and while I haven't experienced this myself, I'm sure that that's a legitimate problem, but no more for this jar than for any other jar with a spigot. Fortunately, the spigot is easy to remove for cleaning when the jar is empty.

Like any other jar with a spigot, you can't really use the spigot if you can't fit anything under it. You're going to need to elevate this thing if you want to use the spigot. I ended up buying a stand that was designed for another company's spigot containers, and it works sufficiently, but it's really too big for this jar. The spigot on this thing doesn't stick out very far anyway, so it's still kind of difficult to get a glass under the spigot to sample the kombucha.

I should point out that I don't use the spigot for moving my completed kombucha into bottles, because I'm sure it would clog up that way. Instead, I use an auto siphon and a bottle filler wand. You can find both of these on Amazon.

The lid of the jar is also handy. It includes a snap in fine-mesh screen that allows the jar to be closed, but still allows air in and out. I think I like this a lot better than having to cover the lid with a cloth and a rubber band. I don't really have to worry about the mesh screen becoming dirty the way a cloth would, and if it does, I can just rinse it off. I can't see how fruit flies or ants or any other pests could get through this lid as it is, which is nice.

The shape of the jar is a little odd for kombucha brewing, in my opinion. Most people brew kombucha in straight-sided jars. The fact that this jar is narrower at the top and bottom means that the surface area of the kombucha changes depending on the volume. So sampling the kombucha causes the volume of kombucha to change (just a little at a time), and the surface area to change with it. This doesn't necessarily cause problems, but it can put you in a situation where your growing SCOBY is suddenly wider than the surface of the kombucha, so it doesn't actually sit flat anymore. It should also be noted that the size of this jar is a little unorthodox. Most recipes assume that you're brewing in a jar that is 1 gallon, 2.5 gallons, or 5 gallons. This jar, at 5 liters, is about 1.3 gallons. Again, that doesn't cause a problem, it's just unlikely that you're going to actually use the full volume of the jar. Once you brew a gallon of tea and add it to your 1-2 cups of starter tea and your SCOBY, the container is about 80% full.

My only real annoyances with this jar has to do with the design. The shape makes it easy to lose your grip on it if your hands are wet, and the white part makes it basically impossible to truly clean. The actual container is all glass, and the white part is plastic that is molded around the bottom third or so of the vessel. The problem is that there is nothing to prevent liquid from getting between the plastic shell and the glass, so you're going to get water trapped in there when you clean it, and you're going to get tea trapped in there if you have any spills while filling or emptying the jar. I'm frankly concerned that any sweet tea trapped in there is likely to attract ants or fruit flies. They wouldn't be able to get inside the container of course, but I don't need any more reasons for ants to want to get into my house, thank you very much.

Finally, I would like to state that my kombucha brewing in this vessel seems to be slower than most places say it should be. I keep reading that kombucha should take about 7-10 days to brew, but pretty much everything I've done in this jar has taken longer than that, closer to two weeks. I can't say that the design of the jar is the cause of this; it's probably more likely that my own inexperience with brewing kombucha or the strength of my SCOBYs is to blame, but it's worth pointing out in case someone else has similar issues.

101 people found this helpful

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Elizabeth Lundeen

Accessible and classy

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

The opening is wide enough for easy access. The lid has the breathable screen and looks clean and neat. The white plastic cover is stretchy enough to remove for cleaning and also makes the container sit solidly on the counter without sliding. The spigot is at an angle that requires the receiving vessel to be quite close to the jar which requires me to move the jar to the lip of the shelf when dispensing. It look contemporary, clean and classy in my kitchen.

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Beth L.

Works perfect for me.

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

I am on my 3rd batch of Kombucha since purchasing this and it works great, it is easy to fill bottles from the spout and my scoby is 3x the size it was with the babies having grown bigger than the original and they have grown to the width of the container. Very happy with the product this was my first time trying Kombucha after taking a class and it is perfect.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

these jars leak

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

am not sure if I just have bad luck but I bought to different kombucha Brewing jars from Amazon and both leaked. this one I paid way more money for so am super mad about it. great idea if they didn't leak

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DonnaD

First look imperfections & not sure yet if it works :-(

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

Was excited about purchasing this as a gift for my husband, who’s made kombucha about 10 years in a big glass jug, then siphons from the top when ready. I was a bit disappointed in that 1)pics 1 & 4 look like air bubbles are under entire silicone sleeve on bottom of jug; also white silicone had dirt/debris I wiped off with damp cloth, 2)pic 2 & 3 spigot was crooked + entire silicone sleeve was on crooked & doesn’t align with spigot nor glass embellished on jug, 4)last pic, looks like a small piece of silicone from sleeve is missing near spigot....All this and he just opened it last night. Embarrassed that my gift needed adjusting, cleaning, looks like it wasn’t put together right. Disappointed in this for $50, and we still don’t know yet if it leaks, as other reviews mentioned.

2 people found this helpful

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FabFitFree

Kombucha Brewing with Style

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2016

Verified Purchase

Wow! All I can say is thank goodness someone took the time to design this gorgeous Kombucha tea brewer. It is absolutely beautiful and has a much smaller countertop footprint than my previous brewing container. Plus, the built in breathable lid, keeps dust out stylishly. No more rubber bands! If I had more counter space, I would purchase another so I could brew two batches at a time. Highly recommend this.

17 people found this helpful

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Sanny

Great, slim vessel with aggravatingly tiny spigot

Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

3.5 stars. The jar is really nice. It holds a good amount of tea and is slender, which is rare and makes it fit if you don't have ample counterspace, or do but don't want to lose it all to one single tool.
However, the spigot is seriously ridiculously tiny and sits way too close to the vessel. Filling bottles or even just a glass is SO difficult. Additionally, because it's so small, it takes a long time to fill just one bottle, let alone many. Wouldn't buy again, but if it had a bigger spigot, I'd never use another one again.

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Molika

Great quality, modern and sleek.

Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

I started my first brew in this vessel and just love how it looks sleek and clean. The jar is very sturdy and the white bottom allows it to grip to the surface it is on. Love it so much that I am gifting one to a friend this Christmas.

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