I am frequently asked "What are Sun Tea Jars." A great many of us in the US use these jars to ferment in. They hold one gallon when filled to the top, when the liqiud level is at the base of the tapering in area they hold three and one half quarts. Many of the recipes we see are based on three quarts. Three quarts is about right for gallon jars such as pickel jars or Sun Tea jars.
The following picture is a Sun Tea jar as I have modified them for brewing. I intentionally left the picture large
so the detail stands out a little better. I will take another series of pictures that will be more informative.
A Polaroid is definitely not the camera to use for this purpose but it is fast.
I had a few problems with the Sun Tea jars as you buy them. The blue/green spigot in the picture is the original provided with the jar. It worked well for many months and then I had leaks on four different jars. The silastic seal in the original eventually stretches and leaks. The white quarter turn spigots above are the ones I replaced the originals with. The spigots are intended for recreational vehicles so are available at RV suppliers.
Every time I handled a full jar with the original plastic handle I envisioned a full jar of KT or the feed stock
all over the carpet. I'm chicken, my Lady would kill me if that happened. I modified the jar by adding a bail made
from 3/32" oxy/acetylene welding rod. That took care of that worry.
Now I was left with the original cover with no use for it. For years I attached the coffee filter to the top of
my ferments using rubber bands. The rubber bands were never tight enough to suit me although they worked well.
I was looking at the extra lids wondering if I had a use for them. I had cut a hole about an inch in diameter in
the lid and screwed them tight over the coffee filter. With the original spout hole and the added one inch hole
their was plenty of air available to the ferment. A simple step from that point was just to cut the top off above
the threads. These rings that resulted are easy to handle and provide a tight seal to the coffee filter to the
jar. You can see one of the modified rings on the jar in the photo above and another with the spigots.
This page is maintained by Bob Williams
Kombucha Center Home Page
UpDt 7/31/1999