The variation of ethanol concentration and kombucha characterization on several incubation periods

Kombucha is a type of fermented tea that recently popular in Indonesia. It gives so many health benefits for human body, as prevention and therapeutic cure for the disease. Some of the benefits are for improving digestion and reducing the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. It also has significant potential as an antioxidant agent. The heterofermentative fermentation process in kombucha causes this product to produce organic acid and ethanol as an alcohol compound. However, ethanol concentration in fermented food has become a major concern in Indonesian Halal products studies. One cause of ethanol concentration differences is incubation times. In this study, we measured alcohol concentration at several incubation times: 5, 6, 7 and 8 days incubation. We also assessed characteristics of kombucha by testing its antioxidant activity, lactic acid content, pH, and enumeration of lactic acid bacteria. The result shows that the incubation time, from 5 to 8 days, did not produce alcohol more than 0,5% as restricted by MUI Fatwa 2018. It has been shown that the various time of incubations did not give a significant difference in the quality of the antioxidant activity and lactic acid levels, and pH (p>0,05).