Can I use GT'S to start a SCOBY?

Was about to start growing a SCOBY and read this ... Any one know if it's true and shouldnt wast my time starting one with a store bout bottle of Kombucha?

Why can’t I grow a kombucha scoby from a store-bought bottle anymore?

You may or may not remember the great kombucha recall of 2010. Kombucha was pulled off store shelves across the U.S. because it had been feared that some brands were too alcoholic to be sold as a regular beverage.

Most major brands reformulated their kombucha, then put it back on store shelves promising that it would no longer be possible for their kombucha to contain too much alcohol.

Whatever they did, I think they made it virtually impossible to grow a kombucha scoby from a store-bought bottle of kombucha anymore.

Some companies, like Dave’s GT, have even started adding a supplement called GBI-30 to their “Enlightened” (AKA kombucha for those under 21) bottled booch. GBI-30 is a patented pro-biotic that is non-native to the Kombucha culture.

I don’t know precisely why they added this to their formula, or how it prevents the growth of alcohol, but it doesn’t make sense to include GBI-30 in your homemade kombucha scoby. It’s not part of the normal fermentation process for kombucha, so I can imagine that it is also somehow interfering with our ability to grow a fresh kombucha scoby from the bottled brew

P.S

If I can us GT's dose it need to be plain flavor or can i use what ever...

I believe (but can't say for certain) that their "Classic" line is un-pasteurized and thus may contain more than 0.5% ABV. In some states it's sold only to adults over 21 yrs old. This one seems to be unflavored: http://synergydrinks.com/index.php/products#classic-kombucha/classic-kombucha-original.

If you use that, I'd add maybe 2oz of sugar to the 16oz bottle and give it at least 4 weeks to develop a scoby. Don't drink the resulting mix because it'll probably be very vinegary. Instead save about a cup to start a "hotel" for future baby-scobys, and use add the remaining cup (and scoby of course) as starter for your first real gallon batch of sweet tea.

The Enlightened series is the pasteurized one that has the maybe/sorta/hopefully patented probiotics. I'm guessing that one won't produce a scoby. That's here: http://synergydrinks.com/index.php/...htened-kombucha-organic-raw-kombucha-original

About 8 months ago I grew up a SCOBY from a Raw GT's Original Flavor bottle and it's been going strong ever since.

Spillsaw did you use the 21 plus one or the Enlightened one?

Thanks for the links Zapped an the extra info

nwaite said:

Spillsaw did you use the 21 plus one or the Enlightened one?

Thanks for the links Zapped an the extra info

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Enlightened. It took me some time to get it going. The first mother was very thin, so I added extra dregs from another bottle every cycle. In the end it took me three bottles, but at this point my SCOBY is almost two inches thick from batch to batch.

I just started this process myself. Here's hoping.

use 3-4 bottles and plenty of volume for your first batch. First scoby is pretty thin but give it time and you'll have zoogleal mats growing out of your ears. we split ours into 3 1-gallon batches over time and the scobys were 2-3inches thick each, finally gave a few away and set the others free to roam in nature. Too much kombu, too much scoby to know what to do with. Also, homemade kombucha is a far cry from stuff you buy commercially, and can have potent effects if let to sit too long.

Here is the TTB's take on kombucha here in US, http://www.ttb.gov/faqs/kombucha-faqs.shtml

Two weeks ago, I did an experiment with a four day old half bottle of GT's Guava Goddess. Poured it into a mason jar that had sweetened tea in it. Freshly brewed with pure cane sugar. Now, here's the SCOBY! (Picture is a few days old and it's even larger now.)

That's awesome. I started mine about three days ago. I'm seeing sloooooowwwwwww signs of life. A few bubbles (CO2?) and a few new strands hanging off the baby (heard it's dead yeast?). Anyway, your pic gives me hope. Beautiful!

I tried this, and nothing. Nice fresh brewed tea, organic sugar, and it took FOREVER to do anything. I finally bought a scoby and its going great now.

That's strange, I've heard it works for the most part. Well, here's an updates picture. It's almost an inch thick!

I have two 2.5 gallon dispensers each with 1" multiple generation scobys in them (I do the continuous method). They both came from a starter I made from a bottle of GT's and a quart ball jar.

So the answer is yes but it will take longer. It took me almost a month to get a decent scoby on it. If your in a hurry I would get one by other means.

My first Scoby I grew from a bottle of GT's original flavor (I don't recall if it was enlightened or not) and after I grew the mother for about 3 weeks I was able to brew 'bucha! So yes you can do it (I should've mentioned that I did this last January)

From my experience though kombucha from a homegrown scoby will develop a lot slower than one you find on craigslist (I haven't brewed kombucha long enough to know if it gets stronger over time). I had accidentally cooked my grown scoby not too long ago. So I bought one on craigslist that was waaay way way more active.

I can't remember the name of it(I'll try and update if I can find the bottle in the recycling.), but I bought a bottle of some organic ginger green tea kombucha from a local coffee shop.

I brewed up a dark, Pu-erh tea, 60 minute steep using 3 tablespoons of tea in 2 quarts of boiling water(Cooled to 170 degrees before adding tea). I then let the temp get below 80 added 3/4 cups of raw cane sugar and dumped in the mini scoby from the store bought tea along with the yeast in the bottom of the bottle. I stuck it in the pantry and waited.

Within 10 days I had an 1/4 - 1/8th of an inch scoby and a really solventy smelling tea. I tossed that out and thoroughly cleaned the scoby and dropped it on top of a new batch made the same way.

Notes:
Time for second batch: 5 days.
Results: Nice bubbly Kombucha with a great Pu-erh earthyness and a bit of sweet and sour.
Scoby: Creamy blue/white on top, tea stained on the bottom. overall about 1/8th of an inch thick. 6 inches diameter.
Average house temperature: 76.4 degrees. Low: 74.7, High: 83.1 degrees. <---someone forgot to turn on the AC.

BTW: Long steeped Pu-erh tea is some crazy good stuff, Pu-erh tea doesn't get as tannin heavy as other teas so you don't get the bitterness associated with other blacks or even a green that's steeped to long.

Regards,
O.

my GT's SCOBY is finally showing signs of life! started the build up on 9-14-13.

Here is my scoby its six days old. The pic is not that clear ( my dumb cell phone). This is my first experience with kombucha making but from what a read my scoby is growing great.

Oh also i should have stated that i grew it from a bottle of GT original. I just dumped the bottle on top of two cups of sweet black tea that i had in a sun tea jar. And six days later sitting at 75 degrees or so there it is!! I think i got two more weeks so i can brew a full batch. But i just going to dump the new batch on top of this one minus a cup or so of the old KT.

I am trying it with GT's "Original" "Enlightened" (plain, with GBT-30). After a week in the closet there's a blobby something about the size of a quarter forming on top.

Has anyone tried this with anything other than dissolved table sugar?

GT worked fine. I used a flavored one and got a really thin scoby with about 1/2 a bottle. I'm still learning too. my main problem has been keeping the tea/scoby warm enough. Too cool/cold and the yeast/bacteria will go into a dormant state.

luke_d said:

Two weeks ago, I did an experiment with a four day old half bottle of GT's Guava Goddess. Poured it into a mason jar that had sweetened tea in it. Freshly brewed with pure cane sugar. Now, here's the SCOBY! (Picture is a few days old and it's even larger now.)



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So you did not use a starter SCOBY? The tea mixture plus GT's Guava alone were enough input for this new SCOBY to form? Wow!

I'm new to this, so I'm experimenting. I made a sweet tea with 2.5 cups of water, 1/3 cup of sugar, black tea steeped 5 minutes, and the dregs from GT's Synergy Strawberry Serenity. I started today, so I'll post updates to see how the process goes. It's good to hear that others have success with the fruit added teas.

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An update: two weeks later (3 weeks total) I have a fragile-looking SCOBY that is 1/8 to 1/16" thick. Surprisingly, it is pretty hard, and was able to fish it out in one piece so I could decant the product. I restarted it with a bottle of GT'S "Original."

I checked the GT'S wwwebsite and found they have a pretty nice search engine. With it I discovered the only store within MILES that carried the "Original" line was SAFEWAY! And just a few blocks away! Not only that, but they also carry 2-3 other makers' lines of "21+" kombucha. (warning - don't go through the self-checkout!)

Checked today and have a scoby forming. I'm at 20 days. Should I keep letting the scoby grow, or tart the next batch with it?

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All I could find in my area was flavored GT. I like ginger anyway so I bought that, started with about 1/2 bottle with organic green tea bags and table sugar in a 1/2 gallon jar with a coffee filter cover.This was in January in a room that gets very warm during the day. In two weeks I had a beautiful 1/2 inch scoby. So far I've had several batches and have 4 good scoby's from that start.

I bottled mine after 21 days. The ones that went back into the dark closet for two weeks ended up with really nice carbonation. My second batch should be ready in a week...