Sudden Color Change, Small Strands?

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marlo

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Hello, so about 4 days ago I started a batch of hard tea(intended to be served iced when done), it was a very dark chai. It started out very dark almost as black as coffee, then after about 2 days of steadily brewing it turned very light brown(a fair bit lighter than the picture shows). It stuck me as odd and I've been wondering if this is common or if perhaps I may have an infection or something of the like. Then today I was giving it a close look with a flashlight when I noticed there are very small very faint strands that move like seaweed when I move the carboy a little. I tried taking a picture of them but they are far too faint for the camera to pick up. It smells fine, rather nice actually, but the smell differs from what it seemed to smell like the days prior(airlock bubbling near constantly puts out a lot of smell). Anyways, has anyone ever experienced this? Is it normal? Am I just being paranoid?

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Have you ever heard of vinegar eels? It could be these? they are harmless and nonparasitic but eventually they will start to kill your culture. I didn't know about these until I read somewhere on another kombucha forum and I googled them. Maybe just do a quick google search see if they are similar to what you are seeing in your batch.
 
Have you ever heard of vinegar eels? It could be these? they are harmless and nonparasitic but eventually they will start to kill your culture. I didn't know about these until I read somewhere on another kombucha forum and I googled them. Maybe just do a quick google search see if they are similar to what you are seeing in your batch.

Thank you for the input, but no what I'm seeing looks nothing like vinegar eels. What I'm seeing looks much more like seaweed attached to the bottom of the carboy.
 
Thank you for the input, but no what I'm seeing looks nothing like vinegar eels. What I'm seeing looks much more like seaweed attached to the bottom of the carboy.

I have had a bit of a Google search about this because it would be good to know for my own benefit and I can across this.. As it develops, the kombucha looks like a cider that has been left out to sit too long, with threads of yeast and bacteria floating around like seaweed and piling up on the bottom of the jar

Is that any help?
 
I have had a bit of a Google search about this because it would be good to know for my own benefit and I can across this.. As it develops, the kombucha looks like a cider that has been left out to sit too long, with threads of yeast and bacteria floating around like seaweed and piling up on the bottom of the jar

Is that any help?

Yes that actually sounds exactly like what I'm seeing, is that a normal par-for the course thing or is this a bad sign?
 
Yes that actually sounds exactly like what I'm seeing, is that a normal par-for the course thing or is this a bad sign?

I have gone back to the site where I found the info and it doesn't say anything about being bad. It does say it might be a reason why some kombuchas come in a brown bottle—the companies don’t want you to see the sludge. So if it sells it can't be bad.
 
I have gone back to the site where I found the info and it doesn't say anything about being bad. It does say it might be a reason why some kombuchas come in a brown bottle—the companies don’t want you to see the sludge. So if it sells it can't be bad.

Well thank you very much for the help. Would you mind linking me to the site?
 
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