4 month old Kombucha

[Knarf231]

I brewed a 3.5 gallon batch of Kombucha a few days before Thanksgiving. I placed it in the back of my closet after 30 or so days because it never fully developed and had a very sweet taste still. After cleaning out said closet I rediscovered my Kombucha. To my surprise there was a fully developed SCOBY and a sour (although not over powering vinegar taste or anything like that) I only had a small sip and my question is.... Is it safe to add some fruits and start secondary/bottle fermentation? Are there issues with over fermentation? Should I just toss it? Are there things to look for? Is the SCOBY trash?

 

[kyt]

If it isn't moldy, you can drink it. It's ability to restart fermentation with added fruit may be questionable. If anything the KT will "pickle" whatever you add to it, and impart those flavors into the liquid. You may or may not get carbonation though.

 

[shelly_belly]

I've let many 1 gallon batches batches go 4-6 months. I will mix with fresh sweet tea, green, white or flavored at a rate of 2 parts fresh sweet tea to 1 part old, strong kombucha and then bottle. They carbonate very well - I bottle 1 in plastic to gauge the carbonation level. They always taste good to me. I never reuse the scobys any more, I just use 10% kombucha to inoculate a new batch.