Accidentally Used Non-Organic Tea in Brew

[HomeBrewsEverythingGirl]

This is my first thread in homebrewtalk.com so hi everyone!

I currently have a wonderful 2 gallon continuous brew cycle system for my (up until now) organic kombucha. I realized just today, bottling day, that this last batch was done with non-organic tea. Green Tip China leaves by Tazo to be exact. I just picked up the wrong box at my local earth goods store and went on my brewing way without looking at the box closely until prepping my next batch. Anyways, the brew looks and smells ok.

My question is two parts:

A) Is the batch automatically compromised when using a non-organic tea?
and
B) If the batch is ok to use, will my scobies now be "infected" indefinitely with potential pesticides and other non-organic materials, thus losing it's true organic nature?

I'm ok with one batch slipping through the cracks. I will still consume it if its ok. However I'm not willing to continue use of the scobies if they will forever retain the pesticides, etc. If anyone is familiar with Tazo and can elaborate on there growing practices with their non-organic brands, that will be helpful with my decision as well.

Thank you ahead of time everyone and happy brewing!

 

[kyt]

This is a complicated question. So, Yes and No.
If there were pesticides on your tea leaves, yes there would be some in the batch. How much depends on several factors, some wildly outside your control.
Is the pellicle tainted? Most likely, however, since it is formed in layers, any contaminated layers would be sealed off (mostly) once a new layer forms. But it doesn't really matter, just toss the SCOBY and grow a new one, it isn't necessary anyway.

If you have 10ppm pesticide in your brew, and you take half of it, and refill, then you could assume you now have roughly 5ppm. I think 10 would be a really high amount, but for the sake of math, I used it. If every time you take half and replace, this number will be halved until the amount is negligible or gone completely.

For USDA certification, I believe there is a threshold. As long as the ppm is below a certain amount you could consider it Organic. But you'll have to check the rules.

I wouldn't worry about it. Nothing would be affected in any measurable way, just keep going, and don't do it again, if that's important to you.

 

[HomeBrewsEverythingGirl]

Thank you for the wonderful advice. I think I will grow a new scoby after this batch is done in order to fulfill the want for an organic final product. The great news is the batch isn't compromised beyond consumption. Hey in the words of Les Claypool, "They Can't all be Zingers." I'll go ahead with my blueberry ginger bottling and just have to live with the fact the next two weeks will be slightly non-organic *sigh.. cough.. hint of sarcastic tone.* Thanks again!