First SCOBY, growing slow

[Ungoliant]

Hey guys. So I read the "slightly schizophrenic kombucha primer," and decided to try making a SCOBY.

Unfortunately, the only raw unflavored unpasteurized unfiltered kombucha I can get in my area is GT's, which after poking around here an elsewhere on the web, the jury seems to be out on whether or not you can grow a SCOBY with that brand/store bought brands in general.

So the first two photos are about two weeks post-starter (Starter was made on OCT 12). The second two photos are roughly 3 weeks post-starter. I added another bottle of GT's a week ago (just after taking first pics), because it's been going slow and my temps were off a good bit when I added the first bottle (tea starter was at 76, kombucha was around 66). It is getting a bit colder here, too, so I'm assuming that's why it's slow going. Though where it is sits around the mid-high 60s

My biggest concern is the top looks a tad bit moldy, but I'm trying to err on the side of SCOBYs are supposed to look somewhat gross.
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[theDREWery]

Looks good to me. I started my scoby off a bottle of GT just fine. The problem with off the shelf bottles is that the colony is at a low vitality. I started out small, taking half a bottle of GT and doubling the volume, giving it a week and doubling again. Now I'm up to a two gallon continuous ferment that I draw about a quart from daily.

It looks like you went straight to a larger volume. No worries, kombucha is very forgiving, just give it time. Your first scoby may look weird until it manages to form all the way across.

 

[hunter_le five]

You can absolutely grow a SCOBY from a bottle of commercial kombucha. I've done it several times, as have others on this forum. I've never used GT's, but I know others have.

Colony vitality can be an issue depending on how long the bottle has been sitting on the store shelf. Your colony may have been a little weak, but it's clearly still alive and active.

It looks like you have a SCOBY growing. It's thin, still, but it's there. I'd just give it more time. Cooler temperatures certainly will slow things down; in my experience mid 70s°F seems to work better, or at least faster.

You might try tasting the tea you have so far. If it tastes pretty tart and not sweet, you might consider transferring the SCOBY and 16oz of the fermented tea to a fresh batch of sweet tea.

I don't see anything in the pictures that looks like mold.

 

[joemirando]

I recently decided to try making kombucha and ordered a scoby online. Of course, I went for low price and didnt think to check the size of the slimy little bugger.

What I got was a 3" diameter, 1/4" thick SCOBY with a printed recipe for a quart of Kombucha. Darn. I wanted to make a gallon.

I am guessing, from my 'wealth of experience' <yeah, right>, that I can incrementally build up both the kombucha and the SCOBY by starting off with the quart batch, letting the tea ferment for 5 days or so, then adding another quart of fresh sweetened tea, waiting another 5 days, then adding 2 quarts of sweetened tea to make a full gallon.

I am thinking I may have throw out all but 2 cups of this puppy (to save for the 'real' batch), but I'm not at all sure this will be the best way of going about it. Would it be better to let the quart go for 10 days and just make a gallon batch using 2 cups of the resulting, very vinegary first batch?

I've got a gallon glass jar as my fermentation vessel, by the way, so there's lots of real estate for the SCOBY to spread out over.

Has anyone here done this? What's the best way to get my little 98 lb weakling of a SCOBY to bulk up and produce a good final product?

Thanks in advance for any help/advice/thoughts/anectotes,

Joe
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