healthy scoby?

[mwood95]

hey folks, this has been going for about 20 days.

I wasnt really careful on the mixture so the ph may be way off, but it continues to develop a complete pellicle and it smells good..

I am concerned about the plaque-like deposits on the surface but they dont look like mold

healthy scoby?

 

[Yooper]

I've never seen anything like the stuff on the left- mine are universally brown/tan. Maybe someone else has some idea on that. You've been fermenting it for 20 days? How did you start it, was the SCOBY healthy?

 

[tracer bullet]

Agreed, mine have always been a light brown disc, and smooth. I screen captured the picture and put green checks on what looks normal, and red ? marks on the stuff that I've never seen.

I'm not an expert though, I've made Kombucha maybe 10 times. But it's been off and on for a few years and a few SCOBY's, and they were all the same.

Can't say if the red stuff will hurt you or not, nor what it is. It is however definitely different than anything I've encountered in my (limited) experience.

 

[mwood95]

I've never seen anything like the stuff on the left- mine are universally brown/tan. Maybe someone else has some idea on that. You've been fermenting it for 20 days? How did you start it, was the SCOBY healthy?

growing a new scoby from a Gt's pure kombucha, black tea and sugar.
that is 20 days from 0.
I didnt pay much attention to sugar amnt and used quite a bit more water than the recipe suggested so i suppose ph is probably way off.

 

[mwood95]

Agreed, mine have always been a light brown disc, and smooth. I screen captured the picture and put green checks on what looks normal, and red ? marks on the stuff that I've never seen.

I'm not an expert though, I've made Kombucha maybe 10 times. But it's been off and on for a few years and a few SCOBY's, and they were all the same.

Can't say if the red stuff will hurt you or not, nor what it is. It is however definitely different than anything I've encountered in my (limited) experience.

View attachment 858488

thank you for taking the trouble to mark up the picture. those look like the strands that form before a pellicle to me but I am very new to this. I was more worried about the deposits on the surface

 

[tracer bullet]

Certainly all new to me but hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[Yooper]

growing a new scoby from a Gt's pure kombucha, black tea and sugar.
that is 20 days from 0.
I didnt pay much attention to sugar amnt and used quite a bit more water than the recipe suggested so i suppose ph is probably way off.

Growing a culture from GT is tough, for sure. I usually start with about 1.5 cups of strong kombucha as starter tea plus a cellulose mat. (What some people call the SCOBY, but a SCOBY is actually the bacteria/yeast, not the cellulose mat).

I'd throw it away and either start over with extremely great sanitation or an already strong culture to begin.

 

[mwood95]

Growing a culture from GT is tough, for sure. I usually start with about 1.5 cups of strong kombucha as starter tea plus a cellulose mat. (What some people call the SCOBY, but a SCOBY is actually the bacteria/yeast, not the cellulose mat).

I'd throw it away and either start over with extremely great sanitation or an already strong culture to begin.

I had a really successful scoby my first time using just a gt's and following a recipe but fruit flies laid maggots on it during the second batch. I switched to coffee filters as a cover.

I think its a Ph issue this time because I didnt follow the recipe at all. way more water and sugar and less kombucha.

part of me feels this scoby is probably fine.. I wish i could get some hard info on what Im looking at

 

[IslandLizard]

part of me feels this scoby is probably fine.. I wish i could get some hard info on what Im looking at

I agree. When the buch tastes good, the scoby must be good too, working as expected.

The top looks fine to me, those white blotches are normal. Not sure why it's bright yellow though, a tan color is more usual.

I do not know what is causing the "delamination" of the scoby, but there's a good chance the middle section will be more solid. I would definitely use it again.

You can always cut off what looks to be the healthiest part, and let that regrow in a new batch. But definitely save the "edges" and make a batch with some of that too. See if there's a difference...

BTW, that looks like a very small batch. I'd ramp that up to at least 1/2 - 1 gallon.

 

[mwood95]

here we are after 25 ish days

seems to be looking better no? i think it might be time to bottle this batch