Hope I haven't ruined my first brew...

bandit7319 · Mar 18, 2018

I received a SCOBY from a neighbor and was totally excited to make my own kombucha. I wrote down everything she said for directions and then went at it at home!

Almost 2 weeks later, it still hadn't picked up hardly any sour taste - just slight sour with tea and sugar flavor. So I went online and did a search and found out my mistake - I'd poured her starter tea out and just brewed with tea/sugar/SCOBY.

To try and save it, I added 2 cups of white distilled vinegar to it (I'm brewing a gallon). It seems like one of the main purposes in the vinegar is to prevent bacteria and mold - I don't think I've got that yet (no fuzziness), but I've attached a pic so experts can tell me.

So, all that to ask, am I ok to keep going with this first brew or do I need to start over? If I need to start over, is it ok for me to reuse this same SCOBY?

I appreciate the help and info! I'm looking forward to this. I want to try adding all kinds of flavors and deliciousness once I get the basics down. I tried homebrewing beer with Mr Beer but the kinds of beers I like I can't easily create at home.. boo...

Calder · Mar 18, 2018

If no mold, you are probably OK. Yes, the starter is just to keep the ph low, but should not affect how the kombucha brews.

bandit7319 · Mar 18, 2018

Thanks Calder! Did you see the pic I attached to the post? Does that look like mold? That's the closest to mold I see on my SCOBY. It isn't fuzzy but it is brown and funky looking.

Calder · Mar 20, 2018

Sometimes the yeast clumps together and forms a strange (and worrying) blob. I had one in one of my last batches which I bottled this weekend. After bottling and removing the Scoby, everything seemed fine, and I couldn't see anything of concern. Added tea today and thought I saw the same thing. Looked very similar to what you see. I am not concerned.

I have never watched Booch ferment, but that seems like a lot of bubbles compared to what I get.

It looks like that is in a carboy with a small opening. I like to use containers with large openings. If you can get your hand in there, I would suggest you get a clean bowl, clean your hand, and stick your hand in there and remove the scoby and whatever it is you are seeing and put it in the bowl to inspect what ever it is. Obviously return the scoby to the booch.

bpgreen · Mar 21, 2018

Out of curiosity, what kinds of beer aren't you able to create at home?

There are plenty of people at hbt who can help you brew any beer you want.

bandit7319 · Apr 18, 2018

bpgreen said:
Out of curiosity, what kinds of beer aren't you able to create at home?

There are plenty of people at hbt who can help you brew any beer you want.

I was trying to brew mainly different types of barrel aged stuff before. Ended up making a beer flavored whiskey after my first try lol. Some of my favorites are trippels/quads (Weyerbacher Quad), oak aged barleywine (Red Brick Beard Envy) and IPAs (Dogfish Burton Baton) along with double and triple IPAs (Sierra Nevada Hop Bullet), and bourbon barrel aged things like Boulevards Whiskey Stout and Quad

I wanted to do kombucha because I like it of course, but also because it seems like I can pretty easily and (relatively) quickly experiment with flavoring. And it's nice to only have to wait a little over a week or so to find out if I was successful instead of a month + lol.