Is this looking right?

[Chofman1]

Just started my first 2 gallon batch of kombucha from a scoby I started myself from a bottle of gts enlightened original in a quart mason jar. The smaller circle in the middle is the original scoby. The rest is what I am concerned about. I don't remember it looking like that when I started the first one in the mason jar. The surface looks like blistered sunburned skin.

 

[dlgura]

Yup - that looks right. Give it a few days and as it grows and thickens it will start to look more like the SCOBY you expect.

 

[Chofman1]

Thanks, also, does thickness of scoby determine doneness of product?

 

[j3r3m1ah]

Looks like a baby to me. Congrats your a parent...

 

[Chofman1]

So the one I start with is the mother and the one that forms is the baby?

 

[j3r3m1ah]

That's looks pretty small to me. Looks like it still might be a baby. Sometimes even with a large mother that sinks to the bottom a new baby will grow on the top.

 

[dlgura]

My understanding is that the thickness of the SCOBY doesn't really indicate the "doneness" of the brew as much as your personal taste does. My kombucha usually doesn't make babies that are thicker than 1/4" but since I do a continuous ferment they all build up on each other and I just pull the oldest, brownest parts off. So I typically have a scoby that's over an inch thick at any given time.