Mini SCOBY forming in bottles

[johnnyLA]

Everyone knows the little particles in the bottom of a store-bought kombucha... usually about a tablespoon full, with maybe a little bit of stringy / yeasty action floating at the top.

When I brew + bottle my own, rather than ending up with what looks like a little bit of blended SCOBY remnants in each bottle, I instead find a single mini SCOBY forming at the top of each bottle. It's more of a translucent-scoby-fetus-booger than anything else. I notice a small amount of the particles in my brewing jar, but definitely not enough to have a significant "scoop" in every bottle. Whatever small amount of particles that IS there usually gets left as starter for the next batch.

I'm usually totally ok with the particles in the drink, but these "mini scobys" I'm getting are pretty intimidating and I have to strain them out every time I open a bottle. I've tried a relative range of brew / bottling times (within the 1-2 week range) to no avail.

Does everyone else get these particles in their finished bottles??
Is this a brewing error on my part?
Are brewers adding yeast at the bottling stage to achieve this?
Could this mean my brew is too sugary at bottling?

Thanks for your input!!

-Johnny

 

[telebrewer]

It's normal. All my jars have a little SCOBY. I just strain it out.

 

[snarf]

Yes, it's perfectly normal. I get a mini scoby in almost every bottle. It just means that the brew still remains a bit active once in the bottle.

 

[johnnyLA]

I guess I wasn't being super clear.

I am TRYING to get those particles in the bottom, instead of just a single scoby in the top.

Does anyone else get these little particles in their brew, or is it only the single scoby booger?

Is it added manually by Brewers or are they achieving it naturally?

 

[BeekeeperGreg]

Is it ok to drink the mini scobys?
What about the stuff on the bottom of the bottles--OK to drink?
Thanks
Greg

 

[hunter_le five]

Yup. All safe to drink. Worst thing it might do is give you a little gas.

I always drink the mini-scobys and flocculated yeast.

 

[stpug]

I guess I wasn't being super clear.

I am TRYING to get those particles in the bottom, instead of just a single scoby in the top.

Does anyone else get these little particles in their brew, or is it only the single scoby booger?

Is it added manually by Brewers or are they achieving it naturally?

When I prime my KT with mostly a simple sugar syrup (cane sugar + water + maybe some flavorings without juice to them) in the bottle then I tend to get the single, translucent, scoby formed at the top of the bottle that doesn't want to flocculate. However, when I prime with over 50% fruit juice pressed from fresh fruit I tend to not get that single-translucent-scoby but will get some of the darker stringy "stuff" that eventually settles to the bottom. While this has been pretty consistent for me up to this point, I would not bet my life that it's repeatable due to the nature of varying bacteria/yeast/proportions, but might be worth a try on your end. Raspberry juice is a wonderful addition at bottling time (pasteurize at 165F; let steep to break down the fruit; add a smidge of sugar; smoosh through a fine strainer to get out only juice).

 

[sleepspeaking]

I guess I wasn't being super clear.

I am TRYING to get those particles in the bottom, instead of just a single scoby in the top.

Does anyone else get these little particles in their brew, or is it only the single scoby booger?

Is it added manually by Brewers or are they achieving it naturally?

I let my KT stay on the warmer end of the scale for a batch or two (South Texas summers are brutal, and that closet didn't get A/C). After that it always produced much more strings from the full batch SCOBY and more yeast particles at the bottom of the bottles. I contacted the vendor and they said that due to the warm temps the yeast had probably out populated the bacteria a bit. They explained that the strings and silt at the bottom of the bottle was the yeast, and not to worry about it. My bottles still formed mini-scobys but there was more "trub" particles on the bottom of my bottles.

 

[Thedillestpickle]

Why do you want stringy dark fibrous yeasty sediment in the bottom of your bottles of kombucha???

... I do think I know how you can prevent the gooey booger ball mini-scoby from forming. It's an idea I have not yet tried but I intend to.

When you bottle you are leaving a small bubble of air at the top of the bottle. The kombucha culture is forming a new baby scoby within the bottle at the interface between the air(oxygen) and liquid. If you use swing top bottles you can flip the cap on without locking it down and swirl the bottle to agitate and release some of the CO2 gas from the kombucha(assuming you have a relatively fizzy pre-bottle kombucha tea) and then allow the pressure of this released gas to displace the oxygen. Give it a couple of swirls and let the gas burp out under the swing lid, and and repeat a few time. in theory there should be very little oxygen remaining in the gas bubble at the top of the bottle. Then lock down the swing cap. Maybe it works?