Mother blocking Scoby growth?

[Sparklepaws]

So, I've recently been having trouble with my brew. My mother scoby is rising from the fermentation and not leaving any surface for a new scoby to begin forming. As soon as the tell-tale film shows up, it gets raised above the surface.

Is there any way to prevent this?

 

[Lookin4space]

Peel off the bottom layer of the SCOBY and use it in your next batch, then either give the rest away, freeze it with some reserve for emergencies, feed it to the chickens, or throw it in the compost pile. SCOBYs get too big and need to be split once in a while. Actually, you can use the reserve to make batches without the SCOBY.

 

[Hordan]

So, I've recently been having trouble with my brew. My mother scoby is rising from the fermentation and not leaving any surface for a new scoby to begin forming. As soon as the tell-tale film shows up, it gets raised above the surface.

Is there any way to prevent this?

Great question! The answer comes from Gunther Franks book on Kombucha...

Find a heavy, smooth rock. Sterilize it with boiling water. Then when you brew a new batch, put this rock on top of the mother Scoby so that she stays on the bottom of the jar!

I do this with all of my batches from now on, and it works great. The babys are able to form uninterrupted. Good luck!