Mould or new SCOBY/yeasts?

[robbomush]

Hi everyone,

I've got a ginger kombucha brewing at the moment, after 3 days I've got a lot of carbonation and everything looks active. I'm slightly concerned about what I've got on top, I've never had anything develop so quickly, what do you all think?

The brew itself is dark so the darker patches on top aren't black mold but the colour of the brew below.

Thanks for your help!

 

[RPh_Guy]

It's not mold.

 

[hottpeper13]

Wow, that looks like mycilium in my wood chips. The booch I did with fresh ginger in the primary had a normal looking scoby and finished at 3.85 pH

 

[robbomush]

It's not mold.

Anything that gives it away as not being mould?

 

[robbomush]

Wow, that looks like mycilium in my wood chips. The booch I did with fresh ginger in the primary had a normal looking scoby and finished at 3.85 pH

I know right! I assume the fresh ingredients have brought their own bacteria along and are contributing to the growth of the new SCOBY? I'm going to leave it a couple of days and see what develops.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Anything that gives it away as not being mould?

Yep, easy:
Mold is always fuzzy or hairy and everything that's not mold is not fuzzy or hairy.

Mold also generally smells "moldy".

What you have there is just a pellicle, albeit different than a typical kombucha pellicle.
There are several very similar examples here on the last couple pages:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/pellicle-photo-collection.174033/page-65

I assume the fresh ingredients have brought their own bacteria along and are contributing to the growth of the new SCOBY?

That's exactly what happened.
Wild yeast and bacteria are everywhere: on you, on any uncooked foods, on plants, floating around in the air ....

Hope it tastes good.