Newbie needing SCOBY management help!

[SkiCo]

Hello,
I’m brand new to this, just 1 batch in (which turned out great i thought), and i’m curious about use of the new & old SCOBYs. I got a mother from a neighbor and it’s maybe 1/2” thick and quite colored (various colors), i forgot to ask how old it is. My 1st batch made a new SCOBY (in 7 days) maybe 1/8-1/4” thick, and it’s very clean looking and uniform in color (mostly whitish). Do older/thicker/colored SCOBYs make better Komb that if i only use the baby in each subsequent batch? Or do they make noticeably different tasting Komb so it’s just a matter of taste preference?
Thanks for anyone’s help!

 

[Yooper]

The SCOBY is really the microscopic yeast and bacteria that are in the fermented kombucha- but what we are referring to often is the cellulose mat that covers the top of the kombucha. Babies are usually thin and clear, while the mothers will get very thick.

I separate the mothers and babies and put them in a "SCOBY hotel"- a storage jar that I replenish as needed by adding fresh starter tea and pouring out the same amount of kombucha from it.

Anyway, various colors are fine- usually tan/beige/brown/white. If it's moldy, fuzzy, or black, it should be thrown out. Keep a few SCOBYs in reserve in another jar with starter tea as I mentioned, so if you have a problem with a batch in the future, you have others in reserve.

In the meantime, it sounds like yours are fine.

 

[SkiCo]

Thanks for the quick reply!
If i understand, in each batch the mother will get thicker and a new baby will develop. Are you saying after you brew a batch you separate the baby and mother and you put the baby in the hotel (with other babies i presume?) then keep the mother and use it for the next batch? If so, at what point do you throw away the mother, or do you use it for months or years or until it gets a certain thickness? Does a mother produce better Komb than a baby, or maybe just faster?