The Dreaded "..is it mold?" Question

[Sajbrewer]

About a year ago I did my first 3 or 4 batches, then got away from it. Really want to get back into it and started my first 2 gallon batch over the weekend - it's been 5 days in 1F. Bought a SCOBY from a local independent tea shop, very thick 3/4" or so. Used a very strong black tea (Trader Joe's Irish Breakfast), 2 gallons of water, 2 cups starter (1C from the shop's SCOBY and 1C from a very old SCOBY hotel that housed 5 or so in the refrigerator for 7 months or so)

Not much visible activity until yesterday when I noticed a white circle at the edge of the vessel, then another. I thought Oh good, SCOBY forming... then Oh no, is that mold?

I watched as I noticed a good deal of "stuff" becoming visible over the last 24 hours, which I'm hoping is SCOBY forming, but the white circles are still there (now I think there are 3). So obviously I'm wondering if that is SCOBY or mold. The one thing I find encouraging is there seems to be a trail of "stuff" that is coming from the bottoms of the circles I described (I think that's yeast, right?)

Any thoughts? I did up the temperature in the room recently since it was hovering around 70F for the first 48 hours or so, now with a safe heating source I'm keeping it more around 78F, and the brew is showing 76F with an adhesive thermometer on the side of the vessel.

PS - I tried, but couldn't get a good photo...

Thanks!

 

[ralphkaz]

really hard to say without seeing a photo - any chance you could take one and post it?

use the images below to compare:
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=kombucha+mold&qpvt=komucha+mold&FORM=IARRSM

 

[Sajbrewer]

Didn't get a chance to get a good photo, but I'm 99% certain it was mold. There were a few and as the grew larger they seemed to get the "fuzzy" look. I tossed the whole batch down sink and threw the SCOBY out (I read they can become "infected" by the mold). Fortunately I acquired another SCOBY (Brooklyn Kombucha sold by a local brewing supply store), and started a new batch on Friday with that one and...that one is going really well! Only a gallon, so I'm hoping to get a 2-gallon batch going soon as well.