Very Dark "Beard"

[blueyoumahboy]

This is the first batch of kombucha I have made so I am not sure if this is a normal occurrence. My scoby is producing a very dark colored "beard". Is this normal? Pictures attached.

 

[ChefRex]

Looks normal enough to me although I never scooped it out like that, I do get long "beards" hanging down.

Hows it taste?

 

[fastengine]

It's normal. My 'bucha jar has about an inch of those settled on the bottom.

 

[blueyoumahboy]

Lol I'm too scared to try it. I feel like the color of it is abnormally dark. Isn't it supposed to be brown?

FYI: I used green tea and a cup of sugar in a 5 gallon glass container.

 

[blueyoumahboy]

I apologize, 1 gallon container

 

[blueyoumahboy]

Just worked up the courage to try it. It tastes like honey.

 

[fastengine]

How old is it and what kind of tea and sugar did you use, also how much sugar. Also what temps are you fermenting it at?
Mine always tastes like tangy or tart sweet tea, and if I let it go for a while apple cider vinegar

 

[ChefRex]

How long has it been fermenting?

 

[blueyoumahboy]

It's been 7 days to the hour. It's also been fairly cold here in New Orleans and my home is not very well insulated, so I would say the temperature has been around 60 degrees.

Give it another week?

 

[fastengine]

I live in Wisconsin, My house is always cold in the winter...
I keep my fermenting jar on top of my refridgerator so the heat from the back keeps it warm and fermenting. Before I started doing this it took forever to ferment a batch, now it takes less than a week.
Find a place to keep it warm, cover it with something that will let air in, and it should grow pretty fast. My scoby will be almost 1/4 inch thick in less than a week.

 

[mattmmille]

I decided to try a batch of green tea kombucha, using the dregs from a brand of kombucha soda called "LIVE!"...root beer flavor. (It was pretty good.) I've read that some industry chande in 2010 made it difficult to makea starter SCOBY from a commercial product, but this is a no additive, organic, raw product, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I started just a couple of days ago with a gallon (almost) of green tea, 1 cup of white sugar and the dregs from the soda along with a few ounces of the soda. The temp is around 70F. I'm starting to get some white bubbles around the perimeter, a little in the middle and some sediment on the bottom...appears to be more than I started with. I am also get a few small clumps around the perimeter, with a darker color...maybe greenish...that trail to a point from top to bottom. "Beard" seems like an appropriate description. When I picked the jug up to check the sediment, on of the "beards" fell to the bottom.

Most SCOBY pictures I've seen look white, so I have the same concern as @blueyoumahboy...is this normal? Also, I've read that producing a new SCOBY could take a month to 6 weeks? And then the kombucha under it isn't good, so you need to make more tea and then start over with you new SCOBY. Is that the experience you folks have had? I'm completely new to kombucha, so any comments are welcome and appreciated!

 

[TxBrew]

Looks good to me too. When I first started brewing I would scrape all that spent yeast mucous off. Now I just wait till I can peel the whole layer off with it.

 

[mattmmille]

I'm finally seeing signs of a cover beginning to form on the surface. I *think* it's headed in the right direction. This is 9 days after starting.

 

[fastengine]

I get 1/4 inch of scoby a week and toss out over 2 inches every 2-3 months. My jar is a 2 gallon glass lemonade / suntea jar from walmart that has a spigot i inch from the bottom. About every 6 months I take my fermented tea out and clean the brown stringy goop from the bottom because it starts to clog the spigot. If temps are good you will make a solid scoby in a couple of days. It will take a while with a new kombucha to get things rolling but once your colony is established then everything will go pretty fast and you will be enjoying kombucha every day as I do.