Why does my scoby look so gross?

[elephant]

I know none of them look exactly "pretty", but if I do a Google search, there's lots of pictures of relatively neat looking scobies. Mine looks like a mess with gross little tentacles hanging off it and stuff. Do people take them out and trim them to look really neat or something?

This is what mine looks like:







.... compared to photos on Google Images:

...

 

[hottpeper13]

Looks just like mine.............super healthy!

 

[elephant]

Thanks ... although I wasn't really worried about it being "super healthy" or not. I assumed it was all good because my kombucha tastes delicious.

I was more just wondering how all the folk on Google Images make theirs looks so neat. If it's some kind of natural process or additive, or if they take them out and trim them down neatly or something...?

Anyway ... thanks for the reply and Happy New Year!

 

[PekerF]

I think they look that nice if you don't touch them. I drink my Kombucha after 6 days or so. Every time the brew is renewed, it kind of creates a new layer with a new surface where brown yeast tentacles to can hold on to. So my big scoby is a bit patchy, growing around 5mm each time. Did some experiments lately with different teas and coffees. Then I was gone for the holidays and ended up leaving the batches 2-3 weeks. The results were nice, 2cm thick, even and nice looking "Baby" Scoobies on the surface, looking very similar to that picture you posted.

 

[rushpapers]

SCOBY photos on Google look the same way McDonald's burgers look on Google.

 

[andrearamirezo91]

I think they look that nice if you don't touch them. I drink my Kombucha after 6 days or so. Every time the brew is renewed, it kind of creates a new layer with a new surface where brown yeast tentacles to can hold on to. So my big scoby is a bit patchy, growing around 5mm each time. Did some experiments lately with different teas and coffees. Then I was gone for the holidays and ended up leaving the batches 2-3 weeks. The results were nice, 2cm thick, even and nice looking "Baby" Scoobies on the surface, looking very similar to that picture you posted.

I second this!

When I first started I didn't have a proper sanitation process defined yet and lost my SCOBYs a few times. Given that I was only brewing one batch at a time, I'd then have to get another SCOBY and begin the process all over again. To avoid this, I set up a SCOBY hotel, where I have a tea blend that I never really touch. I just top if off every few weeks with fresh tea and sugar to keep my SCOBY going. That SCOBY is beautiful! Super thick and it literally looks exactly like the google pic you shared. My other jars have really thin SCOBYs because I never give them enough time to form before emptying out the tea.

 

[rushpapers]

You all know that transferring a pellicle from one batch to another is totally unnecessary?

 

[andrearamirezo91]

You all know that transferring a pellicle from one batch to another is totally unnecessary?

I've always wondered why people do this. I just use a syphon to bottle my kombucha for the second fermentation and top off the same container with new tea. Works just fine for me and IMO decreases possibility of contamination from manipulation.

 

[rushpapers]

I've always wondered why people do this. I just use a syphon to bottle my kombucha for the second fermentation and top off the same container with new tea. Works just fine for me and IMO decreases possibility of contamination from manipulation.

You misunderstood. You can throw the pellicle away and use 20-25% by volume of fermented kombucha in your next batch. What you're describing is continuous batch kombucha.