Guest guest Posted September 2, 2002 Report Share Posted September 2, 2002 According to the GEM instructions a " thin 'skin' [will develop] on the surface of the tea, either extending from the edges of the floating pad or entirely new if the pad has sunk. " Could that be what it is? My first kombucha is fermenting now and I haven't looked at it yet. Chris ____ " What can one say of a soul, of a heart, filled with compassion? It is a heart which burns with love for every creature: for human beings, birds, and animals, for serpents and for demons. The thought of them and the sight of them make the tears of the saint flow. And this immense and intense compassion, which flows from the heart of the saints, makes them unable to bear the sight of the smallest, most insignificant wound in any creature. Thus they pray ceaselessly, with tears, even for animals, for enemies of the truth, and for those who do them wrong. " --Saint Isaac the Syrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 Hi Suze, Sounds like a baby SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast)forming on the top. That's what is supposed to happen--good job. You may want to start gentle taste testing your new brew to get it at the right time before it gets to vinegary--I usually start checking mine at about 5-6 days. Mold is round circles and greenish or blackish ususally and fuzzy not slimy--if you do ever get mold you need to toss the whole batch and start again with a fresh SCOBY. Anyhow your baby SCOBY can be used to start a new batch of kmobucha or shared with a friend or stored for later use as a back up. -- -----Original Message----- From: Suze Fisher [mailto:s.fisher22@...] Sent: Monday, September 02, 2002 11:57 AM Subject: 'bad' kombucha? hi all, i went away for the weekend and upon my return found that my kombucha has a grayish-white slimy film on the top of it. i'm taking a wild guess that this is not normal...so what went wrong with my first batch of kombucha? i can think of a few possibilities: 1) the apple juice bottle i made it in already had some mold in it and this contaminated the kombucha (the lids to these bottles often get moldy) 2) the narrow opening on the bottle didn't allow enough contact with air? 3) some mold circulating in my house contaminated it 4) it doesn't like 'organic' sugar? (the coarse brown stuff) maybe it was due to any combination of these factors..? has this happened to anyone else? if so, did you determine what caused the film on top? btw, it's been fermenting for 6 days now. Suze Fisher Web Design & Development http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/ mailto:s.fisher22@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 According to the GEM instructions a " thin 'skin' [will develop] on the surface of the tea, either extending from the edges of the floating pad or entirely new if the pad has sunk. " Could that be what it is? --------->yes, i suppose. but it's now a *thick* skin! thicker than the original mushroom... Suze Fisher Web Design & Development http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/ mailto:s.fisher22@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 Hi Suze, Sounds like a baby SCOBY ---->as in " Doo " ? LOL couldn't resist (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast)forming on the top. That's what is supposed to happen--good job. ------------>hmmm...i think i have a lot to learn about kombucha! this cloudy thing is floating on the top of the liquid and is the full diameter of the jug. it seems attached to the mushroom that's right below it. is the SCOBY supposed to be cloudy-looking and just as big as the mother? the mother is sort of brownish....(and the SCOBY is thicker than the mother right now.) You may want to start gentle taste testing your new brew to get it at the right time before it gets to vinegary--I usually start checking mine at about 5-6 days. --------->thanks mary! Suze Fisher Web Design & Development http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/ mailto:s.fisher22@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 Yes that's how it happens. If you started with a small culture that you got from GEM then the new one will be a lot larger. Your new baby will cover the whole surface of the container and will gradually thicken up. As you use your mushrooms to brew sucessive batches they get thicker and whiter in colour as they grow stronger. My first baby was brownish and see through, although the mother culture I had started with was a thick creamy culture that seemed to have been cut as a quarter from a larger circle. But after two more brews the baby was thicker and a creamy colour. I put the baby into each new brew without trying to separate it from any babies it had produced, to give it a chance to thicken up. That's what was suggested in my instruction (I got my baby here in the UK). Now I have several and the thicker mushrooms seem to produce vigorous babies and much fizzier kombucha too. Den > ------------>Hmmm...i think i have a lot to learn about kombucha! this > cloudy thing is floating on the top of the liquid and is the full diameter > of the jug. it seems attached to the mushroom that's right below it. is the > SCOBY supposed to be cloudy-looking and just as big as the mother? the > mother is sort of brownish....(and the SCOBY is thicker than the mother > right now.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 Hey Suze, Well I pronouce it SCOBY (with a long O rhyming with MOBY (as in Moby Dick the whale) however be warned that this is just how I say it and having found out that I haven't been pronouncing kefir right, I'm not sure I'm the most trust worthy source--I think this stuff is easier to make than to say correctly ( : Welcome to the wonderful whacky world of Kombucha--don't ask me how to say this properly--here's a link with lots and lots of info while you learn about your new little " counter pets " or herd of microlivestock. http://w3.trib.com/~kombu/index.shtml Here's a link from that site that has info about just about every possible condition and what it means and how to fix it if it needs to be fixed. There is also a picture of a mature SCOBY. http://w3.trib.com/~kombu/KTBalance.shtml Have fun, -- -----Original Message----- From: Suze Fisher [mailto:s.fisher22@...] Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2002 5:05 AM Subject: RE: 'bad' kombucha? Hi Suze, Sounds like a baby SCOBY ---->as in " Doo " ? LOL couldn't resist (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast)forming on the top. That's what is supposed to happen--good job. ------------>hmmm...i think i have a lot to learn about kombucha! this cloudy thing is floating on the top of the liquid and is the full diameter of the jug. it seems attached to the mushroom that's right below it. is the SCOBY supposed to be cloudy-looking and just as big as the mother? the mother is sort of brownish....(and the SCOBY is thicker than the mother right now.) You may want to start gentle taste testing your new brew to get it at the right time before it gets to vinegary--I usually start checking mine at about 5-6 days. --------->thanks mary! Suze Fisher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 >>>>>Yes that's how it happens. If you started with a small culture that you got from GEM then the new one will be a lot larger. Your new baby will cover the whole surface of the container and will gradually thicken up. ---------->oh! this is good news - i'm having a baby! not mold. phew...thought my first batch was going awry. As you use your mushrooms to brew sucessive batches they get thicker and whiter in colour as they grow stronger. My first baby was brownish and see through, although the mother culture I had started with was a thick creamy culture that seemed to have been cut as a quarter from a larger circle. But after two more brews the baby was thicker and a creamy colour. I put the baby into each new brew without trying to separate it from any babies it had produced, to give it a chance to thicken up. That's what was suggested in my instruction (I got my baby here in the UK). Now I have several and the thicker mushrooms seem to produce vigorous babies and much fizzier kombucha too. ----->den, thanks for sharing your experience, i'm relieved to hear my kombucha appears to be normal. my baby is defintely thick and creamy, and will hopefully produce many generations of vigorous babies itself. i hope it's fizzy as well - that sounds great. how do you separate the baby from the mother? and do you continue to use the mother indefinitely to brew more kombucha? Suze Fisher Web Design & Development http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/ mailto:s.fisher22@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 >>>>Welcome to the wonderful whacky world of Kombucha--don't ask me how to say this properly--here's a link with lots and lots of info while you learn about your new little " counter pets " or herd of microlivestock. http://w3.trib.com/~kombu/index.shtml Here's a link from that site that has info about just about every possible condition and what it means and how to fix it if it needs to be fixed. There is also a picture of a mature SCOBY. http://w3.trib.com/~kombu/KTBalance.shtml --------->thanks for the great links mary! i just tasted my kombucha now, this is day 7. it tastes a little like sweet tea at the moment with no fizz. so i guess i've got a ways to go. will keep testing it till it's no longer sweet. do you use *white* sugar? i used *organic* sugar which is kind of brownish and coarse...and am wondering if that's slowing down the process of fermentation... Suze Fisher Web Design & Development http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/ mailto:s.fisher22@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 I thought it was pretty wierd too when I saw my first one growing! <G> I find you can just peel them apart or if they are a little stubborn apparently you can snip them with scissors but I haven't had to do that. I did two batches with both mother and baby. Then I made two batches at one go and added the mother to one (black teat) and the baby to the other (green tea). Then over the next couple of batches I let the baby grow and had another baby from the mother. So I've put the mother in the fridge with some sweet tea and kombucha to keep it dormant and I now have another baby in there too as well as the ones busy brewing. I figure I need to keep 2 or 3 as back ups and have one to experiment with. I've just made a batch of green tea with elderflower tea to see what happens. But I dont think I'll separate out other babies unless someone wants one from me. I think I'll just let them get thicker. Although I'm not sure as I'm not to that stage yet but I can see how you'd end up with lots of babies once the cultures get frisky. Den > ----->Den, thanks for sharing your experience, i'm relieved to hear my > kombucha appears to be normal. my baby is defintely thick and creamy, and > will hopefully produce many generations of vigorous babies itself. i hope > it's fizzy as well - that sounds great. > > how do you separate the baby from the mother? and do you continue to use the > mother indefinitely to brew more kombucha? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 3, 2002 Report Share Posted September 3, 2002 Yes I always use white, my understanding is that this is what the SCOBY likes best, those toxic waste eating little monsters--I'm not sure if organic sugar slows it down, probably not, there are lots of factors in the speed of a ferment, I don't think your's is too slow, sometimes it just taked time and a fast ferment isn't necessarilly what you want--I've just found that my KT is usually done in 6-10 days. Here's something from Len Porzio's stuff: " TOO SWEET As long as you're seeing SCOBY growth allow the fermentation to proceed. This could be due to low temperatures or a semi-dormant yeast population. I've had brews that took up to 3 weeks before they started to get tart. This can work to your advantage because slower brews have a greater likelihood of forming many of the beneficial acids that make KT so healthy for us. Not only that but you'll find the slower a ferment proceeds the rounder and more delicious it turns out. " My kombucah has never been real fizzy, but I haven't ever tried the 2 stage bottling technique yet, although it is on my list of adventures..... -- --------->thanks for the great links mary! i just tasted my kombucha now, this is day 7. it tastes a little like sweet tea at the moment with no fizz. so i guess i've got a ways to go. will keep testing it till it's no longer sweet. do you use *white* sugar? i used *organic* sugar which is kind of brownish and coarse...and am wondering if that's slowing down the process of fermentation... Suze Fisher Web Design & Development http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze3shjg/ mailto:s.fisher22@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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