Growing SCOBY From GT Dave's

[Guest guest]

For those of you who've grown your own from commercially bottled KT,

how did you do it? Did you just keep the babies in a jar with a little

liquid until it grew big enough to use in a larger brew?

OK - now I have other questions coming to mind, too.

How do you know when a scoby is big enough to divide & share? I loaned

mine out while I was on vacation & it came back considerably smaller &

it no longer has a solid, smooth side. I have people asking me to

share mine now & don't know when it'll be big enough. What's the best

way to divide it when it's time? Is there a way to make it grow faster

than with the gallon or so I'm brewing per week?

I saw some pics of someone's brewing section in the photos section &

there were lots of ceramic crocks there. Is there KT in those? I

thought we couldn't use ceramic for it, and will be delighted if it

turns out it's okay.

Thanks.

[Guest guest]

Can't help on paragraph 1, due to a profound lack of commercial KT, GT's

or any-one else's for that matter.

As regards how big it needs to be ... " How long is the proverbial piece

of string? While I haven't grown from commercial I've grown a SCOBY a

few times now from nothing but sweet tea + about 20% starter.

My most recent growth was pure experiment and went like this

I made a 2ltr (4pt to you lot) brew as normal, I added somewhere between

10 & 20% starter and *no* SCOBY, took a wee bit longer than the norm,

but it's pretty cool in a Brit kitchen, in under a week I had a

recognisable SCOBY. Son by using that as an argument, you *could* 1/2

*any* size of SCOBY you liked and the recipient ought to end up with a

SCOBY covering the surface of their brewing vessel.

HTH as they say,

(UK)

->->->->->->->

wrote:

> For those of you who've grown your own from commercially bottled KT, how did

you do it? Did you just keep the babies in a jar with a little liquid until it

grew big enough to use in a larger brew?

>

> OK - now I have other questions coming to mind, too.

>

> How do you know when a scoby is big enough to divide & share? I loaned mine

out while I was on vacation & it came back considerably smaller & it no longer

has a solid, smooth side. I have people asking me to share mine now & don't

know when it'll be big enough. What's the best way to divide it when it's time?

Is there a way to make it grow faster than with the gallon or so I'm brewing per

week?

>

> I saw some pics of someone's brewing section in the photos section & there

were lots of ceramic crocks there. Is there KT in those? I thought we couldn't

use ceramic for it, and will be delighted if it turns out it's okay.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hello ,

I brewed in a ceramic crock for several years and it was fantastic, Just

make sure your crock is lead free ( which most of them are these days). Some

day I hope to have another.

Dividing scobys Since various components are reported to hang out in

different layers of the scoby, it has been advised to cut it like a pie

wedge so you have some part of every layer present. When mine get big enough

to interfere with the volume of KT I want- its time to divide and share

or at the very least start your own little " hotel " .

I grew my first scoby from a bottle of KT ( Not GT's) It took a few weeks

to form, but eventually it was there, very thin but seemingly healthy

so I just gave it its own brew and progressed from there. In no time at all

it was very thick and looked gorgeous. Everything I have now is a

descendant of that Scoby and all are doing quite well. I did have

another strain, but when I moved I left them all behind.

Huggs

zoe

Sunday, November 23, 2008, 2:25:48 PM, you wrote:

> For those of you who've grown your own from commercially bottled KT,

> how did you do it? Did you just keep the babies in a jar with a little

> liquid until it grew big enough to use in a larger brew?

> OK - now I have other questions coming to mind, too.

> How do you know when a scoby is big enough to divide & share? I loaned

> mine out while I was on vacation & it came back considerably smaller &

> it no longer has a solid, smooth side. I have people asking me to

> share mine now & don't know when it'll be big enough. What's the best

> way to divide it when it's time? Is there a way to make it grow faster

> than with the gallon or so I'm brewing per week?

> I saw some pics of someone's brewing section in the photos section &

> there were lots of ceramic crocks there. Is there KT in those? I

> thought we couldn't use ceramic for it, and will be delighted if it

> turns out it's okay.

> Thanks.

[Guest guest]

I'm still new to all of this, so I'll just comment on getting a SCOBY

from GT Dave's. I bought a bottle and poured half into another glass

jar. I left both the jars--the original bottle with half the kombucha

and the new jar with half the kombucha on the counter. The top was

covered with a coffee filter secured by a rubber band. Within 4 days,

I had a film across the top, and by day 8 there was a 1/4 " thick SCOBY

in each bottle. I have used these scobys to brew more kombucha and

they work great!