# kombucha makers?



## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Anybody? I'm a first timer and need somebody to talk me down because I'm three days in, and it looks seriously WEIRD in there. :runforhills: The internet leads me to believe that all this dark stuff is yeast, which is good, because it is on the underside of the SCOBY? It is really hideous and scary though, and it's starting to make bubbles under there.


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## 258Pots (Apr 23, 2015)

I started a new one and its the same way, i suspect the honey I keep adding is making it hard on the scoby, tastes fine though... so far...


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

I suppose adding extra sugar would make it hard for the bacteria part of the SCOBY to keep up with the yeast. I dunno, mine smells pretty good, not moldy at all (which is my BIG fear, mold!). And the part growing out from the original SCOBY (you can see it, the smaller circle) is nice looking white SCOBY stuff. It's just all those globs of icky colored stuff. Eek! It's a good thing my mother isn't around, she would flip her lid that I'm letting this live in my kitchen for even a minute.


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## Anduril (Jun 4, 2015)

My wife says it looks normal, she has done quite a bit of that. She says it does keep getting weirder, just need to wait a couple weeks.


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Whew, that's a relief!  The gal I got the SCOBY from is relatively new at this too, and she wasn't sure if it was normal or not either. Blind leading the blind over here! :bash: It does smell nice though. May give it a try tomorrow. The white bits are getting much thicker.


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## obleo+6 (Jul 21, 2008)

So how'd your "butcha" turn out?


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Good! I kept brewing for some time, but the longer I brewed (as in the more batches) the less willing anybody but my three year old were to drink it. I think we burned out! So I fed the whole mess to the chickens. May do it again later, around here SCOBYs are pretty readily available. Definitely needed a break though.


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## Falkor (Mar 19, 2015)

Have you tried doing a second ferment to get fruit flavors and fizz? We are big fans of kombucha, although I usually take a break from it in summer since it is too hot to get a good brew.


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## StaceyS (Nov 19, 2003)

We love kombucha here, always do the second ferment with fruit/juice.


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## CalicoPrairie (Nov 1, 2015)

I love doing a second brew as well, especially with homemade strawberry syrup or POM juice. It's the bomb.


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## StaceyS (Nov 19, 2003)

Strawberry is on the top of the list here! Pineapple too


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Yeah I tried secondary ferments - it helped, but was also enough more work that I burned out on it, too.  We'll do it again later, I'm sure. But it's break time now.


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## my4fireflies (Sep 3, 2014)

So...I grew a SCOBY from a bottle of ginger GT. Its now F1 in Welsh breakfast tea. The SCOBY is hanging out on the bottom and a new SCOBY is forming on top. Its been 7 days. Not sure what to next?


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## BohemianWaxwing (Sep 13, 2014)

Give her a taste test and see what the sweet/sour ratio is. Let it sit longer if it's still too sweet. Otherwise, add a little fruit and/or spices and bottle tightly for a week or so to flavor and fizz. Restart the SCOBY with new sweet tea.

I have to admit I quit doing a second ferment several years ago. We just keep it going continuous brew. The kids drink it while it's still a little on the sweet side and the wife and I at the vinegar stage on tap. We can hardly brew enough of it.


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## my4fireflies (Sep 3, 2014)

Tasted it. Definitely too sweet. It seems almost syrupy. My house is on the cooler side, esp at night so I am guessing it will take a little longer than 10 days to eat the sugar?


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## BohemianWaxwing (Sep 13, 2014)

I keep mine on a seedling heat mat over the winter since we like our house cool.


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