Re: Dilemma on my thin scobies!

[Guest guest]

In message <1083761.1107710592668.JavaMail.root@... >

you wrote:

> Hello

> All my scobies come out thin. About 3/16 " thick.

Jim,

The fact that you get scobys shows that the brew is active and

should be fine. The thickness or thinness of them is not important.

I wonder what kind of tea you use. I find that I get the thickest scobys

when I use a large percentage of green tea

Some teas just produce whopper scobys while others just don't.

What matters is the actual Kombucha Tonic:

Does it taste as it should?

Does it smell as it should?

Does it have a good effect on you as you drink it?

http://w3.trib.com/~kombu/KTBalance.shtml Kombucha Balance

There should be something on this URL about thin/holey/bumpy etc scobys.

Just click on the relevant box once the page comes up.

Hope that helps.

:-)Margret

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[Guest guest]

Hi Jim - If it were me, I'd wait before chucking my 7 batches. How

long are you brewing? You might try brewing up to 2 weeks to see if

you get a decent-size scoby. I used to brew about 10 days, but

discovered that a 14-day brew was more interesting to my palate

(maybe once the weather gets warmer, a 10-day brew will taste better

again). Also, although there are differing viewpoints as to whether

scobies are even necessary or helpful in getting good brews, you

might try as a fun experiment throwing a few of your thin scobies

into a single batch to see if you get a thicker baby this way.

If you're using cold water to cool down your hot tea (as I think

your message indicates -- " I poured warm tea directly on the brewing

container that had the cold water and mushroom " ), it may be better

to combine the cold water w/ the strong, sweetened tea and only then

add your scoby/starter so as not to shock the culture. Also, if you

use this method, make sure the water you use is non-chlorinated.

HTH,

Nori

Jim wrote:

> All my scobies come out thin. About 3/16 " thick.

> I think that when I first started I poured warm tea

> directly on the brewing container that had the cold

> water and mushroom.

> Maybe some of the acetobacter was destroyed.

[Guest guest]

On 06 Feb 05 at 09:23 o'clock mt1719@... (J M) wrote

> All my scobies come out thin.

Dear Jim,

I recommend to separate the preparing of the Kombucha beverage from

growing a new culture. Sometimes the culture floats on the surface,

sometimes it sinks to the bottom of the liquid. Both is OK. When the

culture sinks to the bottom a new culture (a baby-culture) will begin to

form on the surface of the tea. The Kombucha culture needs some time to

reproduce itself. It is quite normally that it begins with a a thin and

filmy layer. Please allow the new culture on the surface of the liquid 4

to 6 weeks to grow. The longer you leave it in peace, the thicker the new

culture will grow.

Because the growing of a new culture needs more time you should separate

it from the preparation of the beverage that you want to drink.

I wish you all the best. May Kombucha provide you a lot of benefits.

Guenther

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