Really Confused...no babies

[Guest guest]

I have been making great kombucha since Nov of last year. The

mushrooms have gone from having flawless smooth thick texture to multi

texture and now I am not getting any baby growth at all.

On Feb 10 I started a jar and it still does not have any sign of baby

growth. Since I used an inoculate from my continuous brew to start

this one I thought that might have created the problem so I started

another jar (Feb 18th) with three quarts of tea, 8floz of Braggs Apple

Cider Vinegar and a different mushroom (mushroom I had in a storage

jar which I refresh with tea each week). The Feb 18th jar shows no

sign of growth either.

In the Feb 18th jar there are a lot of co2 bubbles coming from bottom

of jar. The mushroom I put in this jar was 1/2 inch thick and it

cannot float all the way to the top because it is bigger around than

the tapered jar... so it is stuck where the jar begins to taper toward

the mouth of the jar. You can see these bubbles all around the edges

of the mushroom as they try to float to the surface. There are also a

few brown yeast groups (I forgot what you call this) hanging down from

the bottom of the mushroom that are moving due to high amount of CO2.

The mushroom is 1/8 of an inch from the top of the liquid surface. The

tea is unually darker. I have to put the flashlight up to the jar in

order to see the brown yeast (Isn't it called MOV?). But it may be

darker because I used 6 teaspoons of Organic Orange Pekoe Black Tea

instead of 4tsp? I thought 4tsp was too weak, then 5tsp; it was too

weak to. I like my coffee strong to....hmmm, is there such a thing as

fermented coffee? I am going crazy, I want to ferment everything.

The Feb 10th jar looks dead. I cut a mushroom in half and put the two

halves in this jar. I used one of those Mt Olive jars instead of one

of my wide store-bought jars, consequently, the mushroom would not fit

unless I cut it in half. There are only a few CO2 bubbles; Well, I

just decided to take a chance with life (since mine has been going

down hill anyway) and taste it. It taste like a not so sweet

vinegar...it taste like all my other kombucha's but not as sweet. At

the bottom of this jar is about 1/4 inch of a mud-looking-sediment. If

I gently shake it , it spreads up and floats back down.

I am going to try to anticipate the questions you experts might have:

1.

If I have continuous brew why am I doing the single brew? My wife had

a lot of visitors while I was at work and gave everyone inquisitive

guest a drink of cont brew kombucha. My 1.5 gal cont brew only had 1/2

gal left. So I had to brew some more to bring it back up to 1.5

gallons. I also wanted to keep a mushroom growing every once in a

while to have fresh babies.

2.

Kombucha recipe? I bought my mushroom from Kombucha2000.com which is

the reference I had from Sally Fallon's book, Nourishing Traditions " .

Her book got me addicted to fermentation (kefir kraut, etc). I am

following the instructions verbatim that came with the mushroom.

Simply, (3qrt filtered water + boil) + (1 cup organic sugar + boil

5min) + (add 4 tsp Organe Pekoe [i use 6tsp] + steep 15min). The temp

is between 82 to 86 deg F.

3.

I do not know how old the mushrooms are. I put extra mushroom in a gal

jar. Every week I take this jar and pour out 2 cups then add two cups

of tea. I put it in the same closet with the other kombucha and kefirs

but further away from the heat source. It stays around 79F. Should I

do this differently?

4.

The mushrooms are submerged in liquid and therefore have no mold.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP

Lee D.