Re: What is a Scoby Hotel?

[Guest guest]

In message you wrote:

>... of the terms I see posted occasionally is a 'scoby hotel'.

> I'm wondering what that is and how it works.

Hi Terry - Happy Kombucha bubblings to you!

S c o b y H o t e l is simply a glass jar with KT liquid in which float

your redundant scobys. These consume even more of the resident sugars and

leave the liquid really acidic, making it into the perfect anti-mold acidic

starter for any new brew.

After taking out of the 'Hotel' the starter liquid you need, just top the

hotel up again with some newer KT. Don't use sweet tea, as this will

stimulate the yeasts in the brew too much.

The acidic liquid in the scoby hotel gets balanced in favour of the

bacteria side, allowing the yeasts to fall a bit dormant. This has the

effect of preventing too rapid a fermentation and thus a premature

souring of your batch. Balancing toward the bacteria side will give you much

better tasting Kombucha Tea Tonics in the long run.

You cover the scobyHotel the same way as you do your usual fermentation

jar to keep clean inside. Your redundant scobys will keep good in the hotel

for many months and even years.

Scoby hotel is a brilliant thing to have - I use it all the time!

Here from Len Porzio's site about scoby hotel/starter pot

http://www.geocities.com/kombucha_balance/

STARTER POT= scoby-hotel

Though not required, a starter pot offers several advantages in helping

to maintain a consistent product and healthy balanced culture.

You may already have the beginnings of a starter pot if you are storing

spare cultures in KT somewhere.

Besides a place for storing spare cultures, starter pots provide the most

acidic starter available for fighting mold. They also ensure the bacteria

remain fully active while keeping the yeast in check but healthy.

..... this extremely acidic starter actually improves the taste of KT when

maintained properly.

A starter pot should hold roughly 5 to 10 times the amount normally used

for starter or half to an equal amount of the tea volume you currently brew

with. This ensures the bulk of the starter fluid is extremely aged and

acidic when drawn to begin fermenting.

Maintenance:

A great way to get your pot started is as a means of salvaging one of

those batches that may have soured faster than usual. Similar to continuous

brewing, when you get ready to start a new brew you draw the needed starter

from the starter pot and replace it with freshly fermented KT.

Only keep one or two spare cultures in the pot and replace them with the

newest cultures which aren't currently committed to a ferment. This helps

slow down the accumulation of dead debris in the pot. When you remove the

older cultures, squeeze out as much of the juice as possible to take

advantage of the acid content and free some of the new cells to further

boost the bacteria population.

Filter the contents of the starter pot every 4 to 6 weeks to insure dead

cells don't accumulate and cause detrimental side effects. When dead cells

begin to stack up, the yeast will cannibalize them which can result in some

pretty nasty tastes and smells.

'''''''''

Only add fermented tea to the starter pot. This ensures the maximum amount

of sucrose has been converted into glucose and fructose. Though not

critical, this is fairly important because sucrose will stimulate the yeast

where as glucose and fructose will not.

This last minor detail is the number one contributor in keeping the culture

balanced over successive generations. This is because glucose ensures the

culture has fuel for activity without causing the yeast to go into the

highly reproductive respiration mode, normally triggered by sucrose.

Terry, take from this abundance of information what you want and need.

Just eat enough off the 'plate' as befits youir 'hunger'.

Blessings from Margret

of the UK Kombucha community :-

--

+------------------ Minstrel@... --------------------+

http://www.therpc.f9.co.uk/family/scobygrow/home.html

http://bavarianminstrel.wordpress.com

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/index.html

creation.com

God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect. (2 Sam 22:33)

[Guest guest]

Hey Terry,

I have a video about making your own SCOBY Hotel if that's helpful.

It's located at this link:

http://www.kombuchakamp.com/2010/08/scoby-hotel-video-quick-tip.html

<http://www.kombuchakamp.com/2010/08/scoby-hotel-video-quick-tip.html>

Sometimes it's easier to see than read. Hope it helps.

Peace & Love,

Hannah Crum

The Kombucha Mamma

KombuchaKamp.com <http://www.kombuchakamp.com>

>

> Hello all,

> I'm into my second batch of KT, with two containers going now, so it's

all new

> and exciting to me.

>

> I've been reading posts to this listserve for a while, gathering info,

and one

> of the terms I see posted occasionally is a 'scoby hotel'. I'm

wondering what

> that is and how it works.

>

> Thanks for everyone's helpful information so far. I'm glad to be a new

member of

> this community.

>

> -Terry

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you so much for the info on the Scoby Hotels. This is the most

thorough article I've ever come across and answers my questions I keep

debating...with myself! I have benefitted with having extra scobies

when using them as bandages particularly ...but have always had the

debate going on in my mind .. ok, should I seal to prevent further

fermentation OR under coffee filter top to allow it to breath? This

answered and I'm going to go out and rescue the batch of scobies I

sealed the other day. The other thing was whether I should be keeping

the excess scobies in the refrig which I did until lately when I

rethought that they NEED to stay alive .. or at least not too dormant.

According to this though it is needed to keep breathing but very acidic!!

Incidentally ... scoby bandages are worth their weight in gold in

fighting infections. Lay over an infection, put enough of a piece of

cotton or whatever over top to soak up excess moisture from going

through clothes, place breathable bandage tape on top to hold in place.

I've used it and Mother of Vinegars interchangeably for a couple

sebacious cysts of my husbands which became badly infected as soon as

they started draining for whatever reason. The doctor said I should

patent it!

Anyway, thanks for the clarifications on the storage procedure to keep

them " alive " and not subject to mold.

Joyce M. Simmerman