scoby trouble

[Guest guest]

i mada a batch the other day and the scoby never got thick.it remained

very thin and wrinkly.whats up with that?it fermented for about 14

days.

[Guest guest]

In message <eg12gc+1u9geGroups> you wrote:

> i made a batch the other day and the scoby never got thick.it remained

> very thin and wrinkly.whats up with that?it fermented for about 14

> days.

Hiya, if your Kombucha tonic has turned out fine and with good, pleasant

acidity, all is well. :-)

A thin scoby can be symptom of slower bacterial activity, as it is the

bacteria (zooglia) who build the scoby.

Possible reasons for scoby thinness:

1) The culture is new and is still establishing itself and acclimatising

to its new environment.

2) The fermentation has slowed down because of cooler weather.

3) The yeast side of the culture is becoming too strong, with a fast souring

of the ferment and the taste being sharp and not so pleasant.

Remedies:

1) Read following site and see whether you can do your own trouble shooting:

http://www.geocities.com/kombucha_balance/ Kombucha, The Balancing Act

2) Discard the yeast sludge on the bottom of your brewing container

at careful bottling time.

3) Take your starter liquid from the top of your previous brew (that's

where most of the scoby-building bacteria are).

4) Grow a fat scoby in a separate glass container from some of your new

KT. Leave the covered container with only a goodly amount of KT undisturbed

for 2 - 4 weeks. You will have grown a lovely scoby on top at the end of

those weeks.. Make sure you don't wobble or disturb the culture during

that time!

BTW, One of my recent batches (at harvesting time) had only made a very

thin new scoby over the fatter 'mother' beneath but the KT was just right

and lovely.

I scooped the fat mother and thin baby and used them together in a new brew,

plus a good amount of KT on top of the new brew.

Anyway, I shouldn't worry! As long as your KT tastes good, you are a winner.

The scoby will catch up eventually!

kombuchaly with blessings,

Margret:-)

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