Re: Kombucha babies

[Guest guest]

>Hi, as far as I know after fermentation is complete the other scoby

>is everready for further use and can be used to start a new batch -

>afterall sometimes the baby looks healthier than the mother lol

This can be true. But if the new SCOBY is thin and/or transparent, it

definitely should remain with the original SCOBY for the next brew.

I personally think that new brewers should let their new SCOBYs build up a

couple of cycles before removing or separating them. This allows the

culture to get well-established in the new environment. Also, quite a

number of us feel multiple SCOBYs in the vessel improve the brew overall.

I also advocate that before giving SCOBYs away, a person needs to put away

a couple as backups in case anything happens. This helps ensure that the

brewer is well taken care of, and also helps ensure that the culture passed

on to others is quite strong because it's had a chance to get established.

--V

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[Guest guest]

I'm a little confused regarding separating babies from mothers because I was

told the creamy white " thing " (for lack of a better word) that formed around the

mouth of the bottle of brew was a baby, but it's not attached to the mother.

Will the mother grow appendages as well later on after more brewings?

elliotjackson wrote: Hey there, thanks for

all the great advice that I received about

bottling my first batch. Another thing I'm curious about is how long

to allow a baby scoby to mature before separating it from the mother

and giving it away or using it to start a new batch by itself. I've

read a few things, especially on the kombuchatea.co.uk site, about how

the baby should go through a 2nd fermentation cycle before it's really

ready to be a mother. What do you all think?

Thanks in advance,

Elliot

p.s. I'm learning a lot from this group and am really happy I joined.

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[Guest guest]

In message you wrote:

> I'm a little confused regarding separating babies from mothers because

> I was told the creamy white " thing " (for lack of a better word) that

> formed around the mouth of the bottle of brew was a baby, but it's not

> attached to the mother.

It's easier then to use as a separate culture, although you can leave it

with the original culture. It makes a better brew to leave several cultures

together ....but you could start a separate brew or give the 'baby' away

with some KT to someone else.

> Will the mother grow appendages as well later on after more brewings?

No. Once you disturb the growing culture on top (and the mother is usually

such a culture) it will npt grow any bigger, although it helps with

the brewing process through the extra acidity and bacterial presence.

>

> the baby should go through a 2nd fermentation cycle before it's really

> ready to be a mother. What do you all think?

Mh, I haven't heard that before, but I don't think that that is

necessarily true. The solid culture/SCOBY is the cellular byproduct

of Kombucha fermentation. The Kombucha culture (which includes the

liquid!!), more specifically the Bacteria in the culture, have the

ability to build a cellular structure across the top of the liquid.

Once disturbed, that structure ceases to grow and another one starts to

form above it.

'Mother' and 'baby' are not magic items therefore, but should be

seen in the whole picture of the Kombucha brew.

Even if the scoby formed on top during a fermentation round turns out

to be scrawny and thin, the Kombucha liquid can be a fully viable brew

with all the best benefits, because fermentation happens through the whole

of the liquid, not just the SCOBY.

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