brewing kombucha

[Guest guest]

I started brewing kombucha about a month ago and I've brewed about 4

or 5 batches. I noticed that mine is getting strands of dark dead

looking stuff in it. It seems to be getting worse. What is that?

Does it mean that my original culture is dying? I have been throwing

my original cultural in along with the newer culture. Do the dark

strands indicate that my original culture is dying or something?

After a few days of brewing, I've been putting the culture on a plate

and trying to remove the dark strands with a fork in both the brew and

the culture.

Any advice?

Also I have a yogurt maker and was thinking about using it to try to

improve my brew. It seems like it might be too warm to use it

though. What's the upper temp I should have for my brew?

Thanks so much.