Yet another Kombucha question...

[kyndmamaof4]

I just got a SCOBY in the mail today, but it came with NO liquid...it is wet, but I thought it needed some of the tea for a starter...Can I still make it? I was just gonna make tea in a 2qt jar and sit the SCOBY on top and hope and pray Will that work? How do I keep it from molding? What about adding a bit of vinegar? Sorry if this has been answered a million times, I searched, and couldn't find a definitive answer. Thanks, Kaara

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by kyndmamaof4

I just got a SCOBY in the mail today, but it came with NO liquid...it is wet, but I thought it needed some of the tea for a starter...Can I still make it? I was just gonna make tea in a 2qt jar and sit the SCOBY on top and hope and pray Will that work? How do I keep it from molding? What about adding a bit of vinegar? Sorry if this has been answered a million times, I searched, and couldn't find a definitive answer. Thanks, Kaara

Use an equivalent amount of organic apple cider vinegar to what you would have used for starter tea (so for a 2 quart jar, I would use 1 cup of ACV). The first batch using ACV may or may not taste great but at least then you'll have starter tea for the next batch. As long as you let it ferment for seven days at a decent temperature (at least high 60's) you should have kombucha you can use for the next batch.

Definitely don't make it without the vinegar though. You need that acidity level to prevent mold. Even with the ACV though, I would watch that first batch carefully. It would make me nervous to have a fresh, hydrated scoby with no liquid being shipped like that. I'm currently experimenting with dehydrating and rehydrating kombucha cultures using various vinegar types so they can be shipped without liquid (outside the US for example) but a fresh culture should have liquid.

[kyndmamaof4]

Originally Posted by dogmom327

Use an equivalent amount of organic apple cider vinegar to what you would have used for starter tea (so for a 2 quart jar, I would use 1 cup of ACV). The first batch using ACV may or may not taste great but at least then you'll have starter tea for the next batch. As long as you let it ferment for seven days at a decent temperature (at least high 60's) you should have kombucha you can use for the next batch.

Definitely don't make it without the vinegar though. You need that acidity level to prevent mold. Even with the ACV though, I would watch that first batch carefully. It would make me nervous to have a fresh, hydrated scoby with no liquid being shipped like that. I'm currently experimenting with dehydrating and rehydrating kombucha cultures using various vinegar types so they can be shipped without liquid (outside the US for example) but a fresh culture should have liquid.

I have Raw ACV with a some MOV in it, I also have conventional (heinz)...I would think I would prefer the raw, organic over conventional, but with the raw being cloudy, and having lots of sediment...would that mess with the SCOBY? Sorry if I'm over-thinking it, I just don't want to do it wrong I know kombucha can make you sick if done incorrectly. Thanks some more, Kaara

[dogmom327]

Use the organic ACV. Cloudy is fine

Ultimately you want to watch for a couple of thing. You want to make sure a new baby scoby is forming (if this is your first time making kombucha, it starts out looking kind of cloudy on top and then slowly becomes more opaque). You also want to watch for mold (black, green, orange, etc.). Brown spots are usually just yeast but black, green and orange are all bad signs.

Feel free to ask all the questions you need to (you can also e-mail me if it's easier and sometimes I'm not terribly good about checking the boards). You're right, done incorrectly, Kombucha can make you sick and we don't want that!

[kyndmamaof4]

Thank you so much!