Kombucha mushroom sinking...

[lauradbg]

Um, does it matter that my new (to me) piece of mother kombucha mushroom is not floating on top of the batch of black tea and sugar I just brewed yesterday?

Will that affect anything? Will a baby not grow properly unless the mushroom is on top?

Thanks,
Laura

[Mountain Chick]

It's fine if the mother doesn't float on the top, the baby will still form, as long as you don't shake the jar. Mine will sometimes float or sometimes sit in the bottom, or sometimes attach itself to the baby, but no matter what it does the kombucha always turns out and the baby always grows.

(Side Note: If you didn't have a mother, but you had about a quart of homemade kombucha, you can actually grow your own scoby. It would take 2weeks, and you shouldn't drink the resulting Kombucha, but the new scoby would be ready to go.)

[lauradbg]

Thanks Mountain Chick--sounds good.

[xenabyte]

The smaller baby piece, will usually sink. Future full sized babies will usually float (though can sink too) and then rise..and then attach to the new forming baby...

My 'baby starter' is currently sunk half way, as I only kept a tiny piece for myself after this last mail out. A new one is forming over the lid of the brew, nicely though!

Just let the brew go a bit longer until the top of your container is fully covered, even if it's with a thinnish layer. On resultant brews, it will get thicker. If you don't go over I'd say 14 days, you can still drink the Kombucha, but if it's much longer.....don't drink it, as it will be very vinagary and 'predjuice' your taste buds against it!

Just wait for the next brew cycle to test it at day 7-10.

Heather

[lauradbg]

Thanks for the help Heather.