I think I have a 'bucha scoby growing on my apple cider vinegar

[tboroson]

Friends warned me that if I'd ever had raw acv in my home that other cultures might not work because acv culture was *so* potent and persistant. Well, I tried kombucha anyway and have had luck.

Lo, I went to pour off some acv last night to wash my hair, and found what looks like a scoby growing on top of it! I wondered if it's a vinegar mother, but aren't vinegar mothers more like diaphanous veils floating in the vinegar, not like, well, a scoby? So, instead of my acv ruining my 'bucha, my 'bucha has invaded my acv!

[Gale Force]

whoa.

I wonder which it is?

I'm really glad to have a big kitchen. I segregate my stuff. So far, so good.

[bonberi]

Oooh, can you guys expand on this topic a bit- like which cultures you have to keep separate from which?

[Gale Force]

Originally Posted by bonberi

Oooh, can you guys expand on this topic a bit- like which cultures you have to keep separate from which?

I keep my water and milk kefir grains separate. They are about 15 feet from each other.

[bluets]

Originally Posted by Gale Force

I keep my water and milk kefir grains separate. They are about 15 feet from each other.

yikes - my kitchen is 12' by 12' - i'd have to put stuff in the living room to get that amount of separation!

[MyLittleWonders]

I had no idea you were supposed to keep cultures separate. I put my water and milk grains in the same cupboard, and when I make kombucha, it's in the pantry a couple shelves up from my raw acv. Hmm ...

[MyLittleWonders]

Originally Posted by bluets

yikes - my kitchen is 12' by 12' - i'd have to put stuff in the living room to get that amount of separation!

:

[Ruthla]

Do you make your own acv? I buy mine at the HFS and keep it covered, except when I'm using it. How would the cultures get mixed up?

[tboroson]

Actually, it's not homemade acv. It is store bought. That's the amazing part. It is raw, and I've frequently found veils of vinegar mother floating in raw acv. But, usually in Bragg's acv. This is Spectrum, which is usually "finished" enough that it doesn't grow a mother. And the acv and kombucha are on opposite sides of the kitchen, about 10 feet apart, with a cabinet door between them and the lid of the acv bottle. Although I do prepare the kombucha on a counter closer to the acv, then move it to the spot where I leave it to culture.

[Gale Force]

I read somewhere-or-other some comment about cultures affecting each other, so I separate them since I've got the space.

[xenabyte]

That is actually kinda funny.....

Well, while it 'might' be a KT SCOBY....it is more likely that you had a mother vinegar plant that was strong enough to survive the processing they do to prevent such things, as they really don't want you to be able to make your own! Guess you just need some apple juice and you are all set...though I've not brewed vinegar before! I've heard they look similar, but are more 'yeasty' than a KT SCOBY is. I actually just read something on this, and if I can get the time to look for it and find the actual info, I'll do so. If nothing else, your vinegar will have more 'nutritional' punch from the cross breeding....though without the sugars and such, it's not likely to affect your vinegar much.

The Kombucha can make vinegar like solutions given enough time, but it's an all together different 'animal' of brews, content wise.

I would bet your KT is still ok, but never add a 'live culture' vinegar to your Kombucha brews to 'kick start' it, like some suggest. Use a starter from a previous batch of Kombucha, even if you have to go buy a bottle of it from a health food store! I guess you could use some distilled white vinegar if you have to, as all chances of cultural contamination would be nill, from the sterilization of the vinegar.

I usually have a lidded glass jar for my water kefir, and that keeps them fairly 'safe' from flying around bits. My dairy grains have a lid also, but a few times a week, I brew them with only a birdseye cloth cover to allow breathing and 'milder' brews.

The Kombucha only has a one layer of birdseye cloth covering, but that is because the SCOBY definitely have air flow to keep healthy, but a low light condition.

I would say you are ok. You'd have to have a lab analysis to really know if it's a Vinegar 'plant' or a SCOBY.

[Leilalu]

wow, I just looked at my jar of Braggs ACV , and I've got something that looks like a scoby in there as well.

[CluckyInAZ]

my water kefirs that I keep right next to my kombucha have started growing little scoby like things on top too...

[OceanMomma]

I sent MT a scoby a couple of years ago & she reckoned it got in her pickles & ruined the whole lot. Ever since I worked out you can grow a scoby from just leaving kombucha drink for a while, I have been a bit suspicious of it.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

That's right. My gherkins that I'd spent so long growing, and sorting... were totally ruined.

And yes, you can leave a Kombucha drink and it will develop a scoby. OM, a bottle of the stuff I accidentally kept in the barn, I opened with a poof and it too had a scoby on the top.

However, because I want to succeed at pickles and they are more in line with my tastes, I ditched the Kombucha.

It never really agreed with me anyway...

[Leilalu]

weird
So what does it mean if my vinegar this thing on it and I don't make kombucha...yet.

[tboroson]

Leila, you mean your vinegar has what looks like a scoby, but you don't have kombucha to contaminate it? Then maybe it means that's really a vinegar mother and I was mistaken about mine. I thought a vinegar mother was more veil-like, but it's entirely possible that I'm wrong

Update: looking closely at my bottle, it looks like it's been through three scobys/mothers. There are two currently floating at the bottom of the bottle and a new one forming on the surface.

[Leilalu]

Originally Posted by tboroson

Leila, you mean your vinegar has what looks like a scoby, but you don't have kombucha to contaminate it? Then maybe it means that's really a vinegar mother and I was mistaken about mine. I thought a vinegar mother was more veil-like, but it's entirely possible that I'm wrong

Update: looking closely at my bottle, it looks like it's been through three scobys/mothers. There are two currently floating at the bottom of the bottle and a new one forming on the surface.

yep.
This is interesting. Until this forum, I never thought so much about my ACV

BTW, my Nourishing Traditions book is on it's way in the mail Until now, I have been using internet resources. but maybe this will be easier to look at with the littles running around.

[Brookesmom]

My Braggs ACV has a mother in it (all the Braggs ones do) and it does look a lot like a kombucha SCOBY, so maybe it IS a mother... Yeah, I guess you'd have to have it analyzed to be sure.

--Kelly, who didn't think about keeping her fermenting things separated in the kitchen either

Originally Posted by Leilalu

yep.
This is interesting. Until this forum, I never thought so much about my ACV

BTW, my Nourishing Traditions book is on it's way in the mail Until now, I have been using internet resources. but maybe this will be easier to look at with the littles running around.

[saratc]

I thought vinegar mothers were *supposed* to look just like kombucha scobies. I saw a picture of it once. That means you can take some of the raw cider vinegar, put it in fresh cider to brew more ACV. You should probably end up with a mother of vinegar at the top.

BTW, my kombucha which is made from a scoby i got from xenabyte is way active. I left about an inch in a jar at work and when I went to drink it a couple of days later, I slurped up a thin mini scoby. Hah, i just looked in my desk, and yes, the jar in there (with only couple of inches of kombucha) has little pieces at the top.