Into how many pieces can a scoby be cut?

[HerthElde]

(Someone, please, help my grammar )
So, I left my tea brewing for a loooong time - in a wide top bowl. I now have a kombucha scoby that is very large, over a foot in diameter - how many pieces can I cut it into without harming it?

[Taedareth]

Your grammar is perfect.

Hmm I'd say you can cut it like a pizza and start lots of smaller jars! Have fun with that

[tboroson]

I think you could cut it into as many pieces as you want. I had a big one from doing a gallon of 'bucha in a crock pot crock. I switched to using quart sized mason jars, so I cut that big sucker into quarters and put one in each quart jar. Later I found half-gallon jars, so I put two quart-scobies into one half-gallon jar.

[saratc]

It's pretty resilient so I would say many many pieces. Although what I've heard when I started making kombucha was that as small as a 10% sliver can start another brew. So at the very least, 10 pieces.

[PapayaVagina]

the guy that i got my SCOBY from also uses very large jars and he just cut me a big piece off of it (it is SUPER thick!).

what i'm curious about is...I'm getting SCOBY at the top now with each batch so how do I decide what SCOBY to throw away when there gets to be too much? do i throw the "mother" away or the babies ?

also, will kombucha be stronger the more SCOBY that is in it?

[saratc]

Originally Posted by PapayaVagina

the guy that i got my SCOBY from also uses very large jars and he just cut me a big piece off of it (it is SUPER thick!).

what i'm curious about is...I'm getting SCOBY at the top now with each batch so how do I decide what SCOBY to throw away when there gets to be too much? do i throw the "mother" away or the babies ?

also, will kombucha be stronger the more SCOBY that is in it?

You should remove the baby every time. When the mother starts turning very dark or tears easily, brew a baby a couple of times with the mother and then turn the baby into the new mother.

If you leave all the babies, the scobies may starve a bit since they don't store too well stacked and your kombucha will be very sour in a short amount of time. From reading how acids form and change, it may affect what acids you get from the kombucha.