Tried & tested ways to get rid of kombucha

[OceanMomma]

I used to be a big kombucha fan & had it brewing in all my large jars & crocks. I've even managed to develop a new mushroom from adding extra sugar & tea to some kombucha without having a mushroom to begin with. I got suspicious about it as it is so persistent & also my middle dd had yeast related excema & it seemed to make her worse. I gave a former MDC member a scoby too & it got in her pickles & ruined the whole lot. So I stopped brewing it.

Several months later I was given some water kefir grains. I washed out one of my big jars, which had had kombucha brewed in. I used boiling hot water & lots of soap. I made water kefir in it for a few months. Then we moved into the bus so I had a month or so of disorganisation & I left a batch of water kefir in the jar without drinking it. One day I noticed it had grown a kombucha mushroom on it which freaked me out a tad. It really was a scoby too not my imagination.

I've acquired some more water kefir grains & I also really want to make some saurkraut in one of my other big crocks but I want to make sure the dratted mushroom is really gone. I've soaked one jar in bleach & am considering putting some sweet tea in & leaving it for a month to see what happens just to make sure. I've also thoroughly washed my big crock out & left it out to freeze a few times over the winter.

Has anyone sucessfully killed a kombucha culture ? If so, how did you do it ?

[newcastlemama]

Oh my! I have never heard of this happening! It seems like the bleach would work. If no one has ideas, you could e-mail Sandor Katz.

Jen

[tboroson]

I have heard that kombucha is killer invasive. I don't kow what to tell you Sorry!

[bigknitwit]

Wow!! Just imagine how well it colonizes in your intestinal tract!! No other advice for you though...

[desertpenguin]

Originally Posted by bigknitwit

Wow!! Just imagine how well it colonizes in your intestinal tract!! No other advice for you though...

ha, now i'm slightly creeped out, do i have a mushroom growing in my stomach? haha, jk.

i imagine the bleach should be pretty effective. you could try the sweet tea thing but i don't think you'll need to leave it for a month...i think it would develop mold (or a scoby) before that long...

[PeggyinNC]

I had some apple cider vinegar in a tabletop shaker (you know, with a tiny hole at the top), and it grew mother in it. I got a little grossed out, and ended up emptying it out, washing it in the dishwasher, refilling it with new acv. Then, something else grew in it. Not mother. A cute tiny perfectly round little scoby. Just flying all around the house, I guess. I, too, am transitioning from kombucha to water kefir, and was wondering about this subject. But I put the lid on my kefir very tightly, so I hope there is no real crossover there.
Interesting subject!

[OceanMomma]

I am still not convinced it is beneficial colonising my gut! If I get around to it, I'll put some sweet tea in the big jar this weekend. It's in an area of a house where kombucha has never been so it should not be in the atmosphere. I may email Sandor Katz as well as I have wild fermentation so his email should be there?