Growing My Own Kombucha Scoby - Page 9

[majazama]

Originally Posted by WildIris

Find one? Why not grow your own? That's what this thread is all about. :-)

Hopefully the second time will be the charm for you.

well, I live in b.c., canada, and I don't think I've ever noticed the previously mentioned kombucha drinks... Have to look closer next time in the HFS. It's pretty rural here.

[Thystle]

Originally Posted by Thystle

: Ensigns log, Stardate 12/29/07:


Well both of my attempts failed. Too many bugs and then no growth. And the chunks from the bottle seemed to have disappeared???


The first batch I dumped two days later because it had a ton of bugs. The second batch I let go for 17 days and NADA.




I am wondering if it is because of the citrus kombucha? It was the only flavor that had chunks.


I am going to try several different batches this time and will update again in a week or so!

: Ensigns log, Stardate 3/24/08:

My next attempt was made at the end of December 07. I resorted to using one bottle of plain and one bottle of raspberry.

Just TODAY, 3 MONTHS later I put my small pancake scoby (decently thick) into a fresh brew. I had to let it "grow" for three months!

It also was pink, not moldy, decently thick... and I hope it works out! I put it into a gallon glass jar and doubled the cheesecloth over top.


Keep your fingers crossed!

[Thystle]

In the meantime I have aquired ALOT of GT's glass bottles to use!





I ran into a great sale at Walmart : after Xmas and bought about ten clear glass gallon "cookie" jars for $2.00 each! They have a poinsetta on the front, but I do not care. They are the same jars (with glass lids) that I paid $20.00 for.


So keep that in mind next year.




And if this batch works, I am going to stagger several jars so that we have fresh batches at all times.

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by itrynottobeaposer

I finally got the brew to work...:

Woo-hoo! That is very exciting!

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by Thystle

: Ensigns log, Stardate 3/24/08:

My next attempt was made at the end of December 07. I resorted to using one bottle of plain and one bottle of raspberry.

Just TODAY, 3 MONTHS later I put my small pancake scoby (decently thick) into a fresh brew. I had to let it "grow" for three months!

It also was pink, not moldy, decently thick... and I hope it works out! I put it into a gallon glass jar and doubled the cheesecloth over top.


Keep your fingers crossed!

Welcome back, Thystle! And thanks for the update.

THREE MONTHS?!? Wow!

I hope it works out, too. I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

ETA: Those Christmas cookie jars sound like an awesome find. Wish I had thought to look for something like that! I could use some extra brewing containers.

[Odilia]

Hi, all! I've been reading this thread and have started to grow my own SCOBY, but I got to wondering: will all the other "stuff" I have growing around here affect the SCOBY? I've got sourdough, homemade vinegars, raw milk yogurt, buttermilk, kefir, and hard cheeses going at various times. Will any of these cross-contaminate the SCOBY? I've learned to put the sourdough in the fridge when I'm making cheeses, so I'm wondering if the sourdough will affect kombucha, as well...

[Jojo F.]

Just an update....

Goodness, I don't remember how long ago I bought the bottle of GT's Kombucha
Anyway, after a couple of weeks in tea/sugar/kombucha mixture it produced a scoby (there is a link to a pic on pg.8 I think). I made another small batch of tea/sugar and added it to the kombucha already in the galss with the scoby to get her thicker, she was soooo thin I was afraid to pic her up. Then I did a larger brew and just tasted it- it was soooo good!!! There was even a small baby, I'm a grandma!!!

[WildIris]

Just bumping the thread up...

How is everyone doing with their home-grown Scobies?

I put my scobies in hibernation (in the fridge) while we went on vacation... then it took me a week of being back home before I got around to brewing a new batch of tea to start up again. But this past weekend I finally got two containers of kombucha brewing again. My scobies are so thick now, I decided to peel off some of the older layers and put them in the compost pile. It's hard to believe they all grew from one tiny scoby, which grew from a store-bought bottle of kombucha.

[lotus.blossom]

I tried to brew a GT scoby a few months ago and after a month it just wasn't getting any thicker so I threw it away. BUT I just got 3 new bottles of GT Dave's (for my birthday!) and I want to try again.

I guess I should re-read this thread for pointers.

[mimid]

After reading this thread, I bought 2 bottles of GT's (pre-Pesah binge LOL) and got a nice pretty baby going. It is a mix of guava and raspberry (I think LOL). Tomorrow will be 1 week that its been growing and it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. I need to read up on how big it should be before I try brewing some tea. I'm goingt owait at least another week, though.

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by lotus.blossom

I tried to brew a GT scoby a few months ago and after a month it just wasn't getting any thicker so I threw it away. BUT I just got 3 new bottles of GT Dave's (for my birthday!) and I want to try again.

I guess I should re-read this thread for pointers.

Lotus Blossum, I was trying to remember back about my first Scoby that I grew from the GR's kombucha, and IIRC it wasn't very thick at first. And it was small, about 4 inches diameter (the size of the Pyrex measuring cup in which it originally grew). But when I put it in a larger container, a new Scoby grew to fit the size of that container... and then subsequently new layers kept adding on with every brew and it got thick pretty fast after that.

Good luck on your second try! Let us know how it goes.

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by mimid

After reading this thread, I bought 2 bottles of GT's (pre-Pesah binge LOL) and got a nice pretty baby going. It is a mix of guava and raspberry (I think LOL). Tomorrow will be 1 week that its been growing and it is about 1/4 of an inch thick. I need to read up on how big it should be before I try brewing some tea. I'm goingt owait at least another week, though.

Hi Miriam, and Happy Pesach (I hope that is appropriate to say). The guava and raspberry mix sounds interesting! My first Scoby wasn't very thick, but I made a small batch of tea to start with (thinking of it as simply my "scoby growing tea" and not planning to bottle/drink it) and moved it into a larger container so it could expand in width. After that I gave it a few more weeks, I think, to get established before I started making batches that I could drink.

Good luck with your experiment, and keep us posted please. :-)

[mimid]

Originally Posted by WildIris

Hi Miriam, and Happy Pesach (I hope that is appropriate to say). The guava and raspberry mix sounds interesting! My first Scoby wasn't very thick, but I made a small batch of tea to start with (thinking of it as simply my "scoby growing tea" and not planning to bottle/drink it) and moved it into a larger container so it could expand in width. After that I gave it a few more weeks, I think, to get established before I started making batches that I could drink.

Good luck with your experiment, and keep us posted please. :-)

Thanks! I'm very excited to see what happens. I'm thinking about waiting another week and then transferring the scoby to some tea. I've noticed the liquid level going down so that might dictate things. LOL

Here's my baby. I feel so proud.

[lotus.blossom]

Thats a cute lil baby mimid!!

My last attempt actually produced a very thin weak baby and when I used it to brew my batch it sort of just started to disinigrate and the baby on top of my brew (which I let go for about 3 weeks) just looked like a cobweb. Never thickened up and the brew stayed sweet for all three weeks. I just think I had a lazy bottle to start with.

This time I used the raspberry and it had a nice jellyfish floating in it, so I think this one is gonna work! I also stowed my jar in the cupboard so I or anyone isn't tempted to disturb it to look at it.

[lotus.blossom]

Just wanted to report that after a week in my cupboard I have the most beautiful scoby! I am so excited and plan to brew soon. I wanted to ask those with experience (since I don't have time to browse this thread) if I wanted to make a small batch can I just cut everything in half? teabags, water and sugar?

[Jojo F.]

Originally Posted by lotus.blossom

Just wanted to report that after a week in my cupboard I have the most beautiful scoby! I am so excited and plan to brew soon. I wanted to ask those with experience (since I don't have time to browse this thread) if I wanted to make a small batch can I just cut everything in half? teabags, water and sugar?

Congrats on your scoby- it's exciting isn't it?
That's what I did when I made my first batch to drink- all be it there was not much there to drink but it was awsome!! Now I have a larger batch and hope to bottle it tomorrow, yay!!

[mimid]

Well, my baby got to be 1/2-3/4 of an inch thick so I made tea tonight. I'm so excited! The only bummer is that I had changed around my kitchen so that I had a shelf to put all my fermenting things on and the new jar doesn't fit there. So it is on the counter with a towel tonight and tomorrow I'll switch a few things and use the top (tallest) shelf. (I've got water kefir, milk kefir and some cream cheese going, too. Quite a fun couple of days here!)

[WildIris]

Originally Posted by lotus.blossom

if I wanted to make a small batch can I just cut everything in half? teabags, water and sugar?

Yes, I've done that before and it worked out fine.

[WildIris]

Wow, Miriam, you have quite a lot of fermenting going on over there! Sounds fun and delicious. :-) Congrats on your successfully growing Scoby.

[mimid]

Just wanted to let everyone know that Whole Foods has GTK on sale. $2.99 a bottle.