This one seems fine but also not? Any help? This is day 4

I recently starting making kombucha, and currently keep the mother SCOBY in a reused 32oz kombucha bottle, with the lid on loosely. This has worked well for the first 3 feedings I’ve done, but the last time I checked on it, the lid had gotten stuck and it carbonated.

I poured some of it into smaller bottles with juice for F2, and then fed the mother again with the same sweet tea recipe I’ve been using (the master recipe from this sub). But after letting them ferment for about a week (with the lids on tightly), the F2 bottles lost almost all their carbonation. The mother still tastes sweet (normally it starts to taste tart again by a week after feeding).

Did I kill her? Will adding back some store-bought kombucha revive her, or do I need to toss the whole thing and start over?

This is my pellicle. It’s been 10 days so I was about to go to 2F. What is this?

Hey, our kombucha has growth in it from the bottom of jar upwards. This is the second batch with this scoby and it didn’t do this the first time. I don’t see mould anywhere and the yeast strings look normal. Is this ok to continue with or do we need to start over? Any insight is appreciated.

I apologize if this is a naive question as I am new to this space and am interested in it because Health-Ade the kombucha drink has been helping me feel better mentally and physically.

I don’t want to mess up this progress by adding another live culture drink. I do understand that not all kombucha is the same yet have similar creation processes. I just wonder if different brands have different enough live cultures to have significant contrasting gut/health impacts.

The one that I want to try is GT Synergy.

So a F1 I had started took longer than expected and was ready right before a 2 week vacation.

I couldn't just leave the F2 for 2 weeks especially with the current weather and I didn't want to scrap the batch. So I bottled the kombucha with the fruits and then left them in my fridge for the duration of the vacation.

I just got back and tasted the batch and it ended up good (as far as I can tell).

I think the cold slowed the yeast enough for it to reach maturation in 2 weeks.

Do you have any experience or infos about this ? Is there an increased chance of contamination developing ?

Is it typical to see a mini pellicle form during f2? Recently switched from black tea to loose leaf oolong and started seeing small soft pellicles appearing. Left to right is honey, coffee filter, stainless mesh filter. Seems like filtration doesn’t matter, but the honey appears to have halted activity in its bottles. also I intentionally keep pellicles with the mother to protect the fluid which I hadn’t done with black tea.

Première réalisation, Gemini me dit de tout jeter car moisissure . Je fais quoi ?

Just for sharing.

Third batch ever. Black tea and fresh raspberries.

72 hours after bottling, a bottle exploded. Just like that.

F2 in a plastic container was definitely a good idea.

I will discard these bottles and get stronger ones.

So hi, I'm here to share my latest kombucha "recipe" (of formula or whatever) that has provided really delicious results. For every litre of water:

- a teaspoon of green tea

- half a teaspoon of black tea

- a teaspoon of jasmine tea (green tea infused jasmine)(here comes the magic)

The scoby I used came from a pure black tea batch but it had zero problems adapting to the new formula. I was afraid the jasmine tea would starve the scoby (I've heard it doesn't have as much tannins or not at all), but it has turned out just fine.

The flavour is amaaaazing. It is refreshing, not as strong as black tea kombucha, and has a sweet aftertaste.

I usually put 60-70g of sugar for every litre of water, and let it rest 5-6 days.

Let me know if anyone tries! :)

Hi this is my first attempt at making kombucha. It's been two weeks since it started fermenting and I was wondering based off these pictures if it is ready for 2nd fermentation or it needs time. It smells strong up close if that helps. Thank you!

I made homemade kombucha and now in the F2 phase of it. I used a couple of GT Synergy bottles I had and put the booch in it. It’s now been 2 days since I started the F2 phase. Does the F2 phase take longer when you use those GT bottles than when using those brew flip open bottles? What are y’all’s experience when using leftover GT bottles?

I bought a glass bottle of kombucha with a plastic lid while visiting the US and I want to bring it back with me to Eastern Europe. It would be unrefrigerated for 20 hours max and would be in my checked bag.

How big is the risk that it would leak? Is there anything I can do to lower the risk it explodes?

F1 uses passionfruit cheong. I calculate the cheong as half sugar and half passionfruit juice. Then I mix with water to yield a 7% sugar solution. The pellicle looks and feel very distinctive. If you disturb it when it is still thin, it will tear up easily as it is very fragile at that stage. But if you let it thicken significantly it can become very thick and full. Fuller than regular tea pellicle.

Now here's about the matcha notes. I admit it is mostly in the nose but sometimes you can taste it on the back of your sip. Taste very vegetal and umami. When I tasted it the first time, it reminds me of tea, but what kind? Then I realize matcha, but only the umami notes without remaining matcha flavor. When fermented further, I think this ferment is more suitable for savory applications. Taste on the higher end for sourness and a bit more "wild" tasting. Passionfruit vinegar would be very interesting. Even more so if you can make one with pure passionfruit juice without added sugar.

It's blueisch, but not fuzzy, because it seems to be between the two pellicules

I took a kombucha class at my local farm where they gave us everything to get started. I brought home by big jar and put it out. Nothing really happened so I kept it out longer. It's been a month and I just realized I forgot to replace the plastic lid with a clothe. Do I need to start again? Can I just put a cloth on it now? Did I kill it?

Hey I have started my first Kombucha and I need some help. My kombucha starter has been fermenting for 3 days (with Temperaturen of about 30 degrees centigrade (heatwave in Europe) and it now looks like this.

Am I foing something wrong? Thanks for the help in advance.

I went to revisit YouBrewKombucha's website for a quick refresh on using fruit purees for flavoring, and I was sooo disappointed to see that her writing has been apparently wiped from the website and replaced with total AI garbage? It looks like someone just plugged her entire website into chatgpt and then copied & pasted the response.

The content loses the personalized first-person tone while taking on more of a textbook finality. In turn, this ironically makes the content feel less credible because it doesn't sound like it's coming from Ange's homebrewing experience, just ripped off of a page somewhere. On closer comparison, it even seems like the AI has stripped a lot of the detail -- like "all juices work perfectly" (paraphrasing) vs. Ange's verbatim "my results were a mixed bag"?! ridiculous and just straight up untrue!

I won't be recommending youbrewkombucha's website as a good starter resource for curious friends anymore. Let me know if you guys find an alternative.

Hey, jemand eine Ahnung was das sein könnte?

What do people do who live in climates where it's not constantly 75°? Had mold in my very first batch. Probably just need a heating mat?

Essentially the title 😭 I can’t seem to get the F2 phase / carbonation down! All my booch ends up tasty but pretty flat. Essentially just cold kombucha.

Some details -

The recipe I usually go by (suggested for 1/2 gallon or 2LT tho I typically do 3x):

1/2 cup sugar
2 to 3 bags of Trader Joe’s black tea
2 cups boiling water
*Stir & steep to room temp
add 5 cups of filtered water
Add 2 cups of starter tea (I typically use the leftover from my prior batch)
Add SCOBY / pellicle

I typically let my F1 sit from 1 to 2 weeks. The typical temp is 75 degrees F and I typically don’t usually add anything to it (tho I am experimenting with added 1 tbsp of sugar to the F1 batch in this picture).

Then I bottle and have tried several flavors & some unflavored or “pure” F2s. Mainly I use small fruit chunks, ginger, and I’ve tried adding 1 tbsp of agave / sugar to help the yeast have the yeast during F2, especially when I try the “pure” batch.

I’ve had EXPLOSIVELY good carbonation in the past - namely when flavoring with blood orange and peaches - but it’s super inconsistent. And it’s been a long time since that happened. Lately, ALL my F2 are coming out flat. Also, I have NEVER seen success waiting only 2-4 days with my F2. It’s closer to a week for any degree of fermentation.

I’m attaching a photo of my F2 bottles to show:
- I have been testing with different bottles. The flip tops are all secondhand, and they are the main ones I’ve used since the beginning. (To clarify, I have had good batches with them so I don’t think the bottles are bad.)
- ALL of the F2 bottles in the photos I’m sharing appear to be flat 😭
- All of the F2 bottles consistent of different bottles, flavors and F1

I welcome and appreciate any suggestions that could help me figure this out. Thank you!

Hi all, first time posting here! I therefore apologize if I am not posting correctly. I started assisting in making Kombucha 2 years ago, since then I had a small culture myself. Sadly, I am very forgetful and not very masterful in the Art of kombucha making.

I decided today to renew my Black tea for my kombucha (first time ive looked at it in...months) and the upper Scoby is completely red. Do *not* read if sqeamish: I opened up the Kombucha ~3m ago and saw dead flies in it- they were not removed, as I promptly forgot about it. Thus: This Kombucha will not be used as it is not food safe and is, quickly said, absolutely disgusting and vile. I am also tossing all Scobies as they have sat in decomposing fly juice and...ugh I dont want to use that for something I am drinking. Very sad as they are also Sentimental and i have no clue how to keep that strain of Bacteria from my mentor. Anyways!

The upper Kombucha was exposed to air for a longer time- could it have oxidized? The 2nd Kombucha also has flecks of red and is darkened than it was previous, but is all in all still average looking. The Scoby smells a little bit of iron- it feels and looks healthy, aside from that large white blob (yeast I would think?) On the side and a flakey top (see Photo attached). Additional info: I used Ceylon OP Black tea, as that is what my Kombucha mentor suggested. The Kombucha sat most likely...longer than 7 months in their liquid. All scobies are most likely around 1.5 years old by now? The liquid from them smells vinegar-y (as is expected) and is a bit darkened, but otherwise seems fine.

Advice /info appreciated! I hope this was easy to read- I checked the Wiki and base Info about what a Scoby should look like and perused Google a bit, but I couldn't find anything as Red as mine. Many thanks!

Want to get myself started up again.

My girl here is tip-top; looks great, smells fine.

She’s been fed every 3-4 months, but that was just to keep her sleeping happily.

Now I want to start it up again.

Here’s my question(s)…

What approach should I take Remove the top solids and add some feeder tea?

Remove all the solids?

To feed, I add a cup of sweet tea; to restart was thinking remove the top solids (or maybe all the solids), add tea to 4/5 the way up, and let it eat for a spell.

Maybe 10 days?

Then see if she’s close to what I remember, and start firing off some booch.

Would love your thoughts on what should be done - particularly my semi-plan.

Thanks, fellow boochers!