# Scoby help needed.



## Anita Martin

An old thread, revived, made me think of a question I have, so thought I'd start a new thread. 

I have been making Kombucha tea for a while now. It turns out fine. However, I cannot get the scoby's to separate cleanly. I tear holes in them, etc. Can someone please tell me what i am doing wrong? Also, the new ones don't look as nice and flat as the old one, but rather bumpy and lumpy. No mold at all, just a weird shape. I'm making the tea in a gallon jar with a piece of muslin over the top held in place with a rubber band. 

I have friends who want scobies and I can't seem to get them right! 

:help


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## Sondra

I have had that happen to me also if I left it in the jar too long and it grew and grew.


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## Anita Martin

Well, I decided to use the ugly scobies to culture new brew and they work just fine. I think the nice flat one I bought did not come off of a mother culture, but grew spontaneously...sort of. I was reading (and I have to go back and read it again before I do it, to make sure I get it right) that you can add some kombucha to tea and sugar and a scoby will form on the surface. I can only imagine it would be much prettier than the ones I've been growing.


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## Lynn_Theesfeld

Anita,
Sorry to be a pain.....but just what is a scoby??


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## Sondra

It is a mushroom type thingy that grows on the Kombucha


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## Lynn_Theesfeld

lmao thanks Sondra, but I don't really know what kombucha is other that used for tea?, but thats ok I can google


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## kuwaha

Yep I've left some kombucha out without the scoby and a new one grew just like that  And I hardly ever get a really pretty scoby anymore.... I think maybe it's better to cover the top (soemthing to do with anaerobic vs aerobic action???) but mine still work just fine... 

Lynn, a scoby is like a jellyfish  It grows on the top of the kombucha (tea + sugar + kombucha starter).... want one?


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## Lynn_Theesfeld

Karen, 
Yea I looked it up, it looked like a kidney in a jar LOL. Not to sure what I would do with one


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## kuwaha

Put it in your hubby's sweet tea and tell him it's healthy... cures cancer!


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## Anita Martin

Well, now I have a whole herd of scoby's. Got to figure out how to make that scoby hotel before they escape and take over the house!


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## kuwaha

Anita, I pulled out my new batch of kombucha today and I think I have your answer...
When I put the scoby into the jar last week it got pushed down into the liquid instead of floating on top. So today when I took out the jar the new scoby is lying on top, just beautifully smooth and lovely 
It's amazing how much we learn from mistakes eh?


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## 2goatsVA

Anita - can I try your kombucha sometime? I'm interested but a little frightened too! Thanks - HB


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## Ozark Lady

I once visited a neighbor, and she had this gallon jar, with what appeared to be a vinegar mother growing in it. She said, want some, it is very healthy stuff. I don't recall what she called it. To my uneducated eye, it looked gross and she wanted me to drink liquid from that slimy looking thing! Okay, so is this the same thing?

And one question: Why?
Does it taste as bad as that thing looked?

I can handle milk cultures, and even apple cider vinegar cultures, wild yeast cultures, sauerkraut, sour dough and salt rising breads so lots of things are cultured for sure.

I am a major tea drinker (can't handle coffee), and I do occassionally, find a jar of tea left in the garden etc. And there will often be slime growing on it... grosses me out. I have even found some that looked and smelled like tea wine, or tea vinegar... gross.
Surely, we are not talking about the same thing here?


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## Sondra

> Okay, so is this the same thing?


 NO that is mother from good home made or natural vinegar.
A scoby is a mushroom looking thing and you make tea w/sugar and the scoby which ferments nothing like vinegar. rather very good and really not sweet like you would think it should be. Also doesn't hurt diabetics either.


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## Ozark Lady

I would say that it sort of looked like a mushroom it was flat on top and had "tentacles" but it all looked slimy, kind of transparent.

I had never seen anything like it. The closest thing I could relate it to was a cross between a vinegar mother and a mushroom.

It tastes good? What does it taste like? I know it is hard to relate tastes, but kind of give me some clue!


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## Sondra

It really just tastes like a slightly sweetened tea


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## Rose

... with a spoonful of vinegar in it. :/


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## Ozark Lady

Sweet tea, with a teaspoon of vinegar in it? That sounds like a description of soured tea.

I don't do sun tea, the tea always sours before it makes tea. When I make tea, it is fast dip for the bags, no soaking allowed, or it tastes soured. 

I know lots of folks like to soak the tea bags for a bit, and get a really pungent tea taste.


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## Sondra

Anita 
if you have an extra scoby could I get you to send me one I don't care what it looks like a chunk will do to get me started again


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