Is my kombucha dead or not

3-4 days in

https://imgur.com/XVJQ30A


11.5L tea at room temperature

12-13 pouch of green tea

2 of black tea (aromatized unfortunately)

4.5 cup of sugar

New scoby from the store (2 white square), first time ever for this scoby and my first kombucha bew

it's been 3-4 days and I still have this,Scoby went from floating to 2-3 inch below water line

Is it dead or will it start

Can I reuse the sugared tea (will be some days old) with a new scoby if dead or will it not be good anymore

thanks

Hi Jas,     Welcome to Permies!  Its been several years since my last homebrew batch of Kombucha, but from my memory, sometimes the scoby will partially submerge below the surface....not a problem. You should however be seeing a skim forming on the surface which will get thicker and thicker and also whiter and whiter in colour. If its turning other colours like moldy blue or green then best to pitch it out and start again.
Does it still smell OK? A fermenty or vinegary smell is OK - a sign that its doing its thing. A rank or 'off' smell, not so good.

Kombucha requires oxygen in order to grow. Is the top of the carboy open to the air? It might prefer a wider mouthed container rather than a narrow mouthed carboy. It might prefer more surface area in relation to depth of liquid. I think that I would have crumbled the scoby starter into lots of small pieces rather than a couple of large chunks. More surface area leads to more opportunities for quicker growth.

Cant see the pic, but from others comments, sounds narrow.

Half gallon mason jar with paper towel over opening held by rubber band works great. Wide, allows airflow.

Add some mother from Apple cider vinegar (stuff at bottom) and / or a bottle of sltre bought kombucha (the drink, not starter) to kick up the probiotic counts.

Wouldnt be concerened if it sinks for a bit, but it needs some adjustment. Storing in dark place?

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Kombucha requires oxygen in order to grow. Is the top of the carboy open to the air? It might prefer a wider mouthed container rather than a narrow mouthed carboy. It might prefer more surface area in relation to depth of liquid. I think that I would have crumbled the scoby starter into lots of small pieces rather than a couple of large chunks. More surface area leads to more opportunities for quicker growth.

Lol, it's not, there a water pressure seal thing on top

Thought it was an anaerobic culture like beer, it's a beer fermentation keg

Nothing has moved, no film on top

I'll open it

Hope the tea is not too old now (taste not as good?), it's been 4 days

J Davis wrote:Cant see the pic, but from others comments, sounds narrow.

Half gallon mason jar with paper towel over opening held by rubber band works great. Wide, allows airflow.

Add some mother from Apple cider vinegar (stuff at bottom) and / or a bottle of sltre bought kombucha (the drink, not starter) to kick up the probiotic counts.

Wouldnt be concerened if it sinks for a bit, but it needs some adjustment. Storing in dark place?

It's in a place that is dark 65% of the time

I'll some apple cider vinegar but im worried there's the vinegar eel thing, is it common? Should and can I check that before or can I just assume there's not? It's good quality organic apple cider vinegar

Thanks

I just started brewing my own kombucha again last week. It is normal for the scoby to sink and rise over time. If you need to boost it, I would not use vinegar unless you are trying to make vinegar. The best way to get a good scoby growing is to use a good raw unflavored kombucha. I used GT Original Raw and had a scoby visible within 3 days.

For more info:
http://youtu.be/WxARAvleqHo

Kombucha sits out for days to weeks while fermenting. I suppose that it would taste fine, even if getting a slow start.

I typically put a coarsely woven dish towel over vinegar/kombucha. Fine enough to keep the fruit flies out, but coarse enough to allow lots of air to get in. I brew in 5 gallon buckets about half full.

3-4 days is way too early to make any judgements about kombucha. I have had batches that I was sure were toast suddenly have a fat scoby appear on top. Who knows. Let it get its air, and taste it to see how it's going. You might have to feed it a few times to get it going when you start a new pot, but give it a good 10 days before you do that unless it's really hot where you are.

A mason jar or pickle jar is a great idea.  
I use coffee filters and an elastic band to hold it.  Cheesecloth has too big of holes, IMHO.  I also don't want anything on top that holds moisture, like a paper towel.  
I also would not use "live" vinegar for starter.  You can use dead vinegar (white distilled) to bring the pH down, but real kombucha is better to get it going.  

As long as it's not moldy, it should be good to go.
What kind of black tea did you use?  If it was something like Earl Grey, it may not work as the bergamot has anti-microbial action  

https://imgur.com/a/WODlIl5


Hi,

is this moldy? theres a bunch of white dots

Second batch, first was good

took a little sip of this after 6 days and it wasnt sour, bizarre too

the batch of the original post finally ended up being great and tasting good too

Hi Jas,

Just looked at your picture and it looks like a newly forming SCOBY, not mold. Hope that helps!

Doesn't look like mold.  It does look like a new scoby.  When it doubt just wait it out.  As long as it's not fuzzy, you are good.  Also you will see some weird looking yeasty beasties in the brew.  Totally normal, but they can look like something out of a horror movie.

9 days in

Looks like the sheet of scoby is a bit below water level

There's a bunch of white dots floating, I think that might be white mold.

What do you think?

https://imgur.com/hbPCwcN
https://imgur.com/w1404p1
thanks