Kombucha Experiment: Creating a SCOBY without a Mother

Sorry about the low quality video.

This is a time lapse video of a Kombucha SCOBY being made from scratch (aka WITHOUT a mother.) The whole video took about 19 days. I snapped one picture every hour. I replenished the tea about halfway through.

PROCESS: I split a bottle of GT's Original Kombucha between the two bowls. To the bowl on the left, I added additional tea with honey (no sugar) and to the right bowl I added nothing.

As you can see, both created SCOBYs, though the tea with honey definitely made the SCOBY faster.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Kombucha
• SCOBY
• time lapse
• tea
• fermentation
• instructions

[nocturne1980]

Does it matter if I use a flavored kombucha to start my scoby? I couldn't find a plain one. I had a lemon flavored one and a ginger one. Would this hurt the forming scoby?

[RawNaturale]

@nocturne1980 No, it doesn't matter though you may end up with a strangely colored scoby. I made one with Gingerberry once by accident. I left it on the counter open while we we in the process of remodeling.... I used the Gingerberry one to start other culters just to prove it could be done. NP at all.

[weebeastiebaby]

Why is the honey one growing so much faster?

[TheFOIBOS]

@Zathauntie Indeed...ive read many times about not using honey....but sugar is only 100 years old.....or less!!!!!!!!!!!

how did they made kombucha in ancient times?

kombucha is ancient culture!

[Zathauntie]

Various sources advise against using honey in the process, i guess because honey introduces an unwanted, possibly dangerous mold or bacteria? Your honey scoby actually looked much nicer than the sugar scoby. I'm in the process of growing my first scoby. It's only been two days...i'm restless! :-)

[RawNaturale]

@mrgordylks Some people only suggest 2-4 oz per day. I can drink 32 oz a day with no problem, but other people complain of upset stomach. I have often got the 'buzz' too, but it's not from alcohol. I love the way a good bucha makes me feel.

[nocturne1980]

@RawNaturale Thank you so much for your help! I'm really excited to make my own kombucha ... perhaps a little too excited.lol.

[mastashaker916]

Neat.