Can you make a scoby from store bought kombucha? 

He is obviously successful in brewing kombucha but I don't agree with three points. 1) Paper towels-I've never had a problem with using paper towels. Cheesecloth I have had pieces fall in. No cheesecloth for me. 2) Black tea-I've used black tea, green tea, and a mix. No problems with any of them. Herbal tea won't work I've heard because...I don't know why. I'll have to research that. 3) Flavored store-bought kombucha as a starter. I started mine with ginger flavor and had zero problems. Having said all that, kombucha is pretty forgiving stuff. My advice would be to try different techniques for your kombucha starter and see what you get. Experimentation is the key to knowledge and learning what works and doesn't. Looks like I need to do a myth-busting​ video on kombucha. Thanks for watching

Ah right, cheers. Yes, I've been obsessed with experimenting. I outsourced wild yeast and bacteria and made my own jun, ginger bug and more.. My ginger bug has honey, brown sugar, cinammon, nutmeg and lemon juıce. The scobys are super strong and it carbonates very easily.

Rutley7 I use knee highh or foot stocking / nylon to cover mine , can sterilize .

Clean Slate Farm the herbal blends have complications for brewing / fermenting because of the components like essential oils and anti fungal or antibiotic properties and such . I've made teas and infusions from additional items like ginger as a blend into the final bottled product . Just not in the fermenting or it will kill off the scobi .

@@rhyanhrayn480 I added turmeric to water kefir and indeed, it killed it!

Charlie Beene thanks for watching and commenting. I rarely buy into conventional thinking and need to try for myself. Let me know how yours comes out. We have a podcast also if you listen to them.

Cristina Watson thanks Christina. Let me know how it works. Remember the ambient room temperature has a lot to do with how quickly it grows. 69-72 Fahrenheit is about ideal.

jonnyboat2 go for it!

Clean Slate Farm Thanks for the reply. Of all the channels that have videos on kombucha making, you are the first and only one to reply to my comments. Thanks.

@@jonnyboat2 You bet! Thanks again for watching.

And there you have it! Now whoever reads this go make some! thanks for the comment...my new producer/editor!

How long do you leave it? Do you drink the kombucha and put the scoby formed in a new batch?

@@janawall3306 yes, you use the scoby to start boost the new batch it will form a new scoby underneath, I recommend fermenting the kombucha for at least 7 days and up to 30 days. After 7 days, begin tasting the brewing kombucha. Use a straw or non-metal spoon to remove some liquid from the jar.

@@teama224 thank you

What do you do to start the second batch? Just add the sweetened room temp tea to the scone?

scoby doby do

It really grows. I did it

Thanks for the note. I hope yours comes out well. Let me know!

YAY!! Glad this helped out and it saved you from the feeding tube. I just did a batch of peach flavor and can't wait to try it. Thanks for watching!

Gary Peddie Well be out of 140 or so ain’t bad I guess. You keep watching and I’ll keep trying. Deal?

Terrific! I'm starting a new one as well. I think my old one wore out if that is possible. We will find out though. Thanks for watching and commenting.

Merci! (Did I get that right?😉) Thank you for watching.

That's right!! Good for you and thanks for watching.

Zoraida Rosa thanks!

Have never done that, but suppose if you could find an unflavored, unpasteurized commercial jun in the store you could use about the same process to grow a jun SCOBY pellicle. But using honey & green tea instead of white sugar & black tea.

Gaylen Howard I add about a cup or a little less. Maybe 3/4 cup. Seems to work either way. Thanks for commenting and watching!

You would need to do a secondary ferment on this tea. See my other video on how to do that. Drain some off and start a new batch with your scoby but keep some of the scoby tea to have as a place to store other scoby that you may grow.

JoJo Wallace thanks! I love kombucha

Watch my vid "What is fermentation? What is pickling? Are they the same?" I'm wearing a wacky shirt in that one. I show how to ferment other things but the process is the same. Just use sliced cucumbers. Be careful on brine concentration. Shoot for 4% or so. A higher % makes crunchier pickles up to a point. Don't exceed 6%. If you need more help ask again. Thanks

Also watch the salt video. Different salt measures differently. Important to know. Thanks again

Thanks for watching. A scoby usually forms in about a week. Though that is very dependent on the temperature. A warmer environment speeds it up, cooler slows it down. As to drinking it before a second fermentation...I suppose you could but there would be no fizz. I always do a second fermentation and start a new batch with the scoby but you have made me wonder. Hmmm. I think I'll try my next batch without a 2nd fermentation to see if I like it. BTW did you know we have a podcast now? It's on iTunes and wherever you get your downloads. Thanks again! I hope that answers your question.

Clean Slate Farm to thanks very much! I’m going to try this next week😊will check out the podcast!

Yes we do. Currently we are stuck on cranberry...I want to do peach or mango next. Thanks for watching and commenting

@@CleanSlateFarm you added orange juice and you mentioned other fruit juices. Are they homemade juice, would supermarket juice be ok? What works well flavour wise, the best in your opinion ?

@@ssmith2608 Any shelf stable juice will behave just as sugar because pasteurization kills everything except the sugar in a juice. So if you want to use it as part of the food for the scoby in place of other sugar, you can do that. If you use fresh juice, bear in mind that depending on the quality of the juice it may react like people mentioned the turmeric does - naturally likes to kill off stuff it perceives as bad. Also bear in mind that almost no juice at the market is without synthetic pesticide elements, and we are pests :). Those compounds are neurological agents so you're giving the opportunity for that to get into your tea.

@@lindsaywilliambrown808 kool thanks 😊

Give it a go! Just make sure the kombucha you use has live cultures in it. Let me know how it comes out. Thanks for watching.

Make sure the Kambucha says RAW on the label. I did it this way, and now working on my 4th batch. Yes, the SCOBY looks weird. Particularly early on, and all the bubbling , and foaming is taking place. Don't freak out. It's a good thing.

Remedy brand, available from Countdown supermarkets (and elsewhere) is unpasteurised, and their website gives directions on how to make a scoby from their brew. Or use the instructions here.

Sonia hodge not a good idea to show your friends the scoby ,if you want them to try it

Carol Smith thank you yes I got from countdown I checked the ingredients 👍thanks so much

If there is a small, thin scoby then you are probably okay...give it time. Remember, lower temperatures mean slower growth...higher temperatures mean faster growth. they grow best at about 70 degrees F. Keep me posted!

Amy Givens Hey Amy! I’m not sure if I does add a bitter taste. Maybe I should do an A/B test. Anybody out there know? Thanks for watching and the great comment.

I'm not sure. The watermelon would have some sugars to help the carbonation but I don't know about lavender. You'd probably have to add some sugar for the carbonation though. Thanks for commenting!

Thanks. It lasts until about January. Wish it would be longer but.....

Yes you can. All my scobies are from a GT ginger starter.

From my experience a scoby has some wiggle room. My guess is this may come out okay. Just give it time and see what happens. If I read your note correctly you've basically doubled the sugar and starter kombucha? if so maybe trying to add more water and tea to double the whole shebang. Let me know what happens as I'm interested in the result.

Clean Slate Farm. It looks ok so far. We shall see!

I've always read that you can't use herbal teas for kombucha...having said that I am person who doesn't always believe what I read. Short version...after some research it looks like you can. Here is a link to someone using lemon balm! Now I have to try this to see how it comes out. Let's bust some myths and try it! Thanks so much for commenting and letting me do a double take on herrbal "booch." steemit.com/homesteading/@thelaundrylady/kombucha-brewed-with-lemon-balm-herbal-tea-no-caffeine

@@CleanSlateFarm try ginger root, i bought ginger lemon kombucha from "health-ade" brand. that stuff will put some hair on your chest. I used the last of the bottle of it i drank yesterday to start up a quart with green tea and wild peppermint I dehydrated. i have so much of the damn stuff and my throats been really irritated from my allergies lately. its bad here in western mass. high pollen count and humidity, and high heat in my area due to all the pavement around. I do know that cinnamon has a bad effect on bread yeast, so that one is right out for kombucha. I tried mixing it in once and the bread never rose. Did a science experiment too as a kid, made a culture in a petri dish in high school and spread a paste of cinnamon and water over it and it wiped the little buggers out. sharp clear line where it wiped them out.

@@CleanSlateFarm oh yeah and the reason why i suggest ginger root is because its a natural anti inflammatory. but i've also seen apple and lime flavors too. i must imagine the apple stuff would be great if you can't get "things" moving in the bathroom. but kombucha is supposed to also help heal the intestines after an upset in either direction. i saw it in mother earth news.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy it.

Yes, absolutely. If you watch at the 1:50 mark I show how I used ginger.

Depends on the temperature. Warmer temp the scoby will grow faster. Thanks for commenting and watching

Let me know. I have a scoby that hasn't been fed for several weeks and will do a video on if it still lives...bwaaaahaaaahaaa

Definitely! Read on in the comments below. And the scoby is not the thing floating the top. That is actually the pellicle. The scoby is actually the whole liquid in the jar. Let me know how yours turned out! There is lots of good advice below.

Theresa McCune try kombucha kamp online to buy a scoby. Or ask around your local natural food store and maybe someone will share one

I use well water. It is very good water here. If you use chlorinated water let it sit for 24 hours, which kind of distills it...or so I'm told. Not sure of grocery store water water but look at the labels. Many bottled waters are "PURIFIED" meaning they highly filter it by reverse osmosis. Not my cup of tea. Dasani is the worst IMHO.

@@CleanSlateFarm -THXS FOR YOUR QUICK, HELPFUL RESPONSE !

I believe if you use honey it is called a Jun.

I use cane sugar.....and I don't know why this answer didn't send two weeks ago..sorry.

Just to clarify, white sugar is cane sugar. I'm guessing what may have been meant was whether to use refined or unrefined sugar. Refined will super charge it a bit in terms of growth pace, but unrefined will offer other phytonutrients and is much more whole of a food. For those neurologically sensitive to anything that has been heated to crystallization point, we can use honey, agave, maple syrup, or other syrup that agrees with your own body. The sugar in the video is definitely pure white cane sugar, so it is refined.

Make kombucha? Go for it if there's a scoby. If no scoby wait it out.

@@CleanSlateFarm There's something dark in the bottom. What is that? Bubbles and globs are forming on the top. 🍾

Dark stuff on bottom is probably yeast, and totally normal.

Cindy Thomas I used GT ginger flavor. I takes about or one or two weeks depending on the temperature. They grow faster in warmer temperatures. Thx for watching. Watch the other vids do more information

Cindy Thomas I just grew mine using GT original. I had a scoby in less than 20 days. I tried previously with a different flavored brand, with not much success. A lot of people say it can't be done since store bought kumbacha has been modified to curb alcohol content. But if you can find a good unflavored raw blend it is definitely do-able.

I grew one using GT's "Triology" & another using the original. Both made awesome scobys!

tammy blabla I think you can use almost any flavor and it’ll work. Thanks for the note!

If you mean how many times can you use a scoby it will last forever unless you stop feeding it tea and sugar. Each time you make kombucha it will create a thin scoby on top so the scoby keeps growing. I hope that helps

@@CleanSlateFarm thank you but not..i ask how many time you need to wait for have a scoby..To see the "birth" of the scoby. I started but I still have nothing. My house is not very hot. Thank you for your answer 🙏

Yes. I know they sell unflavored. My point was that even though it's thought the ginger flavor won't work, it does. Not a fan of ginger booch myself. Thanks for watching.

@@CleanSlateFarm Not to worry...I won't be watching ANY more.

@@joannathesinger770 😂

GT...and it was ginger flavor. thanks for watching....let me know how yours comes out!

At 65 to 75 degrees it will take about a week or so. But...check it at 3 days and every day after to see how it's going. Warmer temps will finish faster than lower temps. It's done when you see a scoby on top. Should be about 1/8 inch or so thick. Thanks and keep me posted, I'll help you through.

Thank you for your quick reply! I noticed you didn't add cane sugar...others do. Is this optional with your recipe being that you already use partly store bought kombucha? Thanks again! I will check mine in 3 days! Can't wait to see the SCOBY form!

I played your video again, and realized you did add sugar! So, I added the sugar today, which is 4 days after I made it. Hopefully it still works. Lol

After you have a scoby you need to make the kombucha. Then it's a +/- a week or so depending on your taste.

im curious- this video demonstrates how to make the scoby, but then do you need to add the created scoby to another brew of tea and sugar, or do you just let it sit in the same jar for an additional 7-10 days after you see a decent scoby form?

Yes. Then you brew a tea and add the scoby. watch this video for how ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dhEET-sAZEM.html

Clean Slate Farm ,

I've always used paper towel and never had a problem. I guess you should try both ways and see what works best for you. Let me know. Thanks for commenting and watching

Finally! someone that knows.

Technically you are 100% correct. Most people refer to the gelatinous blob, perhaps wrongly, as the SCOBY and it is indeed a mother just like a natural apple cider mother. All of the action of turning tea into kombucha is in the liquid, which is filled with the bacteria and yeasts as you state. The scoby is a by product of the process and I just proved that by starting a new batch with a starter liquid as I'm sure you and others have and guess what happened! A mother formed and it's getting bigger. Kombucha mother is, in my experience, an unavoidable result of the process. It's gonna happen. Because they have all the necessary bacteria and yeast it's just another convenient way to start a batch of booch. I don;t know how long it would last but you could put a cup or so in an airtight bottle and store it in the fridge to use later. As you know, fermentation slows considerably in cold so it could last a while. Maybe I'll do a test feeding one and not another to see what happens for a video. Now to find room in the fridge for this! Thanks for watching (and the idea) and pointing this out in your comment. Much appreciated.

@J Four like you last year I was new to kombucha so I read up on it and everyone regurgitated the same information on how to make it i was all set to go online and buy a $20 starter then i saw a video with a girl how made it with using a raw kombucha tea drink the plain kind that you buy at the store so i tried it that way and it worked the full process of the research that i did is hard to explain in writing but that is the general idea sometimes with health food marketing you have to be careful not to fall in to the trap kombucha is not anything special all it is fermented tea I have even made it with out a starter I takes longer but it still worked out the general info on how it is made worked for me but its just they way it is explained is wrong

Sigh..... so much bullshit. jesus .. read people... why does the bacteria create a skin across the top? Which of the two are more aerobic? Which are more anaerobic? Why do they separate? Why do they connect? what product does one create as food for the other? THINK.

Me too and scoby is so slimy its hard to handle. Lol

I'll give that a try on the next brew. Better taste? Thanks for watching

Do you leave it out on the counter? Or fridge

@@DeborahRose2885 on the stove, actually... I boil an entire gallon of water, add 8 tea bags, cover and let sit overnight. In the morning, I remove the tea bags and add the sugar. Then I pour it into my gallon jar with the scoby and starter. Couldn't be simpler.

Ooh thank you this sounds so easy

Clean Slate Farm yes much better taste and the scoby appreciates the tannins.

jika itu Allah akan

Never stop trying new things and disregarding the norm...thanks for watching.

Heat only increases growth and promotes mold/fungus growth. There's a happy medium. A/C'd homes diminish mold and fungus (though not entirely) and provide an ok growth environment. This is a #'s thing. If you're below 70F... then yes, you should keep it warmer. If you're above 80F, by all means keep it cooler to prevent fungi/mold. If you want fast drink production, and you can HEPA filter out the mold/fungus, then yes... 80F and above will help the yeast and acetobacter grow much faster and you can have kombucha in a matter of 3 days (some gentle agitation will help the bottom yeasts find new sugars/food).

I've never had a problem using a metal spoon. And I don't use club soda.

That’s just an old wives tail. Nothing wrong with using a metal spoon. There’s no club soda in kombucha.

You would need to do a second ferment in smaller bottles, 12-16 ounce. Keep at least one cup of the 1sr ferment to start a new batch. Search YT for second ferment. I don't have a video on that.

Yup!

One half cup. Let me know how it turns out.

Actually, he did say it -- very early in the video.

Jim Binger thanks. It was triplets. Curley, Larry, and Jim!

Nope. We are well with some of the best water I've ever tasted. NO chlorine of fluoride here. 185 feet deep. You would be hard pressed to find city water that is not chlorinated or fluoride laden. That's the facts though. And stay away from Dasani (purified from ??) and Poland Springs (draining aquifers and poor community neighbors).