So, you have finally completed your first fermentation and you are wondering what to do with your mother SCOBY and baby SCOBY. Should you keep both of them? Can you put them in another container while you prepare another round of tea for fermentation? Does the material of the container matter? Can you store one away and use the other? What the heck do you do with them if you want to go on vacation?? Never fear! We will address all of these concerns and more today! Trust us—it is a LOT simpler than it might seem right now! You will feel like a SCOBY master by the end of this article!
The Basics
Any time that you are handling your kombucha culture/kombucha SCOBY, you will want to make sure to wash your hands thoroughly with soap (regular soap, NOT antibacterial) and water. Be sure to wash all of the soap off before handling your SCOBY, as soap can actually harm your SCOBY. You can also use food-grade gloves when handling your SCOBY if you are worried about soap. When placing your SCOBY in your brewing vessel or another container, you will want to ensure the liquid in the vessel has cooled to room temperature and be very gentle. You also want starter tea (kombucha that has completed primary fermentation) to accompany your SCOBY at all times. These are the SCOBY ground rules! Time for the specifics now…
Adding a New SCOBY to Your First Batch of Kombucha
When adding a brand-new SCOBY to your first-ever batch of kombucha, you will likely have it stored in a plastic bag with starter tea. You will want to transfer your room-temperature sweet tea to your brewing vessel. At this point, you can add your SCOBY and the starter tea to the vessel. While you can handle the SCOBY with clean hands, we recommend cutting a hole in the plastic bag large enough for the SCOBY. This way, you can gently add your starter tea into the vessel, allowing the SCOBY to slide out into the vessel at the same time! Easy as can be!
Removing SCOBYs Once Primary Fermentation is Complete
If your kombucha is ready for drinking or second fermentation, the first step will be to remove your SCOBYs! Planning to brew another batch right away? Prepare a clean glass container (large mason jar or mug) for your SCOBY(s). If you plan on storing a SCOBY separately and longer-term, you will need a clean glass jar to begin a SCOBY Hotel. More on that later! You should now have a mother AND a new baby SCOBY. They may or may not be attached to one another. If one or both SCOBYs are at the top of your fermentation container, you can simply reach in with clean hands or food-grade gloves and remove it/them.
If both the baby and mother SCOBYs were at the top of the vessel and they are now attached, you can either keep them together or gently separate the two. Place them in a clean glass container (large mason jar or mug) and add 1-2 cups of your fermented Kombucha (starter tea) into the container with them. Cover the glass container with a coffee filter and rubber band for protection while you prepare for the next batch.
If you have a SCOBY stuck at the bottom of the gallon vessel, you will probably want to recruit the help of a large wooden spoon or utensil to lift the SCOBY to a point where you can reach in and remove it, placing it in a glass container with starter tea as instructed above. To keep things simple, we generally recommend adding both SCOBYs to your next batch. However, once you have several SCOBYs, you can consider starting a SCOBY Hotel.
With the SCOBYs removed from your brewing container, it is time to remove the remainder of the Kombucha from the container. You can put it through second fermentation, or simply place it in another container and refrigerate it to be enjoyed immediately.
Clean your glass brewing jar thoroughly with hot water and soap (alternatively, you can run it on a high-temp cycle in your dishwasher). Make sure to rinse all soap out thoroughly, and finally rinse the jar out with distilled white vinegar. After this, you are ready to add another batch to the container! Pour in your cooled sweet tea (room temperature). Gently add your SCOBY(s) and starter tea from the glass container you stored them in. Cover the vessel and store it away to begin the primary fermentation process once again!
SCOBY Hotel
So, if you chose to take a quick break from brewing or to start a SCOBY hotel with your second SCOBY, you are in the right place! Fortunately, the process for creating a SCOBY Hotel is very similar to the process for brewing a new batch of Kombucha. We recommend using a large, clean jar. A gallon or two-gallon glass jar is a good idea—you will likely want to add more and more SCOBYs to the jar over time. As mentioned earlier, soap can damage your SCOBYs; if you believe the jar might have some residual soap, you might want to give it a good rinse with hot water and/or distilled white vinegar.
Once your jar is prepared, it’s time for us to add some starter tea and room-temperature sweet tea. If you are using a gallon jar, you will want to add at least a cup of starter tea. You will then add a batch of room-temperature sweet tea to fill the jar as if you were brewing a new batch. This is to give the SCOBYs some “food” to keep them active while they are stored in the hotel. Now it’s time to add your SCOBY(s) in! After adding your SCOBYs, cover the jar with a coffee filter and rubber band as you would for primary fermentation. Store the jar out of direct sunlight at room temperature.
As you continue to brew and grow new SCOBYs, this hotel will be super helpful in a number of ways! Once this jar has fermented for at least 7 days, it becomes a new source of starter tea! You can take starter tea from the jar as needed. Each time you grow a new SCOBY, you can store it in this jar! That’s about as hassle-free as it gets!
Maintaining Your SCOBY Hotel
Unfortunately, the SCOBYs cannot survive like this forever. However, you only need to adjust the SCOBY hotel every 1-2 months. You should occasionally remove some (we recommend at least half) of the existing liquid from the jar. It will likely be very sour, but you can still drink it or use it as starter tea for a new batch. You will replace this liquid with NEW and fresh sweet tea! It’s that simple! Top the jar off with your new sweet tea and your SCOBYs are good to go for another month or two!
Once another month or two go by, you will want to run a more in-depth maintenance process. Basically, you will just start the process over. You can accomplish this by adding a cup or two of starter tea to a new, clean gallon jar, adding fresh-brewed room-temperature sweet tea to the jar, and then transferring all of the SCOBYs residing in your hotel to this jar. You will want to thoroughly clean the other jar, and return it to your Kombucha rotation!
Should I start a Hotel Chain?
Eventually, you will probably have more SCOBYs than your hotel can handle. Not sure whether you have at least twice as much liquid as you have SCOBYs in the jar? It is probably time to “open up a second hotel”. Alternatively, if you have no plans for the excessive SCOBYs and cannot give them away to others, you can always toss out your old SCOBYs. We recommend having several spares on hand in case something goes wrong with a batch, but you will figure out the optimal amount of spares for your brewing preferences over time!
Have any questions that we failed to address? Need clarification on any of this information overload? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks for learning with us today. Happy brewing! 🙂
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