HELLLPPP w/Kombucha Tea mold...

[DharmaGirl]

Hey all.....

I'd love some feedback on my first batch of homemade Kombucha ~ Purdy Pleez???

So, here's the scoop: I made my batch w/yerba mate green tea in a gallon pickle jar and added a scoby a friend gave me BUTTTTTTTTT, I didn't know i needed to cover w/a cloth to let it breathe..... so for four days, it had the pickle jar lid on it and i noticed part of the scoby turned really dark. I scooped the dark part of it out and IMMEDIATELY covered it with a cloth , so my question is this: if it had no oxygen for four days, could it have turned rancid and poison???? Not sure what that dark bacteria was on the scoby...... not sure if the batch is still good or not???? oh yeah, and i also have shaken it up a bit while it had the lid on it.... i've since read, you're supposed to leave it "un"disturbed (oops!!)

Oh, and btw, I used raw organic sugar for the sweetner....

Anyone ever had a similar experience? Any thoughts on this dark, yucky piece of scoby? (probably about 1/2 tsp in quantity) Can anyone save my beautiful batch of mate Kombucha????:confused:

THX for the feedback :o

[spicyfull]

I'm sure its Mold.....I'd throw it out. Maybe she'll give you another Starter.

[Bookish Lass]

I often have that dark stuff in my kombucha..I think it's when the yeast dominates over the bacteria. I always just drank it.

[DharmaGirl]

so, Booklsh Lass, it's sorta blackish, and I just had a small amount on top of the mother that I scraped off ~ does this sound like what you've seen before? I REALLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYY don't want to throw out the batch and the beautiful mother!!!!!

Any other comments from anyone?????? PLEASE help save the mother!!!

[DharmaGirl]

bumping up..... any other feedback would be helpful.... my batch is almost ready :confused:

[sprouts2go]

Hi,
I know nothing about kombucha but rawdawdgrory did a workshop on it and might be able to answer your questions. Here is some of the workshop video segments. And he is really good about answering question.
http://raw100.ning.com/video/video/listForContributor?screenName=1tt5z9fe9fayl

[DharmaGirl]

Awesome and Informative videos, Sprouts...THX so much for the info! After watching all his kombucha ones, I feel confident to tackle the mother!!! Not so intimidated by the whole process... can't wait to taste it :D