Making kombucha without mother using kombucha question

[raweater]

I finally got around to try to grow my own kombucha. I used the "motherless" method by starting it with pre made raw kombucha.

I wanted to make a gallon but only had half gallon jars so I split everything in half but noticed one of the 2 jars seems to already have a mother which would have came from my raw kombucha bottle. It looks like a very thin and young mother, is this what it is?

Is it a problem that one of my jars already has a mother and not the other?

Thanks

[BeingK8]

Yes, it's a new mother. Or sort of a daughter. I don't know what the correct term is, but it doesn't really matter - it's a new SCOBY and it's what you'll use to start a new batch.

I don't know why the other one doesn't have one if they were started from the same original kombucha at the same time unless your measurements weren't precise. Did you make a gallon batch of tea and add the sugar before splitting into two half gallon containers? If one container got far more kombucha or more sugar, you might have an answer.

[raweater]

Sorry if I wasn't clear, this is what I did:

-Made black tea in 2 half gallon jars with hot water, tea bags and whole sugar in each jar
-Removed tea bags and cooled them by adding cold water
-Waited until temp was under 100*F to add raw Kombucha from health store
-Poured half the kombucha bottle in one jar and the rest in the other

My observation is exactly after pouring the kombucha bottle in the half gallon jars, so this mother (if that's what it is) was already in the store bought kombucha, and since there was only one it could only end up in one of my 2 jars.

My question is will both work properly even though one seems to already have a mother from the store bought kombucha? Will bacteria or something in the "motherless" bottle be able to grow a mother?

[BeingK8]

Yes, it technically the jar with no obvious mother CAN grow it's own mother because some of the stringy pieces of SCOBY are in it, BUT don't get your hopes up too much. Be prepared that this may flop totally. Speaking from experience here! LOL!

When I started brewing, I had many failures (heck, still do!) because, on one hand this is a pretty haphazard process, kind of "make tea, let the stuff do it's thing." On the other hand, it can be a complicated process with subtle nuances in the balance of yeast, bacteria, and sugar, as well as the tannins in the tea and stuff.

So, if you poured half and the mother that was in the bottle ended up in one of your jars, that jar has a distinct advantage over the other jar. The other problem here is the amount of tea to kombucha ratio. You may have too much tea for that little bit of SCOBY to convert adequately. Basically, it's too much food for such a baby! ;-)

I think the most annoying part for me so far (one year plus) has been that I have NEVER yet gotten it to taste like GT Dave's (before the reformulation - now their is kinda lousy, too!) or High Country and that's what I've always been hoping for. Mine always kinda sucks compared to those brands. :rolleyes:

But it's a fun process and I haven't been too committed to really learning the biochemistry and making a serious effort. I do it halfheartedly and have fun. Kinda like I did raw for many years - just took it slow and learned and incorporated some stuff then backed off, then did it again, and on and on.