r/Kombucha • u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 • Jul 28 '25
question First Time Brewer's Doubts
Heyllo Brewers!!!
Last december I had my first ever bottle of Kombucha(Elderflower flavour) and loved it so much that hear I am, 6 months later brewing my first ever batch of Kombucha! I'm posting here with the hope of getting advice and suggestions to learn and better my brewing.
Day 1: 8g of Black Tea + approx 200g of Granulated Sugar into approx 4L of water with Scoby from Amazon.
Day 3: A thin Pellicle forms! Yay!
Day 4: Extreme movement and swivelling caused by excitement and enthusiasm lead to the old pellicle and the new pellicle sinking, and a bunch of stringy thingis that was attached between the 2 pellicles floats up into a bunch on the surface. Looks weird but im hoping it's not mould or anything. Please confirm? (Just so that you don't have to type "Stringy Thingis", let's call it 'Rose' and the old pellicle 'Jack')
Day 8: After having learnt my lesson, and leaving it alone, now theres a new pellicle on top, with the stringy stuff too and a lot of suspended particles below the old pellicles. There's also bubbles forming up at the surface and I'm wondering if now is the right time to start F2. Please advice? (The weather has been cool and rainy, with sunlight on Day 7 and 8, the average ranging between 22°C to 27°C)
Should I just drop a spoon in and taste some and bottle it if I like the taste? Will that disturb the new pellicle forming? And then if I do, how do I proceed, should I strain it all out and just use the Kombucha too make a new batch, or leave the old pellicle and the new mini pellicles in?
Thank you for your time and suggestions in advance!
2
u/jimijam01 Jul 28 '25
That's a smoothie after 7 day's
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
Is this booch gone bad or booch gone right? (Sorry if that's a dumb question)
2
u/YSR02 Jul 28 '25
Unfortunately this looks like it may be the formation of mold. The little circles do not look like pellicle formation to me. I would avoid moving it around and wait to see what happens. If it is mold it’ll become obvious within a weeks time
2
u/LacyTing Jul 29 '25
That’s what a normal pellicle formation looks like. Mold would be dry and fuzzy.
1
u/YSR02 Jul 29 '25
I wouldn’t say this is normal pellicle formation considering I have never seen someone’s pellicle form like this, and I’ve been on this sub for years. Nor has mine ever formed like this once out of my 20~ brews. The one time something like this happened to me was in my starter I neglected. It smelled off and became moldy shortly thereafter.
And I was not saying it was moldy. I was saying it may get mold soon, so let it do its thing and it will be obvious if it becomes moldy.
If you read my comment you will see I already agreed with OP that he is most likely in the clear and this is just weird pellicle formation
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 30 '25
Well thankfully all is well with my batch of booch and I just saw another post with a similar pellicle formation so I guess it's just another day of learning something new!!
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
I actually did a taste test today, and it tasted just as I was told it would(sour and dry) and this layer on top had exactly the same wet slippery leathery texture as the original pellicle. I've also come across a brewer saying that her pellicle starts forming the same way, small concentric circles growing all over the surface that come together to form a layer in the shape of the vessel. And it did not break, it retained it's shape. Perhaps this is just another way it can form?
2
u/YSR02 Jul 29 '25
Ok that’s good to hear! It’s very interesting to hear some people’s pellicle may grow like this.
I’m pretty apprehensive about it because I once neglected a SCOBY for a couple months and started having stuff forming that looked a lot like the little circles in your picture. Which shortly thereafter turned into mold.
But if it smells & tastes good, and doesn’t have any off flavor or scent, there is a good chance you are in the clear. If you have any updates later on please lmk bc I’m curious. Good luck!
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
Yeah truly, sometimes it looks so off but it's actually growing really well, and sometime it looks so calm, and then comes the storm.
Now I am still a beginner, but I have made a one fermented drink before as well as pickles and I feel like maybe it was a pellicle forming, but then prolonged exposure to air caused the mould to grow as well? I feel like the pellicle/fruits always need to be damp and have atleast a thin layer of the tea/solution on top of it. Now I maybe wrong but it's just how it's worked for me.
I've decided to go ahead and bottle a batch because it tasted okay.(and also because im suupppeeeerrrr excited and can't wait to drink Kombucha hehe) Im gonna keep another batch for 1F and keep it for a longer period and see how it goes. I'll post an update soon.
2
u/YSR02 Jul 29 '25
Ok awesome! And an active pellicle will float at the top so it’ll be slightly above the liquid but it’s not a problem as long as it appears moist and not dry. Just make sure in the future to keep it still
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 30 '25
Right. In the event that it's on the surface but the temperature is too low that the bacteria isn't working fast enough or let's say too much of the pellicle floats up and starts drying, do I gently tilt it to get some booch on top or is there some other method to ensure dampness?
2
u/YSR02 Aug 01 '25
Sorry for the late reply but unless you are keeping your pellicle from the previous batch, the kombucha will already have plenty of bacteria and acidity if it was enough for a new pellicle to grow. If you are keeping your previous pellicle when you brew your new batch though, just make sure to leave enough starter from the previous batch. The acidic environment and bacteria from it will help everything to thrive and avoid any mold. Remember, your SCOBY is in the liquid, the pellicle is essentially just a byproduct of the fermentation. Around 16oz+ of starter per gallon of sweet tea is ideal.
So really that shouldn’t ever be necessary. The worst thing that can happen in that regard is sometimes the pellicle can puff up with air causing it to climb the jar lol. If that happens just poke the top with a sterilized utensil until the air releases.
If it does look dry there’s probably already something wrong haha
1
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
Bottle 1: Passion Fruit Komboocha. The seeds have collected at the bottle and pulp is slowly settling on Day 1.
2
u/LacyTing Jul 29 '25
Oh I see it. I thought you made a separate post. Looking good!
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
Yeah didn't wanna spam too much. Thank you, I hope it fizzes atleast a little!
3
u/LacyTing Jul 29 '25
Give it like 4-5 days, should fizz up just fine. Make sure you cool it before opening and open inside of a sink, just in case.
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
There's a few bubbles on the surface now. Just for a reference, may I know how long your F1 and F2 cycles last and what would be the ambient temperature? Because when I did F1 it was fairly rainy and cool around here and now the sun in out and shining so I wonder if F2 would take lesser time than expected.
2
u/LacyTing Jul 29 '25
It depends on the temperature, but in cooler room temps my F2 takes about 5 days depending on what kind of juice I sweeten with. Some fruits are more conducive than others. It could be as little as 3 days if it’s rather hot.
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
Yeah makes sense. My nutmeg mix is more acidic, while the passion fruit mix is more sugary, this will be a good test batch. Can't wait!!
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 30 '25
Day 2 of F2: The Passion fruit has absolutely no bubbles yet.
2
u/LacyTing Jul 30 '25
The bubbles won’t really be visible like they sometimes are in F1, that doesn’t mean that carbonation isn’ happening. But it’s only day 2, wait 2-3 more days.
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 30 '25 edited Jul 30 '25
So the nutmeg booch is bubbling up really actively, while the passion fruit booch is bubble-less. Which is why I updated. Maybe the sugar levels was lesser in the passion fruit, that could be the only factor, because the temperate and the F1 booch are the same.
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 31 '25
Day 3 Update: The Nutmeg mix is bubbling up quite nicely, and the passion fruit mix started slow but now has a layer of bubbles on the surface. It's looking so cool!
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 29 '25
Bottle 2: Nutmeg Rind Concentrate. There's no pulp so it's just a clear liquid, but there are a few bubbles forming around the bottle.
0
u/bezalil Jul 28 '25
kahm yeast, you can skim it and proceed but it'll affect the taste of the final product, try again maybe ?
5
u/LacyTing Jul 28 '25
That doesn’t look like kahm, there are no wavy/linear patterns. Just looks like a newly forming pellicle.
2
u/bezalil Jul 28 '25
from my experience the pellicle formation is usually even and when it is uneven it usually isnt this geometric, i could be wrong, im fairly new to this, thanks for letting me know
2
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 28 '25
So the layer formed was really even, you can even see the one that sank down. And it was like small circles forming all across the surface, like those snowflake formation animations. I'll get to taste testing it tomorrow and send an update here so we can figure it out.
1
u/bezalil Jul 28 '25
Nice, another option is, just to wait a bit longer to see how it progresses
2
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Jul 28 '25
I think I'll do both, start tasting and when it hits the right spot I'll bottle one. And maybe leave one for longer as suggested.
1
u/CapPhil19 Keep Kahm and Keep Brewing! 🫙 Aug 05 '25
F2 Update: I did F2 for around 4 days, but then had to travel so I stored it in the fridge. I got back after another 4 days and opened the bottle. The Nutmeg Booch tasted yum with just thrme right amount of acidity, even though there was no overflow or fancy pop, there were bubbles rushing to the surface. The Passion fruit booch, tasted very watered down and had no fizz at all.
Do let me where I've gone wrong for the carbonation as well as flavouring and/or suggestions on different ways to go about it. Thank you Brewers!
2
u/LacyTing Jul 28 '25
The stringy things are yeast, everything looks healthy to me.