Do not ingest any of it or try to “save” it. A moldy brew is a lost cause, unfortunately. You cannot salvage a SCOBY that's already been infected with mold. Clean and sanitize/sterilize all equipment that's come in contact with your kombucha and start over with a new SCOBY and new starter tea.
Discard the Batch. Discard the entire batch of kombucha, including the SCOBY and the liquid. Don't attempt to salvage any part of the batch, as mold spores can spread quickly. Sterilize Everything.
If in the off chance you do end up running into mold in your brew, you've got to throw it away. It unfortunately cannot be washed off or removed, and once it's there it will continue to grow back. Go ahead and compost that batch and start fresh from your SCOBY Hotel!
A moldy or dead scoby is quite distinctive, and there is no mistaking it when you see it. The mold will be white or colorful, fuzzy and dry. It can appear as spots on the scoby, or cover the scoby altogether. A dead scoby will be black.
You will only need to replace your SCOBY if it has developed mold or if it is continuously struggling to ferment. Often with struggling SCOBYs, things can be done to help bring balance to your culture depending on the situation, and you won't need to start over completely.
As a result, the SCOBY can produce harmful bacteria and aspergillus (a toxin-producing fungus), which can cause illness.
Put simply, kombucha SCOBYs can be reused for many years. Realistically, however, you simply won't need it to last that long. Your SCOBY grows and divides with each batch of kombucha, so you will constantly be growing new SCOBYs. Simply remove the older layers and transfer the new layers to your next batch.
Temperature too low: If the temperature is too low where you're brewing, or if you put your first fermentation / SCOBY in the fridge, the bacteria and yeast go dormant. This means they can't acidify your kombucha, and mold may grow.
A healthy SCOBY is always white or light tan, or some shade in between. A darker brown SCOBY might just mean that the SCOBY is older, and probably won't work to brew kombucha. A SCOBY can have streaks of brown or black on it – this is just leftover remnants of tea from the last brew.
If the scoby molds, composting it is the only viable solution (when keeping with the zero waste philosophy). However, keep in mind fruit flies will flock to your compost as if seeing it anew, so take extra precautions if you want to avoid a nuisance.
The easiest way to store your kombucha scoby is in a sealed container in the fridge. Always label the jar so that no one in the household gets rid of it by mistake! The scoby then goes dormant and can be stored for up to 6 months.
Yes, molds can thrive in high-acid foods like jams, jellies, pickles, fruit, and tomatoes. But these microscopic fungi are easily destroyed by heat processing high-acid foods at a temperature of 212 °F in a boiling water canner for the recommended length of time.
The most common types of mold found in kombucha are Aspergillus and Penicillium. And as toxins, they are obviously not good for our health, and have indeed been found to create acute and long term problems in people.
Mold also usually develops in a circular shape and can be white, green black or blue. To avoid a moldy SCOBY, keep the acidity of your kombucha brew high, store it at 70-80 degrees fahrenheit, and use pure and organic ingredients.
A SCOBY, by contrast, doesn't need rinsing. You'll rinse away some of the microbes that are responsible for helping your sweet tea to transform into kombucha, so, as a best practice, move your SCOBY directly from one batch of kombucha to the next, with minimal handling and it'll do just fine.
Each individual scoby can brew for around 6-9 months depending on how it is used but in reality you generally use the newest scoby you have so you will have switched to a new baby well before then.
However, if the kombucha brew is left for several weeks or even months beyond that target time, the SCOBY continues to feed off the liquid in the fermentation vessel. Meaning, it will eat up every bit of available sugar and tea that it can, converting it into acetic acid instead – aka, vinegar.
Touching your SCOBY or kombucha with metal temporary will not cause any problems. If you're taking the time to brew your kombucha, you shouldn't have to worry about more than you need to.
How Do I Know If My Kombucha Scoby Is Dead? The only way to know if your kombucha scoby is dead is to test it in a new kombucha batch and wait a few weeks. If your sweet tea has not become acidic after 15 days, then you can definitely conclude that your kombucha scoby has died.
This kombucha vinegar will be undrinkable, but your SCOBY should be healthy and ready to start brewing again. If you need to store your SCOBY for longer than 6 weeks, all you need to do is empty ¾ of the vinegary kombucha every 6 weeks and replace it with a new batch of sweet tea.
SCOBYs are tough and resilient creatures that don't die easily. However, if you fail to take care of a SCOBY by not storing it within 65-85 degrees F, shocking it with temperature changes, not protecting it from mold, or not feeding it enough sugar, you could kill it.
Every scoby can be used four times before it gets too old and needs to be discarded. With each batch of kombucha a baby scoby is produced and the process starts again, you will have a fridge full of scobys before you know it.
A SCOBY may be safely split in half. Make sure your scissors or knife are clean before handling it to avoid contamination. Once you've completed this, you'll notice that your SCOBY grows to match the container's form, which usually means a circular disc since Kombucha is most often brewed in round glass jars.
Just cut up your older SCOBYs with kitchen scissors or a knife and add the chunks right into the soil before planting. You will want to put the SCOBYs at the bottom of your hole or pot. Animals could be drawn to the SCOBYs if they are not buried. Nutrient rich soil will lead to better plant growth and health.