Kiwibird
Well-known member
- Jul 12, 2012
- 9,539
- 111
- Parrots
- 1 BFA- Kiwi. Hatch circa 98', forever home with us Dec. 08'
Well, it's kind of like a new pet- I have to "feed" it, make sure it's kept in the right environmental conditions and yes, it IS in fact alive! I even "raised" it from a little chunk in a bottle
Pretty proud of it too, and might even name it LOL.
I started growing this back in December, and it took a little over a month to go from a marble-sized chunk to this nice, thick blob. What is that thing? It is a kombucha SCOBY (symbiotic culture or bacteria and yeasts). The blob is a sheet of beneficial bacteria and yeasts, AKA the "mother". The bacteria and yeasts eat the sugars in sweet tea and ferments it into a carbonated drink full of probiotics (and can also be further fermented into a vinegar). And yes, it does feel as gross as it looks. Glad I choose to do a continuous brew method over batch brewing because it's not something I care to touch very often:09: At $4/ (8oz) bottle, brewing my own will allow me to actually drink it a couple times a week!
Here it is about a week into the process. The "chunk" was at the bottom of a bottle I bought at the store (all bottles have some chunks, but I spent a good 15 minutes comparing all the bottles at the store to find the biggest chunk to start with lol). The filmy stuff on top is the bacteria and yeast beginning to grow:
Here it is coming out of the 1/2 gallon mason jar I used to grow it (kind of like it was being born lol):
NOT fond of the way this thing feels, like something out of my nightmares:22_yikes:
Anndddd... in it's new "home", a 1.5 gallon water dispenser to be used as a continuous brewer (it will rise to the surface over the next few days-week, right now it's at the bottom):
Pretty proud of it too, and might even name it LOL. I started growing this back in December, and it took a little over a month to go from a marble-sized chunk to this nice, thick blob. What is that thing? It is a kombucha SCOBY (symbiotic culture or bacteria and yeasts). The blob is a sheet of beneficial bacteria and yeasts, AKA the "mother". The bacteria and yeasts eat the sugars in sweet tea and ferments it into a carbonated drink full of probiotics (and can also be further fermented into a vinegar). And yes, it does feel as gross as it looks. Glad I choose to do a continuous brew method over batch brewing because it's not something I care to touch very often:09: At $4/ (8oz) bottle, brewing my own will allow me to actually drink it a couple times a week!
Here it is about a week into the process. The "chunk" was at the bottom of a bottle I bought at the store (all bottles have some chunks, but I spent a good 15 minutes comparing all the bottles at the store to find the biggest chunk to start with lol). The filmy stuff on top is the bacteria and yeast beginning to grow:
Here it is coming out of the 1/2 gallon mason jar I used to grow it (kind of like it was being born lol):
NOT fond of the way this thing feels, like something out of my nightmares:22_yikes:
Anndddd... in it's new "home", a 1.5 gallon water dispenser to be used as a continuous brewer (it will rise to the surface over the next few days-week, right now it's at the bottom):
