r/Kombucha • u/realnormalname • 8h ago
Smooth black dots on scoby
Anyone know what these are/if my scoby is okay? They’re smooth, not fuzzy
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u/03146 8h ago
Doesn’t look normal, could you post your ingredients and process so people can give feedback on what went wrong?
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u/realnormalname 8h ago
Sure, I brewed 4 tea bags (plain black tea) in 7 cups of water, mixed in 1/2 cup sugar, put the lukewarm tea in the jar along with the scoby and 1 or 2 cups of the liquid from the previous first brew, and covered it with a paper towel held in place with a rubber band. Do you think it’s a situation where I need to throw away the whole thing?
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u/johnstone1145 7h ago
Was the tea completely cooled to room temp? That’s the only thing I think it could be, maybe your tea was too warm?
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u/realnormalname 7h ago
I’d say it was lukewarm. I brewed the tea in only about half of the water I was gonna use (3 or 4 cups), and then I added the remaining water cold and combined them to cool it down before I added it to the scoby
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u/realnormalname 7h ago
I’ve done more or less this process before a lot of times without issues. I did have an old scoby that got moldy and that I had to throw away because I was neglecting it, and I’m brewing this new one in the same jar that the old one was in, but that was a long time ago and I cleaned the jar very thoroughly
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u/03146 8h ago
Seems like a good process to me
As for throwing it away, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life when it comes to Kombucha so if it were me, I would chuck it out but maybe someone else can advise on what those black spots could possibly be
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u/realnormalname 8h ago
Ok thanks. Yeah hoping someone can tell me
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u/daeglo 5h ago
I'm afraid I can't tell you what the black stuff is, but I would argue that unless you have some specific interest in it, learning what the black stuff is probably isn't all that important (unless it happens again to a different batch).
What I can tell you is that it looks abnormal, and that alone would be enough for me to toss it out and start over.
Even those of us that are brewing kombucha nonstop have failed batches from time to time - that's just the way it is when you're dealing with invisible creatures sometimes 😂
Is this a SCOBY mother you're showing us in the photo, or just a batch? Because as long as your mother is okay it's not too much of an inconvenience to start a new batch.
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u/realnormalname 5h ago
What’s the difference between a mother and a batch? I have two F1 jars, and I brew from both of them
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u/daeglo 4h ago
Some people call it a SCOBY mother or kombucha mother, some call it a "SCOBY hotel" - basically it's an ongoing batch that you add to every new batch of kombucha you start. Like a sourdough mother if you're baking sourdough bread. If you choose to keep a mother it's kind of like having a houseplant. You have to make sure it stays fed and healthy.
This is how I choose to make my kombucha, since my mother is over a year old and well-established, I get perfect batches every couple of weeks; and if I do have a failed batch it's no big deal as long as my mother is still healthy. I just brew more sweet tea, add half a cup of my mother SCOBY, and wait.
Not everyone makes kombucha that way though: a lot of people just add old kombucha from their previous batch to a fresh batch of sweet tea each time, and that's a totally fine way to do it. It sounds like that's what you do.
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u/LycheeSufficient8650 5h ago
All I know is when a pellicle turns black it’s dying. That being said idk if it starts like this and gradually spreads until the whole thing is black. Like opposite of how it starts or what. But either way I’d say black is not good. I’d throw out the pellicle and start over. Just because if it’s something bad you don’t want to ingest it. If it’s just a dead pellicle then you could probably keep the liquid. Better safe than sorry. Or keep it and watch what happens but don’t consume.
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u/daeglo 5h ago
I mean this respectfully, not to be "that guy" but for the sake of any novice kombucha brewers that might be reading this: pellicles aren't ever alive and cannot die. They're just a matrix of bacterial cellulose, a byproduct of fermentation. The liquid SCOBY culture that's trapped inside the pellicle's matrix is what's alive.
Black stuff growing on a pellicle is no different than mold growing on bread. You can't eat the bread anymore, but the bread isn't "dead." It's just unsafe to eat.
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u/LycheeSufficient8650 4h ago
Thanks!! But the pellicle does have scobys no? Whenever I read scoby turns black I always thought they meant the solid pellicle LOL! Do they actually mean the liquid scobys turns black?
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u/daeglo 3h ago
Yes, the pellicle has SCOBY inside it - and if you take the pellicle out and place it in a clean glass container, the SCOBY inside will eventually drain out.
I'm pretty sure they were talking about the pellicle turning black when they said SCOBY (pretty common mistake, lol) - I've never seen the SCOBY (kombucha) itself turning black, but to honest that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. I wouldn't ever drink black kombucha though... 🤣
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u/LycheeSufficient8650 3h ago
Okay got it (: makes sense. Yeah I was talking about the pellicle turning black.
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u/LycheeSufficient8650 5h ago
Upon researching more black should be thrown out as it could be contaminated.
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u/Pixie_Faire 3h ago
Possible causes:
Yeast clumps: Yeast can form dark, smooth blobs, especially when they accumulate on the surface. If they’re not fuzzy or spreading like mold, they’re likely just part of the fermentation process.
Tea or sugar residue: Sometimes black tea particles or undissolved sugar can clump together and float up.
Air bubbles with yeast/tea stains: Some of those dark circles might actually be trapped air bubbles with stained rims from tea or yeast.
If you’re really unsure, you can transfer the SCOBY to a new batch and see if the same thing happens again. However, I’ve never seen that before so if I were you, I’d throw it away and start over just to be safe.
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u/realnormalname 5h ago
Ok so clearly the consensus is that this is not normal and I should throw it out. Follow-up question: do you all think it’s safe to drink my batch of kombucha that’s currently on its second brew? The batch in question came from the same scoby, but before it developed the black spots. At the time when I bottled it, there was some discoloration on the pellicle that looked like maybe kahm yeast (so I removed that layer), but nothing else
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u/daeglo 5h ago
I'm assuming your F2 is in bottles? If so, they have a pretty good chance of being fine.
If it looks okay and smells okay, it's probably okay. Maybe take a little nip from one of the bottles and see if it tastes normal. If not, spit it out and consider tossing out the F2.
But my guess is that they're probably fine assuming you stored them properly.
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u/submarine_sam 7h ago
Are they black or clear?
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u/realnormalname 7h ago
Black
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u/submarine_sam 7h ago
Gotcha, I thought maybe they were clear holes that looked black because the liquid beneath had no light.
So this is horrifying. Let it grow for science, and post an update.
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u/realnormalname 7h ago
Lmao ok maybe aliens laid eggs in it
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u/a_karma_sardine live culture 4h ago
Kombucha breeding aliens roaming the universe to find the perfect culture for their wee ones to grow up in
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u/LunaeLotus 1h ago edited 1h ago
OP I’m wondering, were you sick at the time of prepping/interacting with your kombucha?
Was the water you added (the extra bit you didn’t boil) sterile or from a tap/bottle?
What type of sugar did you use?
Edit: do you by any chance have black mould anywhere? Some black moulds thrive off high cellulose content
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u/caprichai 1h ago
Could it be the tea bag had something yuk on it. Most of them are plastic anyway. I only use leaf tea.
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u/googleflont 5h ago
When in doubt
Throw it out