KombuchaCHIC

So, I have been pretty lazy lately. I've been behind on my brewing, and I still have a small amount left from my last batch. I usually bottle up a majority of kombucha from each batch and put it in the fridge. I leave a small portion as a starter for my next batch and leave it in the jar at room temperature until I start my next brew.

I had left my kombucha in the jar for at least a week, and had still not started it. I had heard that if you leave your kombucha out in room temperature, it will form a culture all by itself. Well the rumors are true. After a week I looked at my starter tea and noticed a thin layer of culture forming on the top.



This got me pretty excited, because I have never formed a culture from only the tea itself before. I've only created new cultures from old ones. I decided to let it grow some more, and I wanted to see how big I could get it.

After about a week and 1/2 or so, I checked on it again. I picked up the jar and turned it around, admiring my little kombucha monster baby! I think turning it around caused the culture to sink a little bit, because after that, the culture rested lower under the tea.



For the next few days, I was out of town on a weekend trip in Moab. It was beautiful.



When I returned, I anxiously opened up the cupboard where I was keeping my monster baby. I was quite delighted to find that the culture was still resting below the tea and a new culture had begun to grow on top of it! It was already growing a baby!

I'm not certain how long I can keep this baby growing for. I hope it will develop into a nice sized baby that I can use for new brews. If so, then I can start two new brews at the same time, both with these lovely babies that I have grown from scratch!



We'll see how it turns out!