The moment you realize your brew has mold

So it finally happened.

After three years brewing kombucha commercially.



And tens of thousands of liters sold.



While making an experimental home batch to test new flavours and ingredients — including cannabis oil and MCT.



I went against all my own advice, I removed the cloth from my jar only to find…



MOLD!!!



As I threw the batch out I realized something very important. Something that I have never actually told first time brewers.



You see, for me, the day I learned to brew Kombucha, was also the day I started supplying a restaurant in Central America.



I have only known how to brew commercially. I never made any home size batches. And the difference between brewing on a large scale and brewing at home is the reason why I never got mold.



And that reason comes down to one small thing …



Mindset.



When I brewed this batch at home, I cut corners I would never have done when brewing kombucha to sell.



In the past I would dismiss mold as something that rarely happens.



But over the years I have received 100’s of emails from first-time brewers asking why their Kombucha has mold.

And now I understand why they were all struggling.

And I understand the concern. When it comes to fermentation it can be scary. Bacteria that are not supposed to be there end up taking over like a hostile invasion.

And not knowing what to look out for can be scary, so I have put together this guide that will show you exactly what to look out for, and how to make moldy kombucha a thing of the past.

The good news, is that Kombucha SCOBY’s are highly resistant and if you follow the steps outlined below, you will never have this issue again.



How do I know if my kombucha has mold?

SCOBY’s are pretty weird things generally. They grow in all sorts of shapes, sizes and even colours. Sometimes they sink when they are supposed to float. They will grow to the size of the vessel they are in. But I assure you this is all normal.



However, there are a few things to look out for if you are trying to determine whether your SCOBY has mold.



The above is a classic example of mold. If you look closely enough at the areas marked out in red you can see it almost resembles the type of mold you would expect to see when bread gets moldy.



Often times it is bluish-green in colour and if you touch it with your hand it is slightly fuzzy. If you find mold like this developing on your SCOBY, throw it out immediately and start again with a new culture.



This batch has mold everywhere. Throw it out immediately.

This one is slightly different. The colour here is white but the spores have started developing in the same pattern as the previous pictures. If you look at the top outline, the little dots forming are a sure giveaway that mold has taken over.



SCOBY’s develop in all sorts of ways. Majority of the time if your SCOBY looks a little different, it probably is. But as a rule of thumb, mold generally develops in the same patterns. So use this as your template for investigating whether your batch has mold.



And any other differences in your SCOBY should be celebrated because they are as unique as your fingerprint.

How to ensure your brew never gets mold again?

There are few things as frustrating as waiting 2 weeks to taste your tasty brew, only to look inside to see that it has been taken over by mold.



In my conversations with first time brewers this is where they generally give up and decide that fermentation is not for them. The frustration of starting again and having to source a new SCOBY mother is enough to put the brakes on their brewing future.



There are four areas you need to be mindful of if you never want to have mold develop again.



But the most important aspect is a certain mindset you must adopt when it comes to your fermentation.



If you use this mindset to guide all your actions you will never have issues with mold ever again.



I want you to step inside the mind of a professional brewer. For them their biggest fear is someone getting sick from their brew. Cleanliness is above everything else. Any possibility of contamination needs to be ruled out completely.



If someone falls ill, it may spell ruin for you. Let this guide your every action. Making sure you take no shortcuts. Everything must be cleaned and prepared as if you were going to sell to customers, who demand the very best.

Mold Proofing your brew.

When it comes to ensuring your brew is mold free you need to start with your hands.



Wash your hands with a natural soap. Free of any antibacterial properties. Strong antibacterial soaps can have the opposite effect of destroying or contaminating your SCOBY.



Before you start handling any of your tools or SCOBY rinse your hands with white vinegar after you have washed them with a natural soap.



This ensures that there will be no contamination of your SCOBY.



Only use filtered water for your brew, tap water is full of chemicals that can suppress the bacteria you want to grow and create the environment for the types of bacteria you want to avoid.



Your Tools

When it comes to the tools you use BOIL EVERYTHING. And again only use natural soaps. Do not use your standard household cleaning liquid.



My routine goes like this. Wash jar and all utensils with natural soap. I use acid san which is designed for the brewery industry. This ensures that pathogens are completely wiped from the tools you are working with. And that there is zero chance of contamination of things like E. coli O157:H7

But for home brewers natural soap with no anti-bacterial properties will do just fine.

Rinse thoroughly and let it drip-dry for ten minutes.



Then take boiling water and boil everything. Spoons, cloth, jar everything!!!



Let it cool, then add white vinegar to your jar and rinse thoroughly. This has the effect of lowering the PH of the jar making it a little easier for your cultures to colonize their new home.

The acidic environment also wards off common food pathogens.

Avoid touching the SCOBY with your hand as much as you can. Using only the utensils you have cleaned outlined above.

SCOBY’s hate plastic, so make sure not to handle it with plastic. Stainless steel and glass are best. Wood is fine also, just make sure it is properly cleaned. Wood is a fantastic home for all kinds of bacteria.

Make sure your cloth that you use to cover the jar has been boiled and is dry.



This approach guarantees that there is none of the nasty molds or pathogens in your brew to begin with.



If after following this you still have mold, it can come only be from one of two areas.



Either the culture you are working with is compromised, or there has been contamination from the air or during transport.



From personal experience we never had one issue with mold for over tens of thousands of kombuchas sold when we followed the procedure outlined above.



I only see mold develop when corners are cut and the wrong cleanliness procedure is followed by using the wrong type of soap.



Kombucha is naturally resistant to molds. The acidic environment that kombucha creates means that common food pathogens like listeria cannot survive there.

If you are interested in taking your health to the next level the natural way, or just want to get off your prescription meds. Maybe you want to feel 20 years younger or just not be so tired and fatigued all the time.



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