Weird taste to my second batch

[Tdskula]

Hey all!

I am new to the kombucha scene, and I made my first batch successfully, however I seem to have messed something up on my second. After a 3-4 days, the batch was not ready, but after tasting it every so often, it didn't seem to taste very good. It's been about a week and my batch smells very vinegary, but tastes off. There is no present mold, and nothing seems out of the ordinary, it just has an unpleasant taste (especially the after taste).

I have a few speculations as to why this is:
-I forgot to leave some starter tea from the first batch when starting this second one
-I have been sanitizing anything that will touch the kombucha with 70% isopropyl alcohol and water, especially the straws I am tasting it with (maybe i didnt rinse it well enough/wait for the alcohol to evaporate long enough, thus ruining the batch?)

My main concern is: I don't know if I should chuck the whole batch including the scobys and start fresh, OR if i should just let it continue to ferment, chuck the batch if it still tastes bad after 2 weeks and reuse the scoby.

Thank you in advance

 

[Wizard Works]

Vinegar/bitter taste is normal and will only continue to grow stronger the longer you brew.
Usually is a sign of high counts of beneficial bacteria's the more bitter it becomes.
It also depends on how much/ what kind of sugar you are using & where your kombucha is ph'ing at. Give me some updates and I'll see if I can help.
People will usually kill the bitterness during the bottling process, usually a sweet raw juice like lime or blueberry instantly takes it away in my experience but bottling with various fruits is always a good long term sweetener- assumably of you wanted a sweet brew.
Sometimes if it tastes off- and you didn't add original kombucha from your mother brew (1st brew) to the tea brew you can guarantee success by using a 1/3 cup of transplant kombucha store bought into your home brew and give it an additional week. Usually raw kombucha is very vinegary and bitter - but if it tastes off- PH it
Good luck and best wishes
Wizard works

 

[Tdskula]

Vinegar/bitter taste is normal and will only continue to grow stronger the longer you brew.
Usually is a sign of high counts of beneficial bacteria's the more bitter it becomes.
It also depends on how much/ what kind of sugar you are using & where your kombucha is ph'ing at. Give me some updates and I'll see if I can help.
People will usually kill the bitterness during the bottling process, usually a sweet raw juice like lime or blueberry instantly takes it away in my experience but bottling with various fruits is always a good long term sweetener- assumably of you wanted a sweet brew.
Sometimes if it tastes off- and you didn't add original kombucha from your mother brew (1st brew) to the tea brew you can guarantee success by using a 1/3 cup of transplant kombucha store bought into your home brew and give it an additional week. Usually raw kombucha is very vinegary and bitter - but if it tastes off- PH it
Good luck and best wishes
Wizard works

Ended up scrapping the batch. It wasn't that it was too bitter, it almost tasted too weak, and didn't have a pleasant taste at all; it was overwhelmingly yeasty too. I also had let my tea steep for a very long time which probably contributed to its spunkiness. I dumped the batch but kept the scobys and haven't had any problems with batch #3. Thank you for your response!