Where did first SCOBY come from?

[enricocoron]

I've been reading online about growing your own SCOBY from "Scratch", but they aren't from scratch in all the tutorials I've found, they all require some finished Kombucha tea, that would contain all the organisms to make a new SCOBY.

So the question would be how to people generate new SCOBYS? At some point people must have found that non-aerated sweet liquids under anaerobic conditions underwent a low-alcoholic fermentation.

I've read that studies of Kombucha organisms show bacteria genus from Acetobacter, Lactobacillus, Glucanoacetobacter, Pediococcus and yeast from Sacharomyces, and Zygosacharomyces. From what I read the Zygosacharomyces and Glucanoacetobacter are 'unique' to Kombucha, which cannot be true. They may thrive in Tea, but must come from elsewhere.

It would seem to me that you should be able to make sugared tea, put it in outside and covered on a windy day for 24-48 hours, and get your native SCOBY started. If it doesn't work, perhaps you don't live in a SCOBY friendly environment and would need to obtain your SCOBY elsewhere.

Am I wrong?

 

[Jaybird]

Is this a what came first? The chicken or the egg question.. Because I always get that one wrong.

Just playing.

I think you are probably 1/2 right. The SCOBY being a colony is prone to changes in that colony. Some times it may have more yeast some times more bacteria. So it is probably very safe to say that the yeasts and the bacteria numbers and the types thereof will change as well. What types that its made up of are probably widely suspect to environment, PH, food, age, handling and many other factors. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Interesting topic..

Cheers
Jay

 

[TorMag]

Some guy named Bubba, from Alabama left a pitcher of sweet tea out. The rest is history. Seriously though, if you leave sweet tea out long enough, a scoby of sorts will form. Same thing on Apple Cider Vinegar. I am sure somebody at some point left some out and was too cheap or thirsty to toss it and drank some, and said "Hey, this **** is not half bad."

 

[FatDragon]

I agree that it stinks that you have to buy a live culture to ferment a proper kombucha, but it's like beer brewing: you could let your wort spontaneously ferment on whatever little bugs float in on the air or by pitching fruit peels which are naturally covered with yeast, but you're probably not going to like the results. Good kombucha cultures are just like good brewing yeasts: they have been selected over generations to produce the best kombucha with the least hassle. Trying to achieve that spontaneously is unlikely to give you the results you're hoping for.

 

[enricocoron]

Some of the best beer I've ever had is spontaneously fermented. Also some of the worst. Usually you buy a culture of brewers yeast and prop and re pitch, but it seems like this is more like lambic as it's a mixed culture.

I'm going to try 3 ways

1) Buy
2) Grow from a commercial bottle
3) Spontaneous Fermentation

Tea and sugar are super cheap, may as well give it a shot.

Prost!

 

[yyyyJP]

I've been reading online about growing your own SCOBY from "Scratch", but they aren't from scratch in all the tutorials I've found, they all require some finished Kombucha tea, that would contain all the organisms to make a new SCOBY.

So the question would be how to people generate new SCOBYS? At some point people must have found that non-aerated sweet liquids under anaerobic conditions underwent a low-alcoholic fermentation.

I've read that studies of Kombucha organisms show bacteria genus from Acetobacter, Lactobacillus, Glucanoacetobacter, Pediococcus and yeast from Sacharomyces, and Zygosacharomyces. From what I read the Zygosacharomyces and Glucanoacetobacter are 'unique' to Kombucha, which cannot be true. They may thrive in Tea, but must come from elsewhere.

It would seem to me that you should be able to make sugared tea, put it in outside and covered on a windy day for 24-48 hours, and get your native SCOBY started. If it doesn't work, perhaps you don't live in a SCOBY friendly environment and would need to obtain your SCOBY elsewhere.

Am I wrong?

 

[yyyyJP]

I think my on and I might have accidentally made a native Scoby from scratch. I put a lilac in an antique soda bottle and left it in a guest cabin. Months later my son finally cleaned the place. With the brown dead lilac stem still in the bottle there appears to be a scoby. We make kombucha regularly so I know what they look like. He wants to brew it up and try it. I’m afraid. Thoughts?....

 

[FatDragon]

As noted above, tea and sugar are super cheap. No reason not to try brewing it up, though trying it is another thing entirely...

 

[yyyyJP]

As noted above, tea and sugar are super cheap. No reason not to try brewing it up, though trying it is another thing entirely...

So bummed! I was doing just that but as I was straining out the ?scoby? like thing, it fell apart in pieces into the sink Definitely nothing like a traditional kombucha scoby but it would have been interesting to see what developed! I might try to do it again next year with the same old bottle and a stem if lilac left to its own for months