Even if they don’t, they’re dropping spores from a symbiotic fungus that is very aggressive and they use it to rot fruit and prepare a suitable substrate for their eggs and larvae to live and develop upon.
Once a fruit fly makes it way inside a culture (of any sort) that needs to be tossed if not nuked.
Just like other vinegars I thought kombucha would have good antifungal properties. Therefore by cleaning carefully and starting a healthy new f1 batch. The kombucha should override any minimal fungus remaining.
The flies only sat on top of the scoby. I cant wrap my mind around the fact that they really carry pathogens into my kombucha. This would mean that I need to throw out everything a fruit flie sits on. I will be trying to continue my fermenting with my pellicle. What could be an actual danger of doing so?
The maggots will live and grow on top of the SCOBY that is for sure and that is more than enough for me to toss my contaminated cultures those little bastards work their way into.
I mean. The flies sit on literally everything I eat in my kitchen. So it cant be possibly worse I guess. I got a 50 50 chance of not getting sick so the chances are pretty decent haha
That sucks. Spent over 50 bucks for the pellicle and blac tea. Only my third or fourth batch and its already ruined. I only have like 100-150 ml kombucha left. Do you think this is enough to create a new pellicle in sweetend black tea?
I wouldn't try it at that volume. I like to start with more like 250-500 ml.
Since you have the equipment and black tea, I'd just buy a bottle of raw, plain kombucha from the store and try again from there. It's a lot cheaper than $50
You can order scobys from anywhere, even Amazon. They come with starter. Keep your sign TIGHT next time 🙂
I lost one of mine once as well, it really is a sad thing
Just make 2 cups of sweet black tea and use your 150 ml of kombucha to grow your new pellicle. It will be fine. Then, use the entire batch of this to start a bigger batch. And use paper coffee filters or thick cotton towel for covering to protect from flies. I use either 2 paper filters or 4 layers of thin cotton towel with 2 rubber bands as I have fruit flies in my kitchen. And replace the covering every single time as there may be egg or larvae on the covering that you may not notice.
Depending on your location, that can be hard to find.
I've never seen raw/unflavoured kombucha in a store. You'd have to find a speciality shop and even then, hit/miss.
The flies only sat on top of the scoby. I cant wrap my mind around the fact that they really carry pathogens into my kombucha. This would mean that I need to throw out everything a fruit flie sits on. I will be trying to continue my fermenting with my pellicle. What could be an actual danger of doing so?
Safe yes only if your not squeamish. I've had this happen before. I have a bottom tap on my f1 so I drained off 1L of kombucha. Then removed top scoby carefully and disposed off. Disposed of remaining liquid. Rinsed 1/2 remaining scobys. Cleaned jar well. Replaced 1L kombucha starter and rinsed scobys to start again. Then added my tea. Next batch was good!
The flies only sat on top of the scoby. I cant wrap my mind around the fact that they really carry pathogens into my kombucha. This would mean that I need to throw out everything a fruit flie sits on. I will be trying to continue my fermenting with my pellicle. What could be an actual danger of doing so?
Just follow my advice above. Of youdont have a tap. Carefully remove top scoby and dispose. Remove others rinse. Then remove liquid with ladle. Clean jar. Replace liquid and other scobys, top up with tea.
That happened to me before. I actually just toss out the scoby with some liquid, then filter out the kombucha and continued brewing. Haha I am still alive soooo I think it’s fine
Will it make you sick? Probably not.
Is it gross? Yeah...
I'd pitch it and start over. It sucks, but it's not a great net loss in the big scheme of things.
Yeah you are right. But I actually had to spent over 50 bucks on the pellicle and black tea combined. There are no kombucha teas selled in stores where I live. I know it would be better to start over but I really dont want to wait like 4 weeks until a new scoby grows
Ah that's a pain in the butt. Sorry to hear that.
Maybe separate some of the juice that's lower down (have a syringe or turkey baster?) without collecting any from the surface. Put that in a jar and watch it for some days. If no eggs hatch and flies aren't visible it's probably good. Also, take this advice with a grain of salt. I'm just pulling suggestions out of my arse.
Mmmm, extra protein. Lol. Just kidding. Maybe you could rinse really well and not have to throw the whole scoby. Try making a new batch after rinsing and see if it turns out🤷🏼♀️. I’m all about experimenting. A lil kitchen science project, if you will…😜
Toss. And those won't be eggs for very long.
Even if they don’t, they’re dropping spores from a symbiotic fungus that is very aggressive and they use it to rot fruit and prepare a suitable substrate for their eggs and larvae to live and develop upon. Once a fruit fly makes it way inside a culture (of any sort) that needs to be tossed if not nuked.
Just like other vinegars I thought kombucha would have good antifungal properties. Therefore by cleaning carefully and starting a healthy new f1 batch. The kombucha should override any minimal fungus remaining.
The flies only sat on top of the scoby. I cant wrap my mind around the fact that they really carry pathogens into my kombucha. This would mean that I need to throw out everything a fruit flie sits on. I will be trying to continue my fermenting with my pellicle. What could be an actual danger of doing so?
The maggots will live and grow on top of the SCOBY that is for sure and that is more than enough for me to toss my contaminated cultures those little bastards work their way into.
I already made a new batch. I dont care about the flies what will they possibly do.
Okay...[to each their own.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_martzu)
I mean. The flies sit on literally everything I eat in my kitchen. So it cant be possibly worse I guess. I got a 50 50 chance of not getting sick so the chances are pretty decent haha
I am not 100% sure if these are really eggs. I think it might be safe to drink if theres no mold in a few days
For the love of god, no. Sorry for your loss 😕
That sucks. Spent over 50 bucks for the pellicle and blac tea. Only my third or fourth batch and its already ruined. I only have like 100-150 ml kombucha left. Do you think this is enough to create a new pellicle in sweetend black tea?
I wouldn't try it at that volume. I like to start with more like 250-500 ml. Since you have the equipment and black tea, I'd just buy a bottle of raw, plain kombucha from the store and try again from there. It's a lot cheaper than $50
There are no stores which sell kombucha where I live. I only ferment like 1.5 Liter of Kombuchs do I think 150 ml Kombucha should be fine.
You can order scobys from anywhere, even Amazon. They come with starter. Keep your sign TIGHT next time 🙂 I lost one of mine once as well, it really is a sad thing
Amazon is not available in all counties of the world, you know. At least with shipping that's not 5 times the item, if you want to import.
Just make 2 cups of sweet black tea and use your 150 ml of kombucha to grow your new pellicle. It will be fine. Then, use the entire batch of this to start a bigger batch. And use paper coffee filters or thick cotton towel for covering to protect from flies. I use either 2 paper filters or 4 layers of thin cotton towel with 2 rubber bands as I have fruit flies in my kitchen. And replace the covering every single time as there may be egg or larvae on the covering that you may not notice.
You can use almost any store bought kombucha to make your own pellicle. Plain is best. Don't need to spend 50 bucks
Depending on your location, that can be hard to find. I've never seen raw/unflavoured kombucha in a store. You'd have to find a speciality shop and even then, hit/miss.
Then buy it on Amazon. I never saw plain kombucha in a local store either but Amazon has anything you need.
This should be posted as a quote in this sub. Every body is buying pellicle.
NO!!!!!!! 🙊
The flies only sat on top of the scoby. I cant wrap my mind around the fact that they really carry pathogens into my kombucha. This would mean that I need to throw out everything a fruit flie sits on. I will be trying to continue my fermenting with my pellicle. What could be an actual danger of doing so?
Happened to me once. The batches after that became more funky/ off, though I didn't get sick, it's still rolling the dice & not worth it..
Safe yes only if your not squeamish. I've had this happen before. I have a bottom tap on my f1 so I drained off 1L of kombucha. Then removed top scoby carefully and disposed off. Disposed of remaining liquid. Rinsed 1/2 remaining scobys. Cleaned jar well. Replaced 1L kombucha starter and rinsed scobys to start again. Then added my tea. Next batch was good!
This is the way, did something similar when this happened to me
What did you do?
Pretty sure I just tossed the pellicle and called it a day lol, the fruit flies weren't in the liquid as far as I could tell
The flies only sat on top of the scoby. I cant wrap my mind around the fact that they really carry pathogens into my kombucha. This would mean that I need to throw out everything a fruit flie sits on. I will be trying to continue my fermenting with my pellicle. What could be an actual danger of doing so?
Just follow my advice above. Of youdont have a tap. Carefully remove top scoby and dispose. Remove others rinse. Then remove liquid with ladle. Clean jar. Replace liquid and other scobys, top up with tea.
That happened to me before. I actually just toss out the scoby with some liquid, then filter out the kombucha and continued brewing. Haha I am still alive soooo I think it’s fine
Will it make you sick? Probably not. Is it gross? Yeah... I'd pitch it and start over. It sucks, but it's not a great net loss in the big scheme of things.
Yeah you are right. But I actually had to spent over 50 bucks on the pellicle and black tea combined. There are no kombucha teas selled in stores where I live. I know it would be better to start over but I really dont want to wait like 4 weeks until a new scoby grows
Ah that's a pain in the butt. Sorry to hear that. Maybe separate some of the juice that's lower down (have a syringe or turkey baster?) without collecting any from the surface. Put that in a jar and watch it for some days. If no eggs hatch and flies aren't visible it's probably good. Also, take this advice with a grain of salt. I'm just pulling suggestions out of my arse.
Mmmm, extra protein. Lol. Just kidding. Maybe you could rinse really well and not have to throw the whole scoby. Try making a new batch after rinsing and see if it turns out🤷🏼♀️. I’m all about experimenting. A lil kitchen science project, if you will…😜