How to Grow a SCOBY

This instructable shows you how to grow a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) so you can continue brewing your own kombucha at home and not need to keep buying cultures. Your SCOBY will continue to produce new baby scobies every time you brew.

Good quality kombucha starter

Growing containers

Kombucha that has been brewed and is ready to be bottled

When you brew kombucha, the SCOBY you started with will produce new Scobies. When you go to bottle your kombucha, this is the time when you separate the baby Scobies from the "mother".

If you look carefully at the picture above, you can see a smaller disc growing at the tea-line, just above the bigger SCOBY.

Move the baby SCOBY to its own container with some plain kombucha. Cover with a cloth or other type of lid. You can either set your baby SCOBY aside to grow at room temperature, or slow down the process by keeping it in the fridge. Ultimately, the SCOBY will grow to the size of its container.

To keep your SCOBY happy and growing, add a cup of freshly brewed sugar tea every week or so.