WHAT'S SCOBY HOTEL?

SCOBY hotel is a separate jar, designed to store kombucha starter cultures.

In such a hotel, having the right environmental conditions (that is, a temperature of 18 to 29*C, and being fed sugar from time to time), bacteria and yeast (key ingredient to start tea fermentation process) can survive for months or even years.

WHY DO YOU NEED SCOBY HOTEL?

A SCOBY hotel is actually a backup place (not only for the tea mushrooms, but also for the starter) that you can use in case something goes wrong while fermenting the tea.

Mold often occurs because of too cold room temperature or too weak bacteria and yeast that failed to handle the fermentation process. It can also be caused by inaccurate washing/scalding the jar or by a pathogen that fell into the kombucha and infected the entire environment.

Therefore, when setting up your first kombucha, it's a good idea to pour yourself some of the drink into a separate jar that will act as a BACKUP (aka SCOBY hotel).

The hotel can also be useful for experimenting with different brewing methods. Preparing kombucha on ingredients such as herbal teas, maple syrup, or coffee can permanently weaken the bacteria and yeast. Hence, by having a reserve hotel, you can test different techniques for preparing kombucha and still have strong starter cultures backup.

In addition, the SCOBY hotel is great storage for the starter liquid and tea mushroom when you take a break from setting new kombucha. Standing in a warm and dark place, the SCOBY hotel actually becomes a factory for a potent starter that you can use for the next batch.

HOW TO MAKE A SCOBY HOTEL?

To create a SCOBY hotel you will need the same tools and ingredients as for preparing homemade kombucha:

• ~ 4 litres of water

• 4-6 tea bags or 2-3 tablespoons of leaf tea (preferably black or green tea, without any additives)

• a cup of cane or white sugar (250g)

• 250 ml of strong starter cultures (that is, mature, at least 2-week-old kombucha from the first fermentation).

  You can also add SCOBY (aka tea fungus/pellicle), but it's not necessary initially as strong kombucha cultures in the jar will grow it anyway.

Also prepare a 4-liter jar, a cotton/linen (or other natural) cloth with tight-fitting threads (in my case, it's a cotton kitchen towel) and a rubber band/string to tie the cloth over the opening of the jar.

If you want to make a SCOBY hotel in a smaller jar (e.g., a 1-liter jar), then simply reduce the amount of water. The amount of tea and sugar can remain the same as for a 4-liter jar, because the more tea and sugar, the more food the bacteria and yeast will have.

Below I give the exact instructions for preparing SCOBY hotel:

1. Thoroughly wash and scald the jar with hot water.

2. Brew the tea in a smaller vessel (in my case, it's a 0.5 liter jar). Set the brewing time for 15 minutes.

3. Transfer the tea to a large jar and add a cup of cane (or white) sugar.

4. Stir the drink decently and set aside to cool.

5. Add water to the jar with the sweet tea, pour in the starter (eventually add the tea fungus).

   It is worth remembering to add the starter at the very end — as it will float to the top, the low pH of the starter will provide additional protection for the hotel (remember to not stir the kombucha after adding the starter).

6. Secure the jar from the top with an air-permeable cloth and a rubber band/cord (this will prevent fruit flies from getting into the jar).

7. Set the hotel aside in a dark and warm place, having a constant supply of oxygen (if you do not have a dark place, you can simply wrap the jar with a kitchen towel).

HOW TO TAKE CARE OF SCOBY HOTEL?

Every 6 months or so, you can refresh your SCOBY hotel. This is not obligatory, because SCOBY hotel has such an acidic reaction (pH 2.5-3.5) that it fights pathogens and various types of contamination on its own.

However, if you see a buildup of dark sediment (yeast) at the bottom of the jar, you can carry out hotel maintenance according to the following instructions:

1. Transfer the SCOBY and transfer half of the starter liquid (kombucha from the hotel) to another vessel.

   You don't not need to rinse off the brown, stringy yeast from your SCOBY. When refreshing the hotel, you only want to get rid of the ones that have fallen to the bottom.

   You can pour out the rest of the mixture (along with the accumulated sediment). SCOBY of a very dark color can also be thrown out.

2. Rinse the jar of sediment with hot water to remove all traces of yeast from the bottom and sides of the vessel.

3. Transfer the mushrooms back into the jar and pour in the black tea with sugar (brewed according to the earlier instructions). If there is a lot of empty space left in the jar, add some water. At the very end, pour in the starter liquid.

4. Secure the jar with a breathable cloth and set the SCOBY hotel aside in a warm and dark place.
   

If you have any questions about SCOBY hotel and preparing kombucha, feel free to write to me on Instagram.

DO NOT STORE SCOBY IN LOW TEMPERATURES

Temperatures below 18*C cause the bacteria and yeast in kombucha to hibernate. Slowing down the fermentation process will produce less acid, which is responsible for protecting the entire environment.

So the less acidic the liquid in the SCOBY hotel — the higher risk of mold attack.

HOW LONG YOU CAN STORE YOUR SCOBY IN HOTEL?

As long as:

• You feed them with tea and sugar

• The kombucha does not evaporate from the jar

• The environment temperature will stay between 18 and 29*C

HOW TO FEED YOUR SCOBY?

If you regularly set new kombucha on starter liquid from your SCOBY hotel, you can refill it with sweet tea (black/green, without any additives).

However, if your hotel is not running out of liquid because you have a break in setting new kombucha, pour off some of the mixture and replace it with tea with sugar.

As for sugar — once in a while I pour from 3 tablespoons to even a full cup of sugar to SCOBY Hotel. The more liquid, the more sugar it needs. Remember not to overdo the sugar content in the SCOBY hotel — too much of it can upset the balance of bacteria and yeast.

SCOBY ROTATION

If you want to preserve the biodiversity of bacteria and yeast, you can top up your hotel with kombucha from the first fermentation once in a while and use different SCOBYs during different settings.

You don't have to use new SCOBY every time you set up new kombucha brewing.

THERE ARE LOTS OF BROWN SEDIMENT. WHAT IS THAT?

This sediment is yeast. It is an essential part of the fermentation process. The yeast breaks down the sugar into ethanol (a nutrient for the bacteria) and carbon dioxide (which makes kombucha fizzy).

Yeast overgrowth can upset the balance of symbiosis, so if after a few months in your SCOBY hotel you see a really large amount of it settling on the bottom, it means it's time to refresh the hotel.

KEEP IT CLEAN

Thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water before handling each tea mushroom, and make sure the soap is rinsed off your hands decently.

At the very end of the wash, also rinse your hands with kombucha itself — you can make yourself a separate, small SCOBY hotel, to use as a sanitizing liquid.

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