Scoby Hotel – How to Store Your Kombucha SCOBY

A Little Fermentation Break for Your Kombucha Mushroom

Do you want to take a little break from making your own kombucha or store your kombucha mushrooms as a backup? We've put together the most important facts about Scoby storage and care for you!

What is a Scoby Hotel?

A SCOBY hotel is, simply put, a large jar filled with enough starter liquid. Finished kombucha serves as your starter liquid. A sufficiently acidic environment can make it difficult for many undesirable microorganisms to grow, but it does not offer absolute protection against contamination or mold. How long a SCOBY can be stored depends on the culture, acidity level, hygiene, and storage conditions, and cannot be generally specified in weeks or years. It is important to check the culture regularly and dispose of it if mold or other noticeable changes appear.

What do I need to store a kombucha mushroom?

1. Finished kombucha as a starter liquid
2. For uncooled storage: a rubber band and a breathable cloth for covering
3. For storage in the refrigerator or a cool place: a jar with a lid

What should you consider when storing kombucha mushrooms?

Remove yeasts and observe hygiene

Before your kombucha mushroom goes on its well-deserved vacation, you should pay attention to a few things. The Scoby hotel should be well cleaned. No detergent residues should remain in the glass. It is best to use vinegar to clean all items and tools. You can also free the kombucha mushroom from some yeasts before placing it in the jar. Yeasts are the brownish-black deposits on your Scoby.

Different Storage Options

With open storage using a cloth, the kombucha mushroom will not take long to be fully capable of producing kombucha again. If you store your Scoby in a closed jar in the refrigerator, it will take longer to be activated for a new batch.

New Scobys emerge

In the non-refrigerated version of the hotel, a new kombucha mushroom will eventually form on the surface. This will grow over time and should be well cared for. Oxygen should still be able to enter your Scoby hotel. Air circulates into the jar through the breathable cloth.

Properly care for and trim Scobys

To ensure that oxygen can continue to circulate in your Scoby hotel, you should trim or thin out the resulting kombucha mushroom a bit. Regular care ensures that the liquid under the resulting kombucha mushroom continues to be supplied with oxygen. This also prevents the formation of harmful gases in the Scoby hotel. You can simply try to separate the layers of the kombucha mushroom with clean hands. Carefully peel them off to thin out the Scoby. If that is not possible, use a standard pair of scissors and trim the Scoby a bit in its thickness and/or size. These should be cleaned with vinegar beforehand.

Scoby Rotation in the Hotel

Most kombucha connoisseurs know that the Scoby hotel is not only suitable as a storage place. It offers an excellent opportunity to rotate kombucha mushrooms. The kombucha mushrooms are given a break and at the same time the cultures are kept active. The Scobys from fermentation move into the hotel, and a Scoby with some liquid from the hotel can be used for the next batch. Other kombucha brewers, however, prefer to use the same kombucha mushroom again and again and to adjust the desired kombucha flavor to it.