Taking A Break From Culturing Mushroom Tea Brewing

  From time to time, the home brewer of KT may wish to take a break from the process
of mushroom tea culturing.  There areseveral methods one may use for short term storage of the mushroom culture. If the time frame for stopping production is a week to a month then the process isas simple as making up a fresh batch of tea/sugar solution and leaving the
batch to sit in a cool place.

The temperature should be a little lower than optimal to slowdown the culturing process, yet not too much, to make the culture go into a dormant state.

Upon return or desire to restart production cycle, simply make fresh kombucha tea
solution as per directions.  The tea that is a couple of weeks old may be too strong with vinegar to be drinkable; however, it should start a new batch easily.  Make sure to check and adjust the pH when breaking the brewing cycle.

If the time frame is between a month or two, then follow this process…

  Make a fresh batch of tea solution and start a new batch, as normal, 2 to 3 days before departure or ending the brewing production.  After the third day, place whole brewing container into the refrigerator and leave until return. Use a lid or covering that will not allow for excessive evaporation, say a loose fitting lid or covering part of the opening with plastic wrap. Storing the KT in the refrigerator will slow down, but not stop, the culturing/brewing process. After returning to brewing production, the SCOBY cultures may need a cycle or two to completely return from their dormant state.

Though suggested by some authors on kombucha, one may freeze the mushroom cultures and return to them when ready.  We do not recommend freezing the cultures, as this puts great strain on the bacteria and yeast colonies, destroying many cell walls and in turn reducing the amount of active cultures present.  Better, the have a friend maintain the mushroom cultures in your abstinence or obtain a new culture from a quality source, like organic-kombucha.com or organic-cultures.com when ready to begin brewing kombucha tea again.

Since one can regulate the temperature of the brewing process, extending the length of time needed for culturing.  Example would be storing the brewing jars in a dry cool place to slow the process when traveling.  In most cases, simply discarding the old tea below 4.5 pH upon return, and starting a new batch is all that is needed to restart your production of your very own raw kombucha tea beverage.

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