Hi everyone! I am new to kombucha brewing and I am extremely careful about keeping all my equipment and workspace sterile. However, I have been getting this weird growth in my kombucha during the second fermentation step. It floats around the middle of the bottle and is white and turbid. It appears to be something different than the baby scobies, which have also formed in most of my second fermentation bottles. I have attached a picture from a green tea batch so that you can hopefully see what it looks like. In my darker coloured brews, it is still present, but less visible.
I strained the kombucha through cheesecloth after the first fermentation and strained it again through a coffee filter after the second fermentation. I popped the bottles back in the fridge and the next day, the growth was STILL present. I really thought the coffee filter straining would get rid of the growth and it came at the cost of destroying the carbonation I had achieved. Going forward, I will just strain before drinking to avoid chunks, but I want to make sure that this is safe to drink or find out if I am doing something wrong.
I strained the kombucha through cheesecloth after the first fermentation and strained it again through a coffee filter after the second fermentation. I popped the bottles back in the fridge and the next day, the growth was STILL present. I really thought the coffee filter straining would get rid of the growth and it came at the cost of destroying the carbonation I had achieved. Going forward, I will just strain before drinking to avoid chunks, but I want to make sure that this is safe to drink or find out if I am doing something wrong.