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Starter kit
RennetA SCOBY hotel is a large glass jar where you keep your spare kombucha SCOBYs, fully covered in finished kombucha, under a cloth and at room temperature. Every few weeks you pour off some of the sour liquid and top up with cooled sweet tea, made as for a normal batch. The hotel is your backup, your source of strong starter liquid and your pause button when you go away.
Why keep a SCOBY hotel?
With every batch, the culture makes a new layer at the surface. It may grow onto the old one or float loose above it. After a few rounds your SCOBY is a thick, many-layered disc, and there is less and less room left in the jar for tea.
You can peel the layers apart and keep just one or two in the brewing jar. The rest move to the hotel, where they have three jobs:
- Backup. If a batch ever fails, you have a SCOBY and liquid to hand and can start again straight away, without waiting.
- Strong starter. The liquid in the hotel ferments for a long time and becomes very sour. A cup of it gives a new batch a safe start from day one.
- Pause. Going on holiday, or simply fancy a few weeks off kombucha? The hotel waits patiently and asks nothing of you.
Setting up a SCOBY hotel
1. Choose a big jar
Glass with a wide mouth and plenty of room, such as a 2 to 3 litre preserving jar. Rinse it with hot water and make sure there is no trace of washing-up liquid.
2. Separate the layers
With clean hands, gently pull the layers apart. They usually come away at the right place by themselves. There is no need to cut them.
3. Cover with kombucha
Lay the SCOBYs in the jar and pour finished kombucha from a completed batch over them. Every SCOBY must be fully covered.
4. Add a little fresh tea
Top up with some cooled sweet tea, made as usual: 3 tea bags and 80 g of sugar per litre.
5. Cover
A thin cloth and an elastic band, just as for a normal batch. Never a lid screwed on tight.
Where to keep it
In the same kind of spot as your kombucha: quiet, out of the sun, at 20 to 25°C. A kitchen cupboard that is not right above the oven, a shelf in the utility room or a corner of a bookcase all work. The hotel needs no attention, so it can live out of sight. Right next to the hot water tank in the airing cupboard is usually too warm and too changeable, so a shelf a little further away is the better choice.
The fridge looks like the obvious place, but it is not. The cold puts the culture to sleep, the liquid stops souring properly, and when you take the jar out again the SCOBY is slow to wake up. During that time the surface is more open to things you do not want to see. What those look like is in Kombucha: mould or normal?
The one exception is a SCOBY that has just arrived in the post. Keep that one cool in its starter liquid until your first batch and put it to work as soon as you can. After that, it belongs at room temperature.
Feeding the hotel
In the hotel the work carries on slowly but steadily. The sugar runs out, the liquid becomes sourer and after a while it smells of vinegar. Every few weeks, or as soon as the level has clearly dropped or the smell turns sharp, it is time for a feed:
- Pour off part of the liquid. It makes an excellent strong starter for your next batches, or a mild vinegar for the kitchen. Ideas are in Kombucha too sour? and Kombucha vinegar.
- Top up with cooled sweet tea in the usual proportions.
- Check that every SCOBY is still fully under the liquid.
New layers grow in the hotel too. When it gets too full, take out the oldest and darkest ones. Young, pale, firm layers work best. Old layers can go on the compost heap or into the food waste bin.
Which situation, which answer
| Situation | What you do |
|---|---|
| Two or three weeks away on holiday | Feed just before you leave, top up the level, keep the jar somewhere cool but not cold |
| Your brewing jar is full of layers | Keep one or two young layers, the rest go to the hotel |
| A batch has failed | Take a SCOBY and a cup of liquid from the hotel and start again |
| The liquid smells sharply of vinegar | Pour some off, top up with sweet tea |
| A new pale skin is growing on top | Perfectly normal, that is the next layer |
| The hotel is bursting | Brew bigger batches or clear out the old layers |
Starting again after a break
Back from holiday and in the mood for kombucha? This gets you straight back into your rhythm:
- Look at the surface of the hotel. A new, pale skin is a good sign. Dry, fuzzy spots are not: in that case start again with a fresh culture.
- Take a young, firm layer and a cup of liquid from the hotel.
- Set an ordinary litre going: 3 tea bags, 80 g of sugar, cooled, cloth on top.
- Taste a day or two earlier than usual. The strong starter from the hotel brings a lot of acidity, so the first litre can be ready sooner.
From the second batch, everything runs as normal. Top the hotel up with some fresh tea straight away, so it is ready for the next break. The full basic recipe is in How to make kombucha.
What to do with a full hotel
A well-stocked hotel is a good reason to scale up. With two jars side by side you have twice as much kombucha every week, for example one litre to drink plain and one for bottles with fruit. Or brew three or four litres at once in one larger jar, always with the same quantities per litre.
If you know someone who wants to start, a SCOBY with a small bottle of liquid from your hotel makes a nice present, with the recipe written on a card. More ideas, from the kitchen to the garden, are in Too many SCOBYs?
Frequently asked questions
How often should I feed the hotel?
Can the hotel go in the fridge?
How many SCOBYs fit in a hotel?
Can I drink the liquid from the hotel?
Do I need a hotel if I only have one SCOBY?
No hotel yet because you have no SCOBY yet? With our live kombucha SCOBY and its starter liquid, £16, you can start today, and after a few weeks of kombucha the first guests check in. Everything about kombucha is on the kombucha page.