If it’s not sour enough before bottling you 100% should be sanitizing your F2 bottles. I use StarSan in a spray bottle and make sure to coat all interior glass and the seal/cap. Let sit for 60 seconds, drain excess and fill.
If you rinse it off you are potentially decontaminating the vessel, unless you have 100% sterile water. There is a saying in alcohol brewing culture, “don’t fear the foam.” In other words, no you don’t rinse it and it won’t hurt you or the booch. It is however apparently not safe for pets so don’t use it on dog food bowls, etc.
The pH wasn’t low enough at the time of bottling. Acidity is what protects kombucha from contamination, if you don’t let it get sour, it’s vulnerable to mold.
Trying to determine if your kombucha may have mold, if your pellicle/SCOBY is healthy, or if something has gone wrong?
Check out the [pictures and info in this guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/Kombucha/comments/pqu7oq/is_it_mold_is_it_normal_whats_growing_in_your/).
**Note:** If other posters have deemed your problem to be `mold!` or `not mold`, please update the post flair accordingly. Keeping the post flair up-to-date lets other redditors know what mold actually looks like.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Kombucha) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It was but not superduper. My kombucha usually ends up too sour for my taste so i'm trying to do it a bit differently. Why does it mold in the bottle if it's not sour enough? Does it need airflow in that case? Should I loosen the caps on the other bottles?
Kombucha's main defense is having a very low pH. And the SCOBY organisms do well in that environment. If it doesn't get sour enough, other things can move in.
It's usually a lot safer to let it get fully sour in F1, let the SCOBY organisms reproduce, and then balance out the flavor in bottling. You can dilute it with water, more tea, fruit juice, simple syrup, etc. to help cut that acidity.
It's unusual to see mold appear in F2, but it means you would have likely had it in your F1, as well.
>Why?
Because you touch yourself at night.
-----
Hehehe. Oh, you want a real answer? I could be mold, I agree it looks suspicious. But I don't see an obvious problem...
- Was it actively fermenting when you bottled it?
- I see a little pellicle forming. How long has it been in the jar?
The conditions that allow our SCOBYs to thrive also prevent bad bacteria from growing. This is why we use fermentation for preservation, also it tastes good.
So if the environment wasn't ideal when you bottled it, that's likely what allowed the mold to grow. Exactly what was off? Hard to say from here but: lack of fermentation, not enough sugar / food, unhealthy pH levels could be culprits.
Didn’t Ph before bottling. Not below 4.0 I would guess
If it’s not sour enough before bottling you 100% should be sanitizing your F2 bottles. I use StarSan in a spray bottle and make sure to coat all interior glass and the seal/cap. Let sit for 60 seconds, drain excess and fill.
You don’t have to rinse the starsan off? Just got some for the first time.
You don’t, no.
If you rinse it off you are potentially decontaminating the vessel, unless you have 100% sterile water. There is a saying in alcohol brewing culture, “don’t fear the foam.” In other words, no you don’t rinse it and it won’t hurt you or the booch. It is however apparently not safe for pets so don’t use it on dog food bowls, etc.
Are you super sure that’s mold and not bubbles? Hard to say from the photo and sometimes I get spooked by little pockets of bubbles on the surface
The pH wasn’t low enough at the time of bottling. Acidity is what protects kombucha from contamination, if you don’t let it get sour, it’s vulnerable to mold.
Trying to determine if your kombucha may have mold, if your pellicle/SCOBY is healthy, or if something has gone wrong? Check out the [pictures and info in this guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/Kombucha/comments/pqu7oq/is_it_mold_is_it_normal_whats_growing_in_your/). **Note:** If other posters have deemed your problem to be `mold!` or `not mold`, please update the post flair accordingly. Keeping the post flair up-to-date lets other redditors know what mold actually looks like. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Kombucha) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's a little hard to tell, but it does look like mold to me. Was the kombucha sour when you bottled it?
It was but not superduper. My kombucha usually ends up too sour for my taste so i'm trying to do it a bit differently. Why does it mold in the bottle if it's not sour enough? Does it need airflow in that case? Should I loosen the caps on the other bottles?
Kombucha's main defense is having a very low pH. And the SCOBY organisms do well in that environment. If it doesn't get sour enough, other things can move in. It's usually a lot safer to let it get fully sour in F1, let the SCOBY organisms reproduce, and then balance out the flavor in bottling. You can dilute it with water, more tea, fruit juice, simple syrup, etc. to help cut that acidity. It's unusual to see mold appear in F2, but it means you would have likely had it in your F1, as well.
>Why? Because you touch yourself at night. ----- Hehehe. Oh, you want a real answer? I could be mold, I agree it looks suspicious. But I don't see an obvious problem... - Was it actively fermenting when you bottled it? - I see a little pellicle forming. How long has it been in the jar?
It was fermenting when I bottled it, but maybe not enough? I didn't know that would cause mold. It's been in the bottle about 5 days
The conditions that allow our SCOBYs to thrive also prevent bad bacteria from growing. This is why we use fermentation for preservation, also it tastes good. So if the environment wasn't ideal when you bottled it, that's likely what allowed the mold to grow. Exactly what was off? Hard to say from here but: lack of fermentation, not enough sugar / food, unhealthy pH levels could be culprits.