What is a SCOBY?

The disc thing at the top right? Sorry, incorrect.

SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria & Yeast. Essentially, this means everything you see in the picture below, from liquid to the disc thing is the SCOBY.

Lets answer some common questions about the SCOBY:

Q: What is the disc thing on top called?
A: A pellicle, its mainly made up of cellulose and is kind of leathery (some people have actually made leather jackets out of them).

Q: Do I need the Pellicle (disc thing) for brewing?
A: Nope, a new one grows with every brew.

Q: Does it matter if the Pellicle sunk?
A: Nope, it does not. A new one will form on top.

Q: What do I need for starting a new batch?
A: The liquid is what you need, the Pellicle is mostly cellulose and if you tried to start a new batch with just a Pellicle and no starter liquid then it would probably fail.

Q: Does the amount of starter liquid matter?
A: Yes, as discussed in our Why does Mould Grow blog post - the ratio between starter liquid and new new water/tea/sugar matters a lot because the lower the ratio the higher the pH which increases the chance of Mould growing.

Happy brewing!
Chris