Scoby storage brew

[Dawn]

How often should I change the liquid in the jar that stores my Scobys?

[Jared Englund]

Ideally, once a month-ish. But if it's in the fridge with plenty of
liquid, the SCOBYs will be okay for several months (if you go on
vacation or something), but just change the liquid right when you get
back.

[Jim from Austin TX]

I realize I'm bumping a year-old thread, but having just read this reply I'm concerned about my "scoby hotel". I keep excess mothers & babies in the same kind of 1-gallon glass jar I use for primary fermentation, covered with a rubber-banded cotton cloth, and at room temperature (71 - 80 degF in my Texas home). 

I started the hotel in either late May or early June, so it's been about three months. A couple of weeks ago I *added* a half-gallon of fresh tea (purified water, 3 standard black tea bags, 1/2 cup white sugar) because I thought I was starting to lose some volume from scoby starters I've given away with a cup or so of starter tea. Of course this meant a nice thick new baby appeared on the top floor of the hotel :)

But what I haven't done, yet, is changed out the entire liquid. I thought the extra yeast and the nice low pH (it's much much more vinegary than normal tea at the end of a 10-day primary ferment cycle) where good to keep indefinitely. Is it really important to change the liquid once a month? I assume this means just throwing the hotel-scobies into a freshly-brewed batch of tea and dumping the old liquid.

- Jim

[Jared Englund]

I think your method is fine, especially if it's still making tasty Kombucha.  If you leave your SCOBY hotel out of the fridge, you just have to make sure to feed it every once in a while, and every 1-3 months you should clean it out, like a fish tank.  Keep the good stuff, toss (or drink) the sludge. :)