How to Make a Big Batch of Kombucha

Step 6 Add Mother

When the tea has cooled, add the mother. Try to get a solid layer to float on top. That saves time. I save all my mother and add all of it to the new batch.
It grows by a quarter or half inch with each batch and would soon leave no room for tea, but lots of people ask for starters so it's not a problem. I can get starters from them if I make a mistake and mess up my culture, so I don't need to hold any in reserve.

I like lots of mother working. Some people want to only have a single layer of mother and will split the top surface off with each generation. They call the new layer "the daughter" and use it to brew their next batch. If you do that you'll need to add some liquid kombucha or vinegar to your new batch to make it acidic early on and avoid spoiling.

The mother is porous and vinegary. In the quantities seen in these pictures, it will innoculate the new batch thoroughly and leave no ecological niche for opportunistic foreign organisms.

New mother will grow only at the surface.
If part of the mother sinks, a new skin will grow across the area of exposed liquid at the surface.
In this picture you can see that the old darker colored mother had puddles of liquid on top of it. The new lighter colored areas grew there.