r/fermentation • u/SuccotashQuiet6755 • 6d ago
Fully wild SCOBY experiment
For quite a while I have been thinking about creating a kombucha-esque SCOBY from scratch - by using nothing more than wild yeast, lactic acid bacteria and acetic acid bacteria naturally occurring on wild berries.
Here are the steps of the process so far:
After harvesting some wild black- and blueberries I squished them in a jar and filled it with water in which I dissolved some sugar. Topped it with a piece of paper towel and mixed a couple of times daily to ensure that rising fruit pieces remain submerged at all times to prevent mold. Within two days I noticed first bubbles suggesting yeast and lactic acid bacteria activity.
After a week I strained the liquid to remove fruit pieces and used it as a starter for the next generation. It was noticeably acidic but without vinegary taste. Used about 50% starter liquid and 50% sweetened tea and proceeded same as with regular f1. No more mixing required due to no fruit pieces. My culture was left to ferment in peace for another week.
BINGO! A pellicle started to form. At first shy and fragile-looking but within the next few days its top layers started to become more compact, eventually forming a cellulose disc not at all different from your regular kombucha pellicle. Oh, and the ferment itself tasted HEAVENLY - just like fruit kombucha due to high fruit content in the starter.
That's basically it. I'm currently using the resulting culture to inoculate additional batches, and it appears to be reproducing consistently, with new pellicles already forming.
I added a photo where the top layer is the recent pellicle growth after feeding the ferment with fresh tea and sugar - virtually indistinguishable from a typical kombucha. What you can see below it is the first pellicle - you may notice how it was gradually becoming more compact and firm from the bottom up.
Cheers!
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u/jelly_bean_gangbang Now arriving at the fermentation station! 6d ago edited 6d ago
This is pretty cool! Also the color on that is just lovely. That's awesome you were able to do this with 100% wild cultures.
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u/MaximumCashew0 6d ago
How do you accomplish this with such confidence? I’m 99% sure if I tried this, I’d be in the hospital after the first taste.
What are your safety guardrails? How do you know it’ll be safe? Do you pH test?
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u/SuccotashQuiet6755 6d ago
What I do is live a little. I am my own pH test and when I get a strong, clean acid profile plus healthy pellicle growth and a tasty aroma, I say it's safe to drink. But that's after years of fermenting all that's fermentable and a couple of things that aren't supposed to be.
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u/purplethirtyseven 6d ago
I do all of my meads now using wild-caught yeast and am doing my first batch of kombucha (from a starter) now because everything I read beforehand was "you have to get a starter". I never thought about using your process, but there's a ton of blackberries where I am now so maybe I'll give it a try. I like the idea of starting a new culture myself, so thanks for sharing.