How my kombucha is brewing

I was followed the recipe so carefully when making my first brew.

But I have started to forget something each time I do a new brew.
When making the second batch, I forgot to save some of the mother tea from the previous batch and only remembered a couple of days later. When I remembered, I poured in some that I had bottled and put in the fridge. I spent the next few days looking for signs of mould on the scoby.


When making the third and fourth batches, I forgot to add the sugar until the tea was already tepid so I had a lot of stirring to do!  I spent the next few days looking for signs of mould on the scoby.

The latest batch has cranberry juice added for the second fermentation. It's a bit sweeter than the previous batches but still has the nice tanginess.

The only thing missing from my brews is the effervescence, and I think that might be because I'm bottling the stuff in old wine bottles. They are screw tops, but I suspect they aren't quite air tight.