Kombucha on Vacation

My kombucha "mushrooms"/colonies are happiest when they just keep working. We've noticed that, whenever we go on vacation and the mushrooms sit around, waiting until we return, the taste of the tea goes downhill for a while.

I've hunted online for information on what to do with mushrooms while they're not in use. Boy, what a lot of conflicting information! When we went away for a week last year, I kept them in a jar, with a lid, in the refrigerator. Two of my mushrooms died! Oh, sadness! For the ones that survived the week, it took until I got to the "great-grandchildren" (three batches after vacation) before the kombucha started tasting good again.

Usually I would store my mushroom in enough starter for the next batch. But if you let it sit for more than a few days, your kombucha will just keep eating and eating and eating, and gobble up your starter while your mushroom grows fat and sassy. Sometimes I anticipate that, and store my mushroom in 8 ounces of starter rather than 4 ounces. Sometimes I store the mushroom in kombucha tea, but then pour the 3-week-old vinegary tea down the drain and use yummy tea (from bottles) for the next starter. That has worked. The best luck I had taking a break from brewing was for our trip last month. I tried storing a couple of mushrooms in kombucha tea, and a couple of mushrooms in water. They were covered with a cloth so my little mushrooms would not suffocate for lack of air. The little guys were only neglected for a week. But both ways seemed to work pretty well when we came home and started brewing again. I think, though, that it would be better if mushrooms-in-water were stored (lidless) in the refrigerator, because they don't have the fermented tea as a mold-inhibitor.