The good news is that Scoby mushrooms are ridiculously easy to safely store for an almost indefinite amount of time, and here's how.
How to make a Scoby Hotel:
You will need an extra 1/2 Gallon and/or 1 Gallon jar to make your Scoby Hotel. Simply fill up your jar half way to three-fourths full of plain (Unflavored), fully fermented Kombucha tea and add your Scoby's to it. Since your jar is not filled to the top, you can use a metal lid. The Scoby's are not close enough to the top to be affected by the metal. However, if you can find a plastic, tight-fitting lid to put on your Scoby Hotel, all the better. Check on your Scoby's periodically to release built up gas from the jar, trim them up or just to say Hi, always making sure that you do not smell or see anything funky happening.
By trimming your Scoby's, I mean pulling apart the babies from the mommies that will still be growing, (Although at a much slower rate) or just trimming excess unevenness or yeasty strings off of them. As always, make sure that when you touch your Scoby mushrooms, your hands or the utensils that you are using to cut and/or handle them with, are cleaned with distilled white vinegar. It is also very helpful to have a plate handy with a little pool of distilled white vinegar on it, that way you can place your Scoby's there for a minute or so, if you need to.
The Scoby Hotel water can be changed every few months. However, since it can be used as strong 'Starter Tea' for new batches, you may not have to throw it out, but rather rotate into new tea.
It's that simple, a million times easier than caring for a fish or turtle.
I mentioned in part 3 of my Kombucha series, that there are many fun uses for extra Scoby mushrooms, I wanted the share my personal favorite use for them. I love to do a Scoby face and hand mask every week when I have the time. If this sounds weird, I can assure you that it is in fact, very weird, but somehow it's also so awesome!
All I do is find a thicker, preferably older Scoby and either cut it up and put it on like strips on to my clean face and/or hands or just plop the Scoby on whole, and leave it on there for 20 minutes. Make sure to have a dry towel around, because the whole process can get pretty drippy. After 20 minutes, remove the Scoby, discard it (DON'T use it in your tea after this), and rinse your face off with warm water and optional mild soap. People think I am crazy to do this, I know that it at least looks crazy, (just ask my boyfriend) but the Scoby face mask acts as a mild chemical peel, giving my skin a fresh, exfoliated glow that I am now totally addicted to.
NOTE: I do not have particularly sensitive skin, if you do, you should do a 'Patch test' on the back of your hand or on a small piece of your face, before you really go for it. However, the acidity in a Scoby mushroom is very mild and most people should not have too much of a problem with it.
That's the amazing journey of making Kombucha Tea. I hope that you all have a great time with the whole, magical process. Happy tea making!!!