Kombucha not working
 

Hi health people, I purchased a kombucha kit and promptly got it going and after about 4 days I had kombucha. Tasted quite OK.

I poured off all but about 1 cup of the kombucha and refilled my container with a fresh lot of water, black tea and sugar cooled to room temperature. (7 cups water, 4 black tea bags and 1/2 cup raw sugar). After about 7 days there was no change and after another 7 days still no change so I tipped it out and started again with fresh liquid. After another 7 days still no change. All I have is sugar and tea flavoured water.

I have no idea what could have gone wrong. My friends say it is easy but that is not my experience. Any ideas?

I'm not expert, but I've been making it for about a year now and have a cycle of about 18-25 days during which I produce about 4 750ml bottles.

Does the SCOBY look alive? Did it look bigger or thicker than your first batch? Did it produce a second "baby" SCOBY? I think you can find some pictures online, perhaps youtube, of SOBYs that have gone bad / died. Did you use filtered water? Tap water can kill the SCOBY if it contains chlorine and whatever other chemicals are in municipal water supplies, which, at least here in the US, differ greatly from one area to the next.

My current supply has been going on for about a year. I tried one before this and it only worked for the first two or three times, and didn't taste so great, but that had to do with my inability to get on schedule and my neglect. So, yeah, now it is "easy", but the first time around I didn't have a clue of how things should really look and I gave up.
Don't give up!