[DIYbio] Re: Has anybody done a scoby project similar to The Thought Emporium

Here is a write-up of the kiddie pool sized sheets (using tea and sugar): https://www.hive76.org/2013/07/09/drexel-design-futures-bacterial-cellulose-and-a-world-record-maybe/

And a write-up of a "tealess" recipe that can be used to make pale cellulose:
https://www.hive76.org/2011/11/24/microbial-cellulose-2-a2-sheets-worth/

And a write-up of my first effort:
https://www.hive76.org/2011/06/21/cellulose-some-and-you-win-some/

Honestly, it's hard to fail .. the Acetobacer Xylinum grow vigorously at "room temp" if given enough oxygen (flat try takes care of that), and they drive the culture to such a low pH that they kill almost all potential competitors.

If you read up on Coco Nata, there are some descriptions of how they use weak sodium carbonate to clarify the cellulose.

The 1 cup per gallon rule for batch processing came from a science project my son did in high school.  Anything much over that tends to leave a lot of unreacted sucrose in the medium.  Much below that, and you deplete the sucrose (and limit growth) before reaching full thickness.

Fed batch or continuous batch would be really interesting, but I have yet to try either.

Also, some strains are more productive than others.  If someone manages to isolate a super-cellulose strain, I would be interested.