Fermenting With Milk Kefir Grains

It does seem like it would be a simple thing to ferment with milk kefir grains.... put the grains in, take the grains out, drink the kefir and it is easy once you get the basics and start running on autopilot.

I've heard a lot of misinformation about brewing milk kefir but none of it is serious and you can't go too far wrong if you use a little common sense; but, sometimes when something is so new to a person it is so foreign that it is hard to see clearly; so, here I am again trying to write a very clear instructional guide to fermenting with milk kefir grains.

There are certainly no rules or authority when you are dong this; you can basically brew kefir anyway that makes you happy, anyway you like it. There are no kefir police, if you want to ferment for optimal probiotic benefit you may do that; you may just want a good tasting drink that is healthful or at least one that won't hurt you too much; you could do that or something anywhere in between.

Here are the basics of the thing

Milk kefir is generally fermented at a ratio of between 7 to 14 parts milk to kefir grains by volume. That means you measure your grains and if they measure one ounce you may ferment with 7 to 14 ounces of milk. How much milk (between 7 to 14 ounces) is determined eventually by you according to how active your grains are at the time, the temperatures in the fermenting environment, how you like your kefir to come out, etc. It might be good to start at a 10 to 1 ratio and see how it goes and how you like it like that and adjust from there. How long you ferment is also up to you but there are things to keep in mind.

I've read other directions that say kefir is done when it separates or when the kefir result in the jar makes rivers on it's sides (if you can picture that.) Well; it is done when you say it is done; but, for optimal benefits a long fermentation is necessary; so, all the reactions that place may take place. Kefir strains work in a certain order. The first reaction from the strains create an acidic environment, the next start to digest the lactose, then the yeasts begin and finally the smelly reactions begin, all these reactions don't happen in 18 hours.

You put your grains in the milk and they will float barely sticking up above the surface. Depending on whatever, with in hours the grains will send out their strains and gather up milk around themselves, they will thicken from the kefiran being produced within. Don't forget to mix or stir your fermenting kefir as much as possible or just whenever you think about it. It will come to a point where the grains will get so thick that your plastic stirrer will stand and not fall due to the thickness of the grains at the top of the mixture. You keep mixing

The grains will eventually stop swelling and return to normal size as this reaction is now over and another has begun. The mixture has come to a point where it will not separate anymore and at this point you can also call it done. What I do here is give it another few hours to get to the point where much of the lactose is digested and all of the reactions have taken place and I have optimal benefits from my fermentation.

Someone wrote me and said their kefir smells like old gym socks. That is when real full tilt max kefir is done. You don't have to do it this way; but, this is full benefit kefir, that is a probiotic soup. Any place in between here is still an excellent healthy probiotic, it just depends on how far you are able to or want to take it... if you have a child and the child doesn't like the taste of a full fermentation, then what good is it, if you can do an 18 hour fermentation and add some fruit to it and the child likes it, then you are better off.

Here is what you do and what you don't do

When you get your kefir grains from the mail put the whole package in new milk, you are not gonna drink this first batch anyhow. put them in a low ratio milk to kefir grains like 5 or 6 parts milk to grains as the grains may be weak anyway. do a 24 hour fermentation and see how it goes. The grains should be ready to go after this one cycle and you can drink the next.

Try and get a jar that you can put your whole hand in so you can clean every part of it well. Use more elbow grease than soap or no soap at all. You don't have to use soap every time if you scrub in very hot water and then rinse right away in very cold water. Foreign bacteria thrive in the temperature in between,be aware of that. Kefir can more or less take care of their own defense from foreign bacteria, do not wash them or store them in water. Don't even wash them in evev in milk. When you strain them be gentle and don't do a good job of it, leave some of the sticky stuff, the grains are comfortable in the sticky stuff.

What the grains don't like and can't defend against is chemicals. Watch out for soap residue, watch out for the chemicals in the water, chlorine, fluoride, arsenic, mercury, if you rinse your jar in water, place it upside down on a paper towel to dry and get a spray bottle and fill it with distilled vinegar. Spray the bottles and the utensils with the vinegar and once again place the jars upside down to dry.

Use a glass jar, use a plastic strainer or if you have to use stainless steel but be gentle. Only ferment with milk, do not put in sugar or fruit while you still have the grains in there. You can do a secondary fermentation when you take the grains out; leave the result on the counter and then you can put in whatever you want but remember if you put in anything that contains any kind of sugar the strains of kefir like the sugar too and may stop digesting lactose in favor of what you put in.....

You can ferment soy, rice, and any kind of nut milk but remember that milk kefir grains need mammal milk and if you don't cycle them back to mammal milk they will weaken and eventually die

You will need to check the volume of the grains as they grow and reproduce in order to create a proper ratio from you milk to your grains. Milk kefir grains naturally grow in size and large grains are inefficient so you may need to pull apart some of the large grains every other week or so. an efficient grain should be no bigger than a jumbo pistaccihio nut.

Flat grains are a natural occurrence in you kefir colony. Sometimes they right themselves back into proper grains but sometimes they don't and they can grow very large, they can have a very large surface area and they can quicken fermentation to a point that is undesirable so you will have to go into the colony and throw them out. They can grow to the size of your hand,

Forget about dehydrating or freezing you grains for storage. Leave them in the refrigerator in milk if you have to store them. If you have to store them more than a month, throw them away and buy new ones. That is what I am here for.

Get it down pat and then just enjoy it

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Then what is 9:1 ratio? If you use 1oz grains to 9oz milk.......then 1/2 c grains (4oz) to 36oz milk? I do pour the cold kefired milk (grains are in this) into my drinkable kefir. Though mine is not tasteless- it is tangy. My grains have multiplied though they are still small-ish- smaller than cottage cheese- 1 or 2 larger ones. Should I let them "rest" on the counter instead of the refrigerator, and if so, for how long?
Thanks for your help- much appreciated.


Exactly or somewhere around there. 7 to 1, 10 to 1, or even 12 to 1 whatever you find you like at those ratios will be fine with the grains and is what I have read is more ideal for fermentation. Do you ferment in the refrigerator all the time? That is not ideal, you ferment at room temp and that room temp should be as high as possible like high 70's and beyond. In the winter for proper fermentation if you live in a cold climate you will need heating pads. I will be offering them on eBay in a few months by the way.
The deal with fermenting with milk grains is they need at least 18 hours to 36 hours at room temperature; you have to figure out how long they need by looking at them and just getting a feel for what they are at that point. Then when you feel they are done and hopefully the grains will contact you telepathically and let you know, you still don't have to put them in the refrigerator, you can strain out the grains put them in the next batch or rest them in milk in the refrigerator and leave the result of the fermentation on the counter. It will ripen a little more, it certainly won't go bad. Putting it in the refrigerator after straining is an option you can choose but I recommend consuming the result within 3 days that is my personal preference, something a swami guy told me about its life force (prana) sounds real to me. If this does not answer all your questions get back to me and ask some more.
The size thing is interesting, I can' t really answer because I don't have enough information about exactly what you are doing there, but if they are growing that is a good sign. When they get very big you must pull them apart with your fingers; you don't mention flat grains which is good although flat grains are not that bad but they are a natural occurrence and they can grow to be the size of my hand and I have a big fat hand.
Here is what should happen when you ferment with healthy active grains. In about the first 6 hours sitting at a good room temperature the grains should sort of pull the milk up about them selves and form a think coating around themselves, the solution is now becoming more acidic which is allowing other reactions to start in the mixture, next you will see a clear or yellowish liquid forming within or just below the thickened grains. That is kefiran and that is a very good sign. Your grains should double in size within 2 weeks and if they don’t it might be cause for concern. Make sure you shake or mix your solution as much as possible.... I am here, ask me more questions. You are in like Montana aren't you? Do they have a Hadassah chapter up there? How is the weather?.... your bacterip.... Your Bacteriapimp
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hi just bought some water kefir grains and cant wait to get them. i was using the milk kefir but noone likes it but me so i thought i would try the water kefir. Any way i would like to try making the coconut kefir how would i do that? That would be after i bring them back to life

The tricky part of fermenting young green coconut water with kefir water crystals is finding the coconut water, the rest is easy. If you have access to fresh young green coconut water just add about a 1/3 of a cup of the grains to a quart of coconut water. I do a cup to a gallon and I get great results. I would give the grains a treat once in a while and give them a break from the coconut water and let them ferment something else like some baking soda and some coral calcium and some ginger juice in some sugared water with some lemon peel in it or ferment some grape juice once in a while to give the grains a nutritional boost and change. I love coconut water kefir but a lot of people don't like that either but they do love grape and berry type fermented juices. They taste like soda and they are sweet. You can catch more flies with sugar than something or other. Milk kefir is not great tasting but it is more like a medicine and all someone needs when they are healthy is 4 ounces in the morning and 4 at night, don't try to pass it off as something that taste good. It is the most powerful probiotic I believe. And try some kombucha, that tastes really good but it is not versatile like water kefir. I will be selling kombucha again next month... let me know how it goes..... Your Bacteriapimp
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Thanks for all your trouble, I will let you know how I get on, The black grape jusice won't them go red, will it? I want clear.You have been really good thank you again


If you ferment with dark grape juice the grains will get a very red result but that will fade in time as you use different solutions to sweeten so if you use white sugar the will lighten again.

Yes, the crystals will be clear. If you use white sugar they will stay clear, if you use brown sugar they will turn brown. It doesn't really matter their color so much.
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I am going away for 10 days, what can I do with my grains?

10 days hmmmmm that is border line, put them in the refrigerator in spring water with a 3% solution of sugar. When you get back put them in some organic grape juice. That should be o.k., anymore than 10 days and I would dehydrate them so don't neglect them when you get back put them in the juice right away... have a good time Your Bacteria Pimp
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Hi,
I have water kefir myself and in need of some advices. I use regular process, spring water, dried prune, sugar cane, a piece of ginger and a slice of lemon. This goes well but I am looking for some variety. Do you have other methods of preparing the fermentation water? I read your blog mentioning berry juices so I am thinking of some breakfast juices, will that work?
Thank you for your time

Hi, you sound like you pretty much know whats going on. I'll tell you what I have been doing lately that has to do with dark grape juice and dark berry juice, organic of course. First I have 3 four liter jars and one 5 liter jar fermenting things. I have an order for a gallon of coconut water and the grains like coconut water too, some people don't like coconut water at all, I love it and I love kefirated coconut water. I have about a 3/4 gallon of mango juice cooking while the other two jars are brewing more or less lemon peel and sugar. The only difference between the two lemon peel jars is one has crystals that were fermenting coconut water all week and the other came out of the refrigerator after sitting in it dehydrated for about a month and then sitting on my desk under the lamp for 2 weeks. I took the dehydrated grains, about an 1/8 of a cup, and put them in 48 ounces of concord grape juice. It took over 24 hours for them to start to get going. I know when they start up because I use bail wire jars with the rubber gaskets and when you open one that is fermenting like it should it makes a frarummmph noise, right?
So what is interesting is that when I took the grains out of the grape juice and put them in a jar with lemon peel and sugar solution at the same time I took the grains that had been fermenting the coconut water also into another lemon peel and sugar solution,
I put the jars next to each other. 12 hours later I opened both jars and the grape juice crystals which have only been through one recovery cycle gave a stronger frarummmph by far than the regular cycled coconut water crystals. It makes me believe that grape juice and also dark berry juice because I noticed more or less the same thing with them, have special nutrients or something that make the grains really strong. Plus I love the taste. What I advocate is the idea that you can brew for yourself and you can also brew for the grains as there are solutions like some with lots of ginger juice, so much you would not like it but the grains might like it, and or the baking soda and or the coral calcium pill. So you brew for the grains once in a while, something you are not gonna drink; I think that grape juice or the berry juice is special and even then I don't like my fermentations so strong, so I like a short fermentation and the grains need long but not too long fermentations ( I fear brewing over 60 hours, I have to experiment and see what happens with long fermentations one of these days) I don't know what breakfast juices are but I know some people have fermented orange juice, I never had, I have alway been afraid of fermenting citrus. What I do with the lemon and sugar solution is add lemon juice or grapefruit juice later. Another thing you can do is add figs, dates, raisins etc in a food grade pouch. I don't like dried appricots, they smell bad. I would like to try and carrot juice and wheatgrass mixed with apple juice but I have too many orders and not enough time. Everyone wants the young coconut water and I just make so much money on it I can't say no, some times I have 5 4 and 5 liter jars going with coconut water, the stuff is magical. I would like to try and ferment bitter melon if it doesn't kill the grains. Are you familar with bitter melon. it is bitter and it makes you blood sugar go down so fast I think it can kill someone. Interesting stuff huh? Hey ask specific questions and what I don't know I will try and find out but I think you know as much as I do already.
Let me ask you, do they have a lot of people selling water cyrstals in where you are? I just figured out the new postal rates here in the states and I can mail grains almost anywhere in the world for 2 or 3 american bucks now. The have almost none in the UK and I just started running an eBay listing there today. Last thing, do you mind if I reprint portions of our questions and answers on my blog? Let me know what you think .....Your Bacteriapimp
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1 QUESTION: I read that kefir has 30-35 different strains of living organisms. I am wondering how many strains exist/develop/have not developed/have died at different times? For example, if I drink kefir at 12 hours, does it have 30 different strains? or only 12? or 20? etc. And if I culture it for 24 hours.... the same question, how many different strains will exist or have disappeared? 20, 15, 35

I have read about milk kefir and kombucha that certain things have to happen within a certain time period and at a certain temperature for certain strains to be able to do what they do. Certain things cannot happen in 12 hours and certain things must happen in 24 or however long because if they don't it doesn't matter how long you ferment they haven't happened and they won't happen. Kombucha has to be at and above 80 degrees, milk kefir can not be at 65 or 70 and if you are up north you have to get a heating pad which I will have to sell pimp that I am because you can not ferment at 62 so you need a heating pad and something to take the temperature of the kefir/ which i will sell as well. So I need to reread these things so I can write about them so I can sell the heating pads and just get people to come to the website and this I will do eventually so stay tuned. I will have an answers for you. I want to know myself, I just have to get around to it and I might need you to remind me again.

#2 QUESTION: When I strain my grains, and put the kefir in a glass, can I add anything to it at this point to make it taste different? I rather like the taste. But if I want my 5,3,and 1 year old to drink, I may need to do something to it, maybe not. But if so, can you tell me what I can do?

You can do anything. Put in fruit, chocolate, berries, bananas, make smoothies, I used to have like a blueberry soup. Kefir is not the greatest tasting. It only takes a little like an ounce or two for children that small that is all the kids need, it would be good if they could get it twice a day, give them yogurt and whatever you would put in that and add a little kefir to it. The other thing that you can do is get into water kefir and or kumbucha, you can control the sugar in these things and kids really like them. Have you read about them in my blogs, I haven't written about kombucha yet because I am not ready to sell what I have. But kids can watch the bubbles when water kefir is doing it's thing. You'll see. Kids need to drink a lot of fluids and you certainly don't want them getting into to corn syrup soda and it's cheaper than organic apple juice etc but they should have some of that also.

#3 QUESTION: This same glass of kefir that I've put in my refrigerator, does it continue to change or ripen or is it DONE when removed from the grains AND HOW LONG CAN I LEAVE IT IN THE REFRIGERATOR?

Kefir will ripen in the refrigerator but at a much slower pace than outside. If you put your kefir in some milk and then go away for the week when you come back you will find a thick brew result like tasteless melted ice cream, it's not bad but it is tasteless but it's creamy. You can leave your kefir in the refrigerator or on the counter for that matter for months, It wouldn't hurt you but I wouldn't drink it. I was told not to eat food that was over 3 days old because its life force was on wane so I have thought about that and I think that is true it is not written in stone but it is a good guide

#4 QUESTION: With all the new students you have buying your kefir on ebay, do you get bombarded with questions and do you consider it a bother?

It is a big thing with me not to measure, compare or judge what is happening and I am part of what is happening and the hardest thing not to measure, compare or judge is myself. To speculate, to take sides, to be opinionated they all waste energy. I answer questions, that is my job. I communicate with people who are identified by their eBay ID names, their email names and their real names after a while I don't know who I am speaking to and I end up just speaking to the world, I have no images of who anyone is. It is almost a spiritual thing, I am not educated in religion but I feel that part of me that is able to observe all things without measuring, comparing, judging from that scared place that is within and without and beyond greets and answers the questions from the same part of everyone else; of course, we all fall short of the glory and I like to have my ego stroked as much as the next monkey. plus I am a pimp and I like to wear gradual lenses instead of triples so ask all the questions you want world, those questions somehow lead to espresso at a sidewalk cafe in Boca with good Friends and being able to pick up the check once in a while.

To Be Continued

Bacteriapimps Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Successful Water Kefir Brewing

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Martin Luther King said that love should be our first choice of tactic in our arsenal of weapons in the war against international tensions abroad and intolerance at home. In the culture wars of conformist totalitarianism of thought versus pluralism and rising consciousness, maybe water kefir can be a major weapon. Still when the war is over and kefir is 14 cents for a 12 ounce can on every street corner will we allow coke, as bad as it is for people with its terrible corn syrup, to be sold legally even at 4.99 for a 16 ounce plastic container as kefir is sold now or will we be the new boss and ban it as we do now in high schools. We can only guess at this point.

Water kefir sometimes called Tibi, Japanese Water Crystals, Japanese Sea Rice and many other names, can defeat coke because it better in every way. It has much less sugar, it is probiotic, it is filled with vitamins and minerals and it taste great, less filling, tastes great, less filling. Water kefir only has to overcome the zombie factor that seems to hold 99.99 % of the people. And here’s how you do that. Give it to people.

Water kefir is very versatile. It can be made with any type of sugar and dried fruit or just fruit juice. You can control the sugar and by choosing different fruit mediums you can control the taste. It allows for great creativity. The recipes are endless. My motto with water kefir is “Put good things in take good things out”. I fermented some 4 berry juice for 24 hours and it came out a beautiful berry soda that I feel leaves coke in the dust. Water kefir is fun and children love it. They can make it themselves, they can be in charge and it is a real wonder for them. When they prepare the water kefir with water, sugar and dried fruit or just juice they can sit back and watch the show. Within hours the crystals begin their dance. Small champagne like bubbles begin to happen and a small percentage of the crystals begin moving with the bubbles up and down. It is a very calming relaxing sight, if you move the jar holding this event the action stops, so it is a spectator event to watch and just behold.

The big secret to water kefir is the water. It cannot contain chlorine or other chemicals; also, watch out for soap residue and it must have the natural minerals that natural water naturally has. If the water you use is purified water you should add at least the salts to keep the crystals at their best. I put in a tab of sodium bicarbonate, just 10 grams per 3 1/2 quarts and a capsule of coral calcium 1000 mg per 3 1/2 quarts. I do this on days I am not harvesting the product of the fermentation which is another trick. I ferment different ways, one for the health of the grains and another for the taste of the drink. When I brew for the grains I load up on the sugar, I put in lots of ginger root juice; certainly more than I would care to drink, I put in the salts and I ferment for about 60 hours. You have to be very careful about fermenting more than 48 hours because grains can pickle if left to ferment too long. Also; the greatest grow for the grains happens after 24 hour, sometimes with juice or coconut water I only ferment for 24 hours, get it? I ferment a cup and a half grains with a cup and a half sugar with 3 1/2 quarts water in 4 liter jar and soon after 48 hours I am checking the crystals by harvesting the jars one at a time with large time intervals in between so if I notice anything out of the ordinary with the crystals I can harvest them all right away avoiding the pickling.

Now; I don’t like sweet drinks and many people are diabetics so although water kefir uses the sugar and turns the sugar into lactic acid and CO2 it does not convert enough of it to significantly reduce the sugar; further for diabetics, it does help the body absorb the sugar but once again not significantly and not enough; however, diabetics are allowed a certain amount of fruit juice and that fruit juice can be keferated and that keferated juice will have a smaller percentage of sugar and that sugar will be absorbed into the body slightly more efficiently and with a promise to take a brisk walk for 20 minutes I think; and I am not a doctor, but I think a diabetic can up his juice intake from 6 or 8 ounces to 8 to 10 ounces and enjoy this probiotic drink.

So the idea, the secret, the trick is beside using the best water and the best ingredients, brew for the health of the crystals one way and to brew for taste another. You can split your grains into portions for custom brewing or you can brew specifically on alternative days or cycles. You have to figure that out yourself whatever that cycle might be.You have to experiment and if you are doing it right you will have many grains to experiment with. If you are doing it right your grains will expand and reproduce very fast and you will have too many of them and you will either have to give them away or dehydrate them for storage which is another article.

A few last things and you will know all there is to brewing water kefir. Don’t hold your grains in a pouch. Put the dried fruit or pieces of ginger or whatever in the pouch. Once you have seen the crystal dancing in the matrix you could never put them in a pouch, they must be free to dance. You need the pouch to separate the fruit from the crystals because the fruit may shed parts of themselves into the grains and it can be difficult to separate them later. I often don’t use a pouch at all depending on what fruit I am using usually a piece of mango won’t shed so I don’t use a pouch with that.

Leave the grains alone and don’t shake the bottle with water kefir. Keep the bottle in a warm dark place, you can take them out and look at them and show them to people or whatever but then put them back and leave them alone. Don’t wash the grains unless you plan to store them, don’t play with them and just let them be at peace as much as possible

The ratio for brewing generally and for the health of the grains would be equal parts any kind of sugar to the volume of the grains, then the amount of water would be the amount of water needed to absorb the sugar so that when you shake the bottle on the initial shake after putting in all the ingredients, the sugar does not fall back to the bottom of the jar and then you know you put in enough water. It would be best if you could get to the exact saturation point but it is not essential. It is not the ratio of sugar to water that is important but the quality of the water and to a lesser extent the quality of the sugar and the variance of fruit. Less processed sugar contains more minerals and nutrients so use less processed sugar. More varied fruit means more varied nutrients for the grains.

Ok; so, if your doing it right and your grains are in the swing of things your crystals will dance within hours of your initial shake, they will reproduce and expand. If you are doing it wrong they will not grow and reproduce and they will get weaker and weaker and then die. Sometimes things happen and I can’t figure them out so you won’t either but it is best not to keep all your eggs in one basket as I fermented some young coconuts recently, I opened the coconuts myself and 36 hours later all my grains were mush on the bottom of the jar, dead as a walking around drug company corporate executive and I don’t know why.

Share your delicious kefir your healthy kefir have a kefir and a smile : ) Rasta man no drink no yellow green blue soda unless it is keferated. Yah mon give it away.

Basic Ratios For Brewing Water Kefir

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Water kefir is the most difficult of all the kefirs to brew successfully the secret is the water I can't say this enough and I just want to touch on this a little. Water kefir is tough but it is very sensitive to chemicals and it needs nutrients. Water can have chemicals that will weaken water crystals and water needs to have its natural minerals to feed and sustain healthy crystals. If you think your water has what it takes think again because if it does not your water crystals will not succeed.

Now; the ratios of sugar to grains and water to grains. Wait not so fast. What is good for the water kefir grains is not always what is good for you. Maybe you don't want a very sugary result from your brew; I will tell you this, a longer fermentation period is not the answer because the amount of sugar that water kefir will take out of the brew is minimal so don't count on that. What you have to do is compromise not by using more sugar than you would prefer but either rotating your grains or rotating who you are brewing for.

If you are brewing for you, a good recipe that does not have that much sugar but still is enjoyable is equal amounts sugar grains to half the amount of sugar to grains; so, a half cup or 4 ounces of grains with 4 ounces or as little as 2 ounces of sugar. Now the water; the big question, how much water? 8 to 16 times as much water to grains and 8 to 16 times as much water to sugar.

let's say you have 4 ounces of grains you can use as little as 2 ounces of sugar or you can use 4 ounces of sugar and up. Now the water when you are brewing for your taste with 4 ounces of grains and between 2 and 4 ounces of sugar could be from 16 to 64 ounces. however you like it in those parameters and the grains will stay healthy, how much sugar do you think the grains need? They don't need that much.

The ratio of water to sugar is 8 and all the way up to 16 to 1 water to sugar and water to grains is 4 up to 8 to 1. If you use 4 ounces of grains you need to use from 32 to 64 ounces of water. And 2 to 4 ounces of sugar or more

Use dried fruit in a pouch don't put the grains in the pouch put the fruit in the pouch. The grains need the nutrients not only from the natural water you will use but also from the dried fruit and put in lemon peel and if you ferment for long periods put in lemon juice to offset the alkalinity of the solution and do that for kombucha too. When you brew for you it will taste better with about a 24 hour brew as opposed to a 48 hour brew but you will have to see what you like. I can tell you what the grains like.

The grains want a lot of sugar and a long fermentation time. They will reproduce and grow when they have those basic things and also the good water and nutrients. They love ginger and maybe you do not so you can do two things. You can ferment for the grains one cycle giving them lots of of sugar ginger and time to ferment and then the nest cycle you can brew for you using less sugar and time to get it the way you like it. You can divide the grains up in two and rotate. You have to be happy and the grains need to stay healthy. If you are doing it right your grains can more that double in size within 48 hours, if your doing it wrong your grains may get weaker and weaker until they die or they can die right away; but, as a rule if your grains are not expanding at least doubling every week then they are dying.

To get more of the bubbles you want cover your jar with an airtight lid and release the lid every once in a while to release the pressure. It is best to use a bail wire jar, I just happen to sell them and don't shake your water grains leave them alone and then when you have the result put them in an airtight jar to save the bubbles your worked so hard to get. Then enjoy your brew and share it with people you love and don't worry so much

Water Kefir Extraterrestial ?

Water Crystals sometimes known as Japanese Water Crystal, Water Kefir, California Bees, Tibicos, Tepache, Wasserkefir, Piltz, Colonch, Rapaddura, Corn Beverage, Tibetan Mushrooms, Flanken con Luck-Shun, and Brooklyn Haza Rye

Water crystals are a trip and a half. I think they are extra terrestrial or aliens of some kind, I also think they are female and I will tell you why. I just started experimenting with re hydrating dehydrated water kefir. I took a cup dehydrated kefir and a cup of live working kefir out of its regular working cycle. I put both cups of grains in 3/4 of a gallon spring water with a cup of sugar at 10 pm. Great scientist that I am I immediately got them mixed up but I noticed a few hours later that one jug of mixture was absolutely clear and the other was cloudy also the cloudy one had a kefir smell and the clear one didn't.

The nest morning about 10 hours into the brew I checked the jugs and there was absolutely nothing going on with either of them. The grains just lay on the bottom. There should have been something going on. I had things to do during the day and when I finally checked again maybe 8 hours later still nothing. I thought maybe I forgot to put in sugar so I took a sample from each and they did have sugar, I panicked and put in some lemon peel, some ginger and another half cup sugar and the next morning nothing from either of them. I thought they were dead. Oh; at some point the clear one became as cloudy as the cloudy one so now I couldn't tell them apart at all. At the point where I put in the extra sugar lemon and ginger, I added another dehydrated cup to another jug in the same original measurements with no lemon etc.

Now this is where it gets strange. About 5 hours later all three jugs of kefir are bubbling. the last jug to be added was clear when it started and now it was bubbling and it was still clear. The only thing different about the 3 jugs was that the new one had larger and lessor bubbles. The bubbles were larger and there were less of them. The new jug had the usual grains floating on the top and in mid suspension like they do, also there were the usual grains traveling up and down. The other jugs had the tiny champagne bubbles going on and there were more of them and they were in a faster gear but they were in the same sync and they shouldn't have been plus the new jug shouldn't have been bubbling so early.

I don't like to speculate in general when I have no reason or basis for speculation but the only thing I can think of is like when women get on the same cycle. I don't know what to think about that either.

Kefir Time Is Now If You Want It To Be

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There are 3 types of kefir; milk, water and tea (kombucha) one of the things that these kefirs have in common is that they are best when made fresh. They cannot sit on a market shelf, not real kefir. That makes kefir a very person to person thing because kefir must then made by individuals for themselves or by individual people for other individuals it can not be made by corporations and be real kefir. I’ll go into to it later but what is sold in markets today as kefir is not real kefir although it is sold as such it is not real kefir.

I am a kefir advocate and I sell kefir, I know a few things that are going on. First people are slowly but surely becoming aware of the benefits, the attributes and qualities of kefir. I sell kefir on eBay and at my virtual store and I see more and more new people who want to acquire the means to make it themselves, they already know there is benefit there, they need to know “how and how to” get it and brew it. I want to speed this movement up by helping people learn the “how and the how to”.

Truth has no institutions, power always does. You don’t have to talk truth to power; believe me, they already know and they are hard at work spinning and distorting it until many a victim become dazed and walk around thinking that the things that seem and the things they have been told are real are real .They come to that place where they allow and agree to the idea that coke is the real thing and a diet coke is ok and when encountering a fermented milk for the first time think this is a very strange thing.

Home brewed real milk kefir is the most powerful and most effective delivery system of probiotics to the large intestine that there is, there is nothing else that comes close. Pharmaceutical companies will tell you that their concentrated pills of probiotics with their special additives are more effective but of course they are spinning. What do you think without even doing any research, could the companies that own the Gerber Baby Food company, who brought out a product as apple juice and it actually contained no apple in it, just artificial color and artificial flavor and they tried to sell this to babies would you believe them? Would you believe that a pill could be more powerful than a symbiotic community of bacteria creating fresh this day a probiotic drink? Without doing any research what do you think?

The thing about a symbiotic community is that they can do things together that they can’t do separately. That is the thing. Commercial kefir is a great thing but it is not real kefir. Look on the label of life way kefir. Now life way is a great product but it is not real kefir it is as they say in the ingredient section; cultured milk, powder milk, inulin or FOS and kefir strains.

Inulin; not to be confused with insulin. Is an oligosaccharide and FOS is a fructooligosaccharide which are natural ingredients found in artichokes and garlic in small quantities. They feed the bacteria in the large intestine but unlike yogurt or kefir they feed all bacteria both good and bad. I believe they are added because they have a sweet taste and commercial producers of kefir want the stuff to taste better, sweeter so more people will like the taste and more people will buy the product. The powder milk is put in to water down the tart taste of kefir and make the taste more benign and once again more likeable by the masses. Corporations have done focus groups and the results have sworn that most people don’t like the taste of milk kefir; it is not a warm cuddly texture or taste like yogurt, thus the inulin, the FOS and the powdered milk. Oh, inulin and FOS may cause bloating and gas and possibly an allergic reaction in many people both supplements being a food that has not been eaten by humans in this quantity at all in human history, we are not all able to tolerate it and some people may have bad reactions but it does make it taste better.

C ommercial producers of kefir also have the problem of yeast in kefir expanding as it grows because real kefir is alive and can’t be confined in an inexpensive package. Commercial kefir has no kefir strains of good yeast in it and real kefir does. Actually kefir without yeast is not kefir at all unless you call it yeast less kefir or kefir without yeast but you can not call it real kefir because real kefir has strains of kefir yeast.

Finally Life way brags that its kefir is fermented with 11 kefir strains. Real kefir is a symbiotic community of 30 kefir strains that include yeast. They work together doing things they could not do separately and there is no kefir more powerful that your kefir that you make at home daily for your family. Make your own kefir, it may not taste as good as yogurt but it would be good if you and your family had 4 ounces of the stuff in the morning and 4 ounces more at night. You would never have to worry about acid reflux. You would never have to take Nexium and deal with its side effect. Kefir’s side effects are valuable vitamins and minerals, a healthy colon and its alkaline attributes are a very effective safe way to counter acid reflux. It would be good if after an antibiotic treatment or regimen if you drank a liter of milk kefir a day for a few weeks.

If you are interested in a good tasting probiotic drink that you can drink all day and children like the taste and they like making it the answer is water kefir and tea kefir (kombucha) and that will be the next topic and that is really exciting and that will be the main fighting front on the kefir revolution because you can make your own soda that has no corn syrup and you can control the amount of sugar and the ingredients and it is delicious and fun

What is a Symbiotic Community and What Do I Do When I Get My Milk Kefir Grains From The Mail

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What are they talking about when they say kefir grains are a symbiotic community of microbes? We can go very deeply into this subject but what we are concerned about here is what makes kefir grains unique. Kefir is a symbiotic community because it can do things together as a communuty that if can't do separately. Kefir is made up of strains of kefir, if you look at commercial kefir they will list about 10 strains that they use to culture milk but the kefir grain is made up of about 30 strains that can do things together that individually they could not do. That is what makes the grain unique. Commercial kefir, probiotic pills, and kefir starter cannot do what kefir grains do. That is why we must ferment our own kefir so we can have the best probiotic delivery system and a tangy tasting drink to boot,

When we get our grains from the mail we dump the whole package of grains and the delivery milk into a fresh milk source. We are not going to drink the resulting brew on this batch. Depending on how long the trip has been and whatever conditon the grains are in will determine how active they will be in the first brewing cycles. If you don't see any action on the first brew refresh the milk in 24 hours and try again. You can start the recover brews at a 2 or 3 to 1 milk to grain ratio.When you start to see changes in your brew that means your grains are getting more active and you can add more milk. You will see the grains become more active, you will know and after 2 or 3 cycles get the grains up to at least a 7 to 1 ratio and whether the grains are completely ready or not you can start drinking the resulting brew. It will only get better and better.

Obtaining Kefir Kombucha On eBay

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Probably the best place to acquire kefir grains (if not from a friend) is on eBay. Websites off eBay are very expensive. There is a lot of competition between sellers on eBay and that keeps the price way down much cheaper than private websites and still of comparable quality.

First you must decide how much kefir you need and how fast do you want it. For milk kefir it is probably best to do USPS Priority Mail but Fist Class is ok too. Kefir generally brews at a 10 to 1 ratio of milk to grain volume but the grains will grow until you can supply the whole world. The sellers sell between one single grain up to as many cups of the stuff you might want. Just remember to multiply the volume of what the seller is selling by 10 and that is how much kefir you can brew until the grains grow. Don’t necessarily believe everything the seller tells you because the seller may just be as incompetent or dishonest as any one else trying to sell you something.

Anyone can sell kefir on eBay. They don’t need a license or a degree. They don’t have to be honest, they don’t have to know simple math. They don’t have to be accurate in their knowledge of kefir. Who’s gonna know. Most people buying kefir are people buying it for the first time and most of us went to public schools, how many of us know how many ounces are in a third of a cup? Let see an eighth of a cup is an ounce and a quarter of a cup is two ounces so a third of a cup is 3 ounces right? Wrong. A third of a cup is 2.66 ounces. I didn’t know that I’ve been around a long time.Some sellers on eBay sell spoonfuls and some also sell heaping spoonfuls.

They tell us that their spoonfuls will ferment so much milk. Actually the smallest grain of kefir will ferment a million gallons of milk…..eventually. By the way there are 3 teaspoons in a tablespoon, 2 tablespoons in an ounce. I don’t know how big these sellers spoonfuls are only they know. I like to know if I am buying something. I like to know what I am buying.Some sellers advertise large mother grains. You won’t get a batch of all male non reproducing grains as the grains are neither male nor female and there is no mating season for kefir grains, most healthy active grains will be reproducing, The large grains are actually less active than small ones being that they have less surface area they are then less effective and need to be pulled apart by your washed clean fingers.Some sellers suggest you use nylon or plastic pouches and that you will save time and effort because you can wash the pouch with water cleaning the grains at the same time. These are serious and dangerous pieces of misinformation. Kefir is very alkaline that is why it is so effective against things like acid reflux that is why it can survive the bile and stomach acids that will destroy capsuled concentrated drug company kefir strains. Kefir is so alkaline it will not only dissolve plastic and nylon but it will dissolve metal. If you put plastic in your fermenting kefir you will end up drinking plastic or nylon. If your kefir splashes against a metal lid it will begin dissolving the lid and the next time you splash the lid you will bring back to the drink those elements that have been dissolved.

Some sellers suggest cotton and hemp pouches but these pouches are wonderful places for bacteria to grow and hide don’t use them but if you must be sure to boil them between brewing cycles. Don’t be lazy, don’t use pouches. Use a soft mesh plastic strainer. The plastic strainer does not stay in contact with the kefir long enough to begin to dissolve and it should be well wash after it is used and it should be used only for this purpose. When working with bacteria it is a good idea to keep the utensils used for that purpose separate as special bacteria utensils. When washing your kefir utensils use very hot water and then rinse right away in very cold water, remember the same hot water that kills bacteria becomes as it cools a very happy place for bacteria as they like warm but they don’t like very hot or very cold, to them warm is cozy.. Get all the soap out and towel dry. Kefirs are very sensitive to residueSome sellers suggest you wash your grains with water after each cycle but they never say why or what exactly the purpose is but I figured out why they never say why and the reason is there is no good reason (except for just before you dehydrate your grains) These sellers just are not knowledgeable of kefir.

If someone thinks I am wrong about this or if someone has a reason to wash grains in water please let me know. When you do wash your grains with water or even milk for that matter you are washing away defensive kefir strains whose job on the grains is to defend against invading foreign bacteria, if they are washed away they can not do that job.Some sellers say they will send you a cup of starter plus grains. Can someone tell me what kefir starter is? I know they sell a packets of starter they call kefir that contain kefir grains but these packets only are good for 7 or 8 fermentations, is that what the seller is selling? In yogurt, starter is part of the last batch used to make the next batch but that does not exist in kefir. Part of the last batch in kefir is a good addition when you make your next batch because it offers comfort to the grains as they go into fresh milk, the last batch addition is the same ph level as the grains and insulates the grains from the new milk until they can start to readjust but when transporting kefir it is better to send them in new milk because new milk will last longer to moisten and feed the grains during their postal trip. If I was buying grains I would want to know once again, exactly how much grains am I getting?


Some sellers don’t mention how the will be shipping, some say they will ship the standard shipping method. The standard shipping method is a flat rate for all buyers no matter where they live; however, a standard shipping method if not further described means the seller may send at any method he chooses and you will not know what that is until you receive you item. Unless the seller says he is sending first class or priority mail or whatever he has no responsibility to you as to how he sends your item. If a seller is shipping at 6.50 at the standard shipping method and you get your package a week and a half later you cannot complain because that is often how long Parcel Post or first class takes at the USPS. I’m paying good money for my item and I want to know how it will be shipped, if I can’t see the amount of grains being sold and for how much and by what method it is being shipped in the first 2 minutes after looking at the item's description I would be wary.

One seller says he will send the grains either first class or priority mail depending on the weight. What does that mean? It means he will send your grains first class and pocket the rest of the money that is what that means.Some sellers say their grains sold on eBay are organic, I have not seen any certified organic grains on eBay, they are only claimed to be organic as no one tells of their certification. They may be organic but then again they may not be. There are some websites offering certified organic grains with seals of certificates but they are about 4 times as expensive. When you get your grains and put them in organic milk they will then be organic.Some sellers claim their grains are better because they come from some far off place, for the most part all kefir grains are equally excellent grains all coming from the same source. If you and your neighbor order the same grains 6 months later the makeup of your grains may be different than his as the grains change but basically they will be the same as will all kefir grains in the world. They all evolved from the same source and they are all basically made up of the same bacterial composition with only minor differences. There are some grains from Russia from around the Cherynoble area that glow in the dark and I would warn against that if you see that occurrence. If some seller tells you his grains are better than other grains and that is why he is selling them for more money I would think twice before swallowing that line.

One seller insists that his flat grains are a rare form of kefir. Flat or stringy grains are a natural occurrences in brewing and they eventually go back to their normal round shape if given enough room in a large enough container and if they are mixed enough. Flat grains are not a rare form of kefir that make a special kefir, think about it does that make sense to you? That is a falsehood, just as purple water kefir is not a rare form of water kefir, and purple kefir comes from brewing in grape juice and can be accomplished in one fermentation of grape juice. Don’t be fooled

Here is a conversion chart to help in determining what grains will do and what they won’t do

1. One teaspoon is a third of a tablespoon, yes, 3 teaspoons are needed to make a tablespoon, and I didn’t know that.

2. One tablespoon is half an ounce, that’s right 2 tablespoons make a full ounce and 6 teaspoons make an ounce. It’s true, I checked it.

3. Eight ounces make a cup, so 16 tablespoons make a cup and 48 teaspoons make a cup

4. 4 cups make a quart which is also 32 ounces and 64 tablespoons equal 4 cups and also make a quart and a whopping 192 teaspoons make a quart. and 192 teaspoons also make 4 cups.

5. 2 quarts make a half gallon and 4 quarts make a gallonWhy is this important; well, kefir is being sold in increments of; a spoonful, a teaspoon, a tablespoon, an eighth of an ounce, half of an ounce and sometimes the amount of kefir is not mentioned at all but instead the buyer is told a figure of how much milk may be fermented with what is being sold. Let’s see how these increment amounts can be used

Kefir grains are generally used to ferment milk at a ratio of between 7 parts milk to 1 part grains but there are no real rules and many ferment with ratio’s all the way up to 12 parts milk to 1 part grains and you could ferment at a ratio of 20 to 1 and beyond but lets use the figure 10 parts to 1 part just to have easier math because once again we don’t want to maybe get a headache.At 10 to 1 a teaspoon of grains will ferment 10 teaspoons of milk, 10 teaspoons of milk is also 3.3 tablespoons which is also 1 and 2/3 ounces. Get it? A teaspoon of grains will ferment 1 and 2/3 ounces of milk not a few cups as a few sellers claim.At the 10 to 1 ratio a tablespoon of grains will ferment 10 tablespoons of milk or 5 ounces

At the 10 to 1 ratio an ounce or 2 tablespoons will ferment 10 ounces which also equals 1 cup plus 2 ounces or 1 cup plus a quarter of a cup.So if a seller says he will sell you enough grains to ferment a cup or a few cups, (there are generally 3 units in a few) a quart or 32 ounces of milk, we don’t know what he is talking about or what he is selling; not really, maybe he doesn't either maybe even more freighting he does know. If I was buying grains I would like to know exactly what I was getting for my money.