Thanks for this tutorial! I've got kefir grain coming in the mail and having a tutorial with photos is a BIG plus! I can't wait to get mine started!

Hugs & Blessings!
Susan Godfrey

http://www.susangodfrey.blogspot.com

If the kefir tastes so awful do you throw it out or go ahead and drink it?

Hi,
Just received Kefir in mail. It was liquidy. Put milk in and let sit for a day. It is a gelly blob now. Strained milk and very yeasty smell. Are my kefir grains okay? Should I try washing them?
Thank you,
Janet

Hey all
I'm a kefir novice myself, got some grains in the post and my first two batches came out a bit dodgy. Basically the kefir didn't thicken at all, but the flavour just turned really cheesy. How can you tell that you're about to drink real kefir and not poison yourself with milk that's gone off?

I bought some kefir granules. I read somewhere that the next batch of kefir can be made, using a tablespoon of the old kefir. This is supposed to work if you run out of kefir granules.

Is this correct?

Thanks

I place my kiefer with 1 cup milk into a mason jar and replace the lid with a paper towel to allow some air (a thin towel works also). Then place the jar in a warm area. I have placed mine on my deck out of direct sunlight. Not suggested for extremely hot temperatures. The air and warmth helps the kefir to culture.

Included is a great smoothie recipe I use that my kids love ...

1 cup cultured kefir
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
1 cup frozen strawberries (may substitute with other favorite frozen fruit
3 tbsp Natrataste or other sugar substitute (more or less to taste)

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Enjoy.

Hope these suggestions help!!

Recently a friend shared her extra kefir grains with me and I've been making it almost daily. It's terrific! Your info was very helpful. Thanks! I made my usual 100% whole wheat bread last week and used kefir in place of the milk and it tastes awesome--like sourdough bread. The texture is light and airy. Soon I'll try it in pancakes--but I use freshly ground soft white wheat instead of white flour (MUCH healthier and better tasting). My favorite fruit smoothie now is: 1 C. kefir, 1 sliced banana, 1 C. fresh or frozen fruit and honey or stevia to taste. Whir in blender. Yummy!

8
Here is the way I make kefir. It is creamy and mild.
I have grains. In the evenings (South Alabama) warm nights, add grains to whole organic milk, large mason jar, tighten lid. Shake. Let sit over night on top of fridge.(about 12 hours)depending on temp. Check it in the morning. If it is separated perfect. If not, watch it for another 4-5 hours.
Once you get the hang of it, you will know just how much grains to milk you will need for it to be ready to go in the Fridge in the morning. I work 8-5 so this why it's important that I be able to put in fridge before I leave for work, other wise it will be left out in the Alabama heat and taste bitter/sour. Anyway cont. In the morning Unscrew lid to release pressure! Shake well, put in fridge (grains still in there) until night time. Shake, Strain your grains out and Repeat process for next batch.
I am starting to have too many grains so if anyone wants to purchase some, let me know. 5 dollars for 1 full tablespoon, plus 5 for shipping. (Priority)
This will get you going and growing!
email me if you have any ?'s.
take out spaces in my email address.
ds green 22 @ yahoo . com

Thanks for the great tutorial. I am going to definitely try making kefir. I want to use it to soak grains for bread making. Since I am also making an effort to have a supply of food storage on hand for emergencies, is it possible/nutritious to make kefir with powdered non-fat milk? I'm sure it's not the preferred method but wondered if it is sill possible and would have some if not all of the beneficial properties.

I received kefir grains 2 weeks ago and have been trying
to make kefir ever since. I have read this site and Dom's kefir site and followed all directions carefully. My big question is, "Does
homemade kefir taste very different from store bought?" I
regularly buy kefir from the supermarket (Trader Joes or Lifeway
brand) and my homemade kefir taste nothing like the store
bought. I've tried skim, 1%, and 2% milk as well as varying the
processing times, but each time my kefir taste more like spoiled
milk than kefir. Any thoughts?

I have just bought Kefir starter at health food store - it has come in pouches - feels like powder - (haven't opened a pouch yet) - certainly isn't grains. It says USE 5 Grams per 1 litre or quart of milk which first heat to 180 degrees F. or bring to boiling point. Cool to 73 - 77 F - then add the starter.

Is this any good? Ingredients described as: Lactic bacteria and yeasts, skin milk powder.

Valerie Wright, Toronto

I have had kefir grains for 5 months and all was well until two weeks ago. Now my kefir looks just like milk and the taste doesn't seem right - after 24 hours. The mother grains look fine. I tried using fewer grains and more grains. I need to process for 24 hours to get rid of all lactose for health reasons. I cannot always get raw, unpasturized milk. Could it be the milk or could my grains be bad. These are grains from the Caucasus.

Your site is great! Thankyou so very much. I have successfully made my first 5 batches of kefir from live grains, and it tastes quite good. My question is: if I am going to add some kind of sweetener like maple syrup or agave, should I add it before I put the kefir into the fridge for storage, or right before eating? I am thinking that perhaps the bacteria in the kefir might actually like the sugars as a food source, but I am also wondering if the added substance is somehow going to damage the kefir while it is being stored in the fridge. Any feedback would be great, thanks.

I had a baby, went out of town, and am now back. My kefir has been sitting in the bottle with its grains on the counter for over a week now. What do I do? Are they ruined? Can I just rinse them and pour new milk on them? Thanks.

I have just discovered Kefir after going on a quest to ferment various foods. Anyway, I love the Kefir from the health food store but I would love to make my own.
Would someone be willing to send/sell me some grains?
Greg
nolan_greg@hotmail.com

I've been in Ukraine for the past several months and had kefir for the first time there. I love it, and a friend of mine from there makes great pancakes with kefir and mashed banana. Kefir gives them some tang, and bananas sweeten them...you can even add a little sugar. They're delicious!

I'm on my 3rd batch of kefir. I've gone through a ton of milk! Nothing good yet. The taste is horrible. Grainy and it separates and has an aweful yeasty smell and sour fizzy taste. Yeuch! I have had organic kefir from the organic store and it's like yogurt. A bit sour of course but good. This is nothing like it. At the top of the kefir when it's fermenting is the this thick thick mass of curd. About 3-4 inches thick...then about an inch of whey and then the milk at the bottom. When I first brough the grains home they were in a bit of milk and I originally used goat's milk...never tried it before and it was aweful so I went back to full fat organic cow's milk.
Can you tell me if this is normal? the grains have multiplied for sure. But I don't want to keep filling the jar with milk and then dumping it. It's very expensive...especially when you are using organic milk. Can you help me out with this? thanks! :)

Can I use some Lifeway Kefir as a starter instead of using grains?

can I make kefir from this it has no grains, I read just to take 1/4 cup and add to goats
heated milk .
put in glass jar in oven for 12 hours in warm place without sun light? will this work?
Thanks Lesa

Hi, I've browsed here and all the other usual places (Dom's, Kefirlady's), and only recently my own grains. Threw away first 2 batches just on principle (they smelled good, but very very yeasty, more like a sourdough starter than kefir) and have since then modified my method until I get what I believe to be really good, thick, non-separating kefir the last 3 batches now. I'm in the DFW area in Texas and we keep our house at about 80 degrees or else the A/C bill is outlandish, so the heat probably plays into why I have to use this method.

First, I learned to either shorten the fermentation time well below 24 hrs with the 'usual' 8:1 type milk:grains ratio, or cut down the grains. I went with the former for the first full week until my grains enlarged a bit and recovered from shipping, and just did the second more recently with my first really good batches. I do my fermentation in those 'disposable' but reusable tupperware like tubs from Glad or Ziplock you can get at the grocery store - there's a type that's kind of a tall cylinder with a pretty wide top and a screw lid that holds 4 cups. Use rubberbands on the outside to mark your grain starting point and milk fill point: my original mix was about 1/3 cup grains to 3 1/2 cups milk for an almost full tub, since then I've dropped down to about 1/5 cup to 3 1/2 cups milk. (almost half the 'recommended' ratio!), but am fermenting a day and a half.

-use the milk straight out of the fridge. A little cool won't hurt the grains, and the milk will warm to ambient pretty quick anyway.
-if your kitchen is too warm like mine, stand up the fermentation jar in a larger ceramic crock of some type (I use a stoneware serving bowl with a flat bottom, like you'd serve veggies out of) and put a bit of ice around it, to maybe 1" high at most (say 1/8th the height of your vessel). It won't last long as ice and will melt in an hour or two, but the ice and subsequent water bath helps keep it a bit cooler than ambient overall. I do this when I leave for work in the morning, when I return, and when I go to bed (emptying the melt water each time of course). The jar is left with the lid loosely screwed on; every time I think of it I screw it on tight, agitate gently for a few seconds, and then re-loosen to let excess CO2 escape while it sits. This also seems to help it ferment more evenly, and since i don't have a lot of free space in my jar at all, I'm not worried about 'oxygen poisoning' (when I used to make beer I used an airlock and was very careful NOT to agitate once fermentation began!)
--watch for it to begin to separate - you don't want a 'lot' of separation, because then it has more 'firm' though small curds and has a bit of gritty mouth feel, even if you remix before drinking. but you don't want to quit before too much has converted (unless you're specifically going after a much less sour kefir) either. I found that with the recommended 8:1 ratio 24 hours was too much and 12-18 worked better, with my new mix, and the fall weather kicking in so the ambient temp is dropping, my last couple batches went about 36 hrs and are both much thicker, less yeasty smelling (part of that may just be the grains finally getting nicely balanced) and much thicker. It strains nicely fast leaving clean grains behind and no curds, but is not separating even in the fridge.
--when its time to separate, I use a plastic 'pasta' colander over a large glass mixing bowl. if you got it right as far as converted but not separated it will pour right through with very little tapping on your part, leaving clean looking grains behind. Then the strained stuff gets poured into something to store it in. If the ferment went a little long or warm and the kefir has separated it may take a bit of swirling and tapping to get the curds thru. My first try was with a metal strainer (the lady who sold me my starter grains warned me there were a lot of 'babies' and I didn't want to throw them out) but that was a nightmare with the first gritty batches; ended up with a mound of 'cottage cheese' on top of the grains....by the way I do a reasonable but not vigourous 'mix' or shake of the vessel (remember to tighten the lid!) before I pour into the strainer, which also helps separate any grouped up curds.
--each batch needs to 'age' after straining a day or so in the fridge. You can drink it right away, but it does get a bit better with mellowing...it should thicken. If it does separate out a lot you can drain some of the whey if you want, but that won't really make it thicker, it just reduces the liquid separating the curds. Slightly slower, cooler fermentation is what seems to help reduce the firm curd formation completely.
--I keep 3 vessels: one to ferment in, one to 'age' in, and one that I'm drinking at any given time. if I get a bit ahead in drinking I may pour the 'current' batch right on top of the 'aged' for a little continuous aging/drinking action. So far I haven't gotten behind, and with cutting my grains back (the rest went in the freezer with some fresh milk as a backup) I don't think I will even if what I'm making now seems better than when I started.

Regarding the cooling bath, I knew too much chill was bad too (Dom spends a lot of time talking about using a fridge method to 'hold' some grains, or doing a cold fast, but says they need to recover after that, so I didn't want to end up in that mode by over-cooling!) After the first couple tries with the ice showed promise, I used a smaller tupperware to start making large solid 'domes' of ice that melt slower than individual cubes (less surface area), so now my kefir sits in a ceramic open bowl with a larger chunk of ice in the bowl beside it, slowly melting...not really in much direct contact with the kefir jar, just cooling the stoneware itself so the kefir stays cooler as well (eventually there's about a half inch of water that is in contact with the vessel, but not ice direct contact, and the rest of the plastic is sticking up into 70-75 degree air). If I get really bored I might start keeping a thermometer in it to see what temp I'm really holding, but from putting my hand against the side I'd guess it's still no less than 65 degrees.

I have rinsed my grains once or twice, but I used a small amount of fresh milk; if you use water I wouldn't use it right from the tap because the chlorine might impact the external colonies on the grains. Rinsing in my case was more to remove any curds than to really 'rinse off' old milk or bathe them. The milk can just add into the newly strained kefir (it'll give a bit of fresh 'food' for aging in the fridge) or down the drain; it didn't take a lot at all.

Hope this helps someone else. After my first week I was getting a bit discouraged from all the separation and the 'clots'. But these last batches are wonderful and finally really do resemble the Lifeway store-bought in consistency, which all my reading indicated I probably would not quite be able to match. There isn't much of a yeast smell although if I close the aging jar tight there is a CO2 bite the next morning so I know the yeast part of the colony is indeed alive, and the flavor is sour but not overwhelming nor is it just 'old milk sour'. Too much acid and heat is what I think leads to the harder curd separation.

I'm just using store-bought 2% homogenized milk as well (Schepps Dairy for those of you familiar with the brand and stores here in TX) but I really don't think there's anything too specific to the milk choice. When my grains multiply up again enough I may check a specialty store for some goat milk and give that a try...wonder if you could make a good feta with goat-milk kefir? :) Thanks again for the web forum and I hope this huge word-logjam helps someone else.

(To the guy above who bought the freezedried grains, go on ebay and find someone who is selling the 'real thing'. Shouldn't cost you more than $16 or so even with shipping. And from my experience the only problem with plastic seems to be that it doesn't provide as much insulation, but left out for a day or more even a glass jar just ends up at air temp.)

Does anyone have any spare Kefir grains they would like to share. I would be more than happy to pay for them and shipping. Please e-mail me at carmen@blackfoot.net
Thank You

I have been making kefir for a few weeks. A friend sent me a starter baggie of some kind of liquid. I put it in milk and 24 hours later had my first batch of kefir. I've been doing this for a few weeks and we are enjoying it. My question is, when I strain my kefir, I don't see any "grains", only a bunch or curds. There is nothing cauliflower looking in my strainer. I have gently touched the curds and there is nothing firm in them. Are they so teeny tiny that I can't see or feel them? My milk is not smelly like rotten milk would be if it sat on the counter for a day. It has a slightly yeasty smell and taste fine. I'm confused! Help!

BTW, if this is a double post, please forgive me. I thought I posted this and then nothing showed up. I created and account, logged in, and I'm trying again.

Thanks so much,
KristyZ

For vegans out there who would also like the probiotic benefits of kefir, you can make the most AMAZING kefir from soya milk. It is thick and creamy, and does not have the sourish taste of dairy kefir. Two important things to remember:
1. Your kefir granules will not grow in soya milk. They take a little while to get used to the soya, and thereafter remain healthy and productive, but they do not grow or multiply. So it is wise to keep a separate stock of kefir growing in dairy milk in case you may need to replenish your stock or share it with others;
2. Use ordinary soya milk without added sugar.
In my experience rice and nut milks make watery kefir and do not provide sufficient nutrients for healthy kefir granules

Swazi Pete

I haven't seen many references to this in the comments--kefir needs to be stirred every few hours, or as often as you can manage if you're out of the house for long stretches. In the Caucasus, apparently they punched or kicked the skin bag holding the kefir every time they passed it. Also, I've read several times that you must not use a metal strainer or spoon. If you aren't stirring or are using metal implements, you may not be getting good results.

We mix our kefir with strawberry-flavored whey protein powder and add in some currant juice and agave, and mix in the blender for a wonderful breakfast drink.

My question is the same as Kristy Z. from 10/14/09. I cannot tell the difference between the grains and curds after fermentation. What is especially upsetting is that my sister gave me grains that were the size of cauliflower florets, now after two batches there is a huge pile of curds that resemble nothing like the original grains. What should I do? Thanks. C

Nobody seems to have answered Lesa's question about using store bought kefir as starter but this is what we did, too. We put a small amount (a few T.) of the store bought kefir in a 4 litre jug of pasteurized organic milk. We left it for 24 hours and voila - yucky milk similar to buttermilk.

The results taste like the store bought kefir or a little worse. I don't like it at all although I do enjoy plain yogurt and buttermilk. My husband, who spent time in Russia, says it is not nearly as delicious as the kefir in Russia.
.
Anyway, it is having a good effect internally and I am sure it's not harmful. Our thought is to continue adding it to fresh milk to make more of whatever it is. We'll try the kefir grains when we get some.

Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

We received some kefir from a traveler who isn't around to ask further questions. I am confused. My Kefir gets very separated, a creamy layer and a clear yellow layer. My husband shakes it up and then strains it. After reading it sounds like we are using too many grains. Is that what causes the curds and whey to separate like that. Are we supposed to toss the whey or stir it together and drink both?

I wanted to mention that I stir in a teaspoon of honey into my kefir and it tastes a lot sweeter and less sour. Yummy

I need advice on what to do with the yellow whey layer.

Thanks

does separate and that is what it is supposed to do.....it sort of like sticking the toothpick into a cake to see if it is done.....the kefir is done when it separates. Of course, you could use this as a guide to how "sour" you like it, as a personal preference. There are uses for the whey if you want to search them out......but it is absolutely fine to just stir it up and enjoy. Joe

I don't know if you have to wash the kefir grains every time before change the jar and put a new milk or you have to leave it just as it is when you take it out from the maid kefir.