Kefir making as alternative to yoghurt making.

shykins

Rosemary i am the only one in my house who eats it. I just put half cup of milk/cream (roughly) in mine thats sually turns it to kefir in a day or so depending on how warm it is. you can also do it in the fridge if you are making too much as this will slow it down considerably

personally i always re-strain mine so i have a thick cream cheese consistency. i then mix this with no sugar peanut butter with some syrup sweetener or with grated dark chocolate. you could add fruit if you wanted.

katkin to make kefir the grains need the dairy as i understand it there is a different type of grain which ferments in water etc. i may have that wrong and hopefully someone else can clarify this

would be interested in the kimchi info from the neighbour!!!

Rosemary7391

Thanks shykins. I shall give it a go! Ebay here I come

Austin_Allegro

I love kefir - I picked up the habit when I lived in eastern Europe, as its very popular there.

I have had some grains for a couple of years; I keep them in a metal tea strainer which I always have in a jug of milk. I get the milk cheap from the Co-Op at the end of the day when it's marked down, about 50p for two litres.

So this way I get lovely thick kefir for 25p a litre. Over the last couple of years I must have saved quite a lot of money I think.

The grains don't seem to multiply in the tea strainer, I suspect it's like keeping a goldfish in a small bowl, it won't grow any bigger. However I don't mind that as I always felt a bit guilty about throwing them away because I used to have so many.

ZenLikeBalance

Hi all

I've just ordered a tsp of grains, hoping i'll have them by Wednesday. I hope to replace my greek yogurt habit with this. Was spending £5.50 per week :eek:

On a practical note, I'll need muslin, a large kilner jar, a funnel (I have a spoon and jug). And then something to carry it into work with I guess.

So my questions are:
Will 4 pints of milk turn into 4 pints of kefir? I'm thinking to have 250ml a day.
If i get a large glass jar, would I make it twice a week, or is more often better?
Will it spoil if its not refrigerated at work (out of the fridge for 10 hours before consumption)?

Thanks for your help

shykins

i do approx quarter a pint a day. put that much milk in and then strain it off approx 24 hrs later. with a teaspoon you may have to start off with less than that initially until your grains start multiplying

i dont refrigerate mine when setting so am sure it will be fine out of the fridge to take to work every day

you dont need a funnel as you can just strain it through a finish sieve (if you have one) or line one with muslin if its too open. you might find using a funnel will clog up too much

hope that helps

ZenLikeBalance

Thank you. Yes that helps. the less kit I need the better.

Caterina

My healthy grains, the descendants of several generations of swapped grains between me and shykins are now ready to be shared. Free of charge. Please pm me but be patient because I only check every few days.

squiggles

Caterina wrote: »

My healthy grains, the descendants of several generations of swapped grains between me and shykins are now ready to be shared. Free of charge. Please pm me but be patient because I only check every few days.

That's very kind of you.

I couldn't get along with my grains and after many months of experimenting I gave up. The grains grew rapidly but my drink always tasted like manky wine. I like wine in real life but this tasted vile.

I started of with a titchy amount and ended up with a whole Kilmer jar by the end. I started to mix the grains in my yoghurt and cereal. It was a lot if palava for something I didn't partially like the tast of.

Is there some magic secret that others do to stop the wine taste. I've bought real kefir in tesco and it tasted just like actimel. I'm wondering if my failure is because I have quite a cool kitchen.

Without reading the whole thread I hope others have better success.

shykins

Caterina glad they are still going, mine are languishing in the freezer as I am going to be away and needed a break from them. Hopefully they will reignite, if not I will call on you for a swap again lol

Squiggles are yours water kefir grains? Mine (and Caterinas) are milk grains and turn the milk into a thick youghurty sustance

squiggles

shykins wrote: »

Caterina glad they are still going, mine are languishing in the freezer as I am going to be away and needed a break from them. Hopefully they will reignite, if not I will call on you for a swap again lol

Squiggles are yours water kefir grains? Mine (and Caterinas) are milk grains and turn the milk into a thick youghurty sustance

I've had both milk and water grains. I tried the milk ones first and they didn't work well, like milk coloured vinegar. I used various milks, full fat, goats, jersey organic and powdered marvel and it didn't make a difference and neither did extending or reducing the standing time. I got the fizzy but not the taste and the crystals multiplied to more than I could eat.

The water crystals were no better, it fizzed and multiplied but tasted foul.