Kefir Success!

Of course, I walk into my local Walmart Neighborhood Market the other day and what do I see? Plain kefir. Same brand I bought at the natural foods co-op. And after my struggles getting it started, the premade bottle looked tempting. However, a small bottle (a quart maybe?) cost almost five dollars, while a half gallon of organic, non-ultra pasteurized milk cost about $3.50. It's worth keeping on...

And then... Finally!!

Two days in a row. Perfect, beautiful, creamy NOT FIZZY kefir.

So what did I change? I used the very minimum amount of milk. Put it in the cabinet at night; and in the morning, I give it a swish and put it in the water heater closet. I take it out in the evening and look. LOOK!

It's gorgeous. And it's pretty firm:

But a little swish loosens it up. It's thick, but not separated.

And it strained very, very easily. 

Whew! Two days in a row. Hopefully this keeps up. I'd imagine that as the grains grow and mature and as the weather warms up, I won't have to move it to the closet. But until then, this is perfect. 

I have totally replaced Andre's store-bought probiotics with this, and we'll see how he does. It's cheap and easy if it continues to be successful.

I'm sold. 

Milk soda

Sodastream missed the boat on this one.

I think I've reached the point with the kefir where it's working and it's safe to eat. And it doesn't taste bad...

But it's really fizzy. It's weird. I know that some people like this and aim for fizzy by using a tight lid. 

I am not aiming for fizzy.

So I guess the long and short here is that the struggle to negotiate proper temperature, time, and quantity continues.

And I wish I'd put the grains in a muslin bag to start with instead of straining them from the kefir. But I digress...

The Kefir Kraze

Keh-fur, kee-fur, kuh-fear... I've yet to figure out exactly how it's pronounced (I'm pretty sure it's the last one...? ). Regardless, it's awesome stuff.

It is also a total mystery to me. And I have been making my own yogurt for years, not counting all the years we made it while I was growing up. I am not new to fermenting milk. This is just a different beast...

I bought some dried milk kefir grains. They were packed in powdered milk. So my first task has been to rehydrate and prepare the grains for use. This is supposed to take a week or so.

I added a cup of cold whole milk, per instructions, covered it with a coffee filter, and set it in the water heater closet. It's cold in our kitchen.

Twenty-four hours later, I strained it (in a non-reactive strainer), put the grains in a fresh jar and added more milk. All was going according to plan.

Well... Next day I pulled out the jar, and it had completely separated into curds and whey. Smelled sour and yeasty (which it's supposed to at this stage), but it's not supposed to be like this. I had to stir it all together and strain it about a hundred times, adding a little fresh milk, before I could separate out the grains.

Thought maybe it was too warm. Put it in the cabinet with the dishes, but it still separated quite a bit. So I thought maybe the grains are growing faster than expected and need more milk. That seems to have helped. The last time I changed it out, it had a layer of yeasty foam and was smelling cleaner. Less separation. Hopefully, we're almost there...

Will continue to update as we go...