For kefir, you will also need a strategy for separating the grains from the kefir when finished. I am experimenting with reusable cotton tea bags.
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Paper:
Meta-analysis reveals microbiome signatures for colorectal cancer that are universal across age groups and sequencing methods
https://www.cell.com/cell-host-microbe/fulltext/S1931-3128(26)00223-4
Yes, nitrates can be toxic in excess, but we were discussing citrates.
RapAdmin has it, yes it’s very simple. Just buy grains that come in a little reusable floater, that way you don’t have to worry about separating the grains after kefir is made, Just drop the floater into the container with milk, let the kefir form, remove the floater, rinse it thoroughly under flowing water and put it into a small dish with a bit of milk and put it in the fridge if not using. But if you are using it continuously, just pop it into a new batch. My wife makes kefir 1-2 times a week, so I consume it 1-2 times a week. Key point of maintenence: make sure that you rinse the grains thoroughly, so only they remain. The floater itself should also be cleaned - obviously don’t use chemicals to clean, or you’ll kill the grains.
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Sorry my bad. I’ll have to double check though because the article might have actually been about Citrate (not 100% sure) but I remember thinking of John (the guy in here that loads up on citrate) when I read the article.
fyi- I did try citrates a while back, but I felt they caused indigestion, in other words I felt full in the morning when woke up, as if my food wasn’t processed, just an N=1 others may have different experiences.
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thanks @RapAdmin and @CronosTempi I just ordered some and try it when they arrive. Now when I think of it my dad used to make it when I was a kid, but the taste was rather mild and buttery (if I remember correctly) as opposed to spicey sour from the store bought kefir.
I make my kefir from nonfat milk. However, I do not drink it straight. I add a small dab of TJ’s peanut butter (100% peanuts, unblanched, unsalted) - this adds a bit of fat. I throw in a few frozen berries. I blend with a hand blender. This rather changes the taste - in any case, I like it.
Also, once the kefir is formed, you don’t have to drink it immediately - instead, you can place the whole thing in the fridge (including the floater with grains), where you can keep it for 2-3 days before consuming. If you drink kefir 1-2 times a week, you can keep the whole process in a loop: drink kefir, rinse floater/grains, immediately make the next batch, when ready put in fridge, drink it 2-3 days later, and repeat. Of course if you drink more frequently, you skip the refrigeration part, just keep going - make, drink, make. But if you travel or for whatever reason can’t make/drink kefir, you just store the grains in the fridge until you’re back on schedule. It’s important to keep the grains clean (without particles from previous kefir batches), because if the milk/kefir goes a touch “off”, that introduces undesirable bacteria and yeast strains and the grains can go bad and need to be thrown out. So, rinse the grains and clean the floater thoroughly after each batch is made.
Anyhow, that’s my process, everyone has their own depending on their situation and schedule.
The floater I use (bought close to 20 years ago off Amazon, came with the grains from a company that no longer exists):
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I’ve never seen a floater, sure are a lot of ways to do things. I’ve been using a cheese mold, borrowed from my wife and I think it’s the size to make brie:
The tiny slots are really good for saving every bit of the so called “grains”. Sometimes you order and they come and you can barely see them. I just pour raw goat milk into a half gallon jar with these grains in the bottom. After a day or so I pour the mix into the mold and separate. I have such a mass of grains now that I eat a few every morning. I would never run water over them, though I’ve heard it’s done. Water has germs and some has chlorine…raw milk is safer and this way you get it all. There are positives and negatives for everything. I’m not being critical. The floater looks easy.
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Well, you can always rinse with filtered water, or if really paranoid, filtered and boiled. YMMV.
I make 2 quarts every 2 or 3 days. I use a sous vide immersion circulator to maintain a precise constant temperature as I’ve found that it’s important to have the correct (as to my taste) balance of bacteria and yeast.
BTW if your grains don’t have yeast, it’s not a kefir but a yogurt.
I put the grains directly into a 2 quarts mason jar with A2 protein milk at 4% or 2% fat. Then I use a strainer to separate the grains and I generally (unless I’m too lazy/busy that day) put the kefir in a Vitamix mixer at low speed to homogenize it before storing it in the fridge.
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What is the precise temperature you target?
Also - I let a batch go too long, so it’s got a ton of curdled milk mixed in with the grains now. Any special suggestions on how to separate the curdled milk from the grains? Its hard to tell where one ends and the other begins - it all looks like a gelatinous blob.
Mine frequently goes that far. The cheese mold I use will work well. Just shake back and forth and up and down. Takes probably 30 seconds for the worst ones.
I’ve read that using a blender on even yogurt kills a lot of it. I wouldn’t do much more than stir with a spoon. OTOH, I guess dead they probably work about as well.
Generally 22ºC, I increase it if the yeast activity is too low and reduce it if it’s too high.
Happens to me as well!
You can add a little bit of milk and shake it in a mason jar or similar then strain it. In desperate cases, you can separate the grains from the gelatinous blob with your fingers. The grains are relatively firm and it’s easy to make the difference with the rest of the gelatinous blob.
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In light of the health benefits generally ascribed to RS, and of epidemiological evidence linking high fibre intake to reduced CVD risk( Reference Wu, Qian and Pan58 ), the increase in TMAO with RS is contrary to what might be expected. Earlier dietary intervention studies have also shown increased abundance of TMAO after diets high in soya( Reference Solanky, Bailey and Beckwith-Hall59 ) or low glycaemic load carbohydrates( Reference Barton, Navarro and Buas60 ), typically deemed beneficial to cardiometabolic health. Hence, although there is strong evidence for the relation of TMAO to atherosclerotic CVD, we cannot conclude that the dietary effects on TMAO observed here would translate into changes in risk for CVD. Furthermore, whether increases in TMAO are clinically relevant in the context of a concomitant improvement in glycaemic control, as is commonly observed with RS, remains to be established.
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I used to make kefir overnight, at room temperature, from a starter I bought from
I still have some of the starter in the refrigerator. But I got lazy. So I just buy Amish kefir, with 15 strains of bacteria.
I get it from a grocery run by Koreans.
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This is the advantage of a floater 
… it contains the kefir grains (see photos in my other post), and you never have to take them out of the floater. When done, just rinse the floater under running water or pour water over it from a jug. The grains in the floater never go missing or get tangled up in the kefir batch. Dead simple and fuss free. I’m still on the original grain floater close to 20 years now… these grains can last you a lifetime if you just take minimal care.
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I used to always let my kefir ferment too long and the problem of the grains being mixed in the thicker cheese like part vexed me for years. Happy to report the open weave reusable cotton tea bags work great for keeping the grains separate.
Lets me over ferment happily! I like to reduce that lactate content as much as possible.
Also, to the poster who mentioned the sous vide, the sous vide is truly wonderful for thermophilic, mesophilic, and probiotic yogurt making.
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OK, I’m completely sold on this. How do I find one to buy? Searching on Amazon for “Kefir floater” doesn’t result in any hits. I do find something a little similar (not floating) that might work, your thoughts?
https://printerval.com/kefir-fermenter-set-for-use-with-jar-you-already-have-p2696049243
Perhaps a tea infuser would work?
Hmm. Wow, you’re right, this is not a common item - honestly don’t know why… hey, opportunity for an enterpreneur, lol 
. It didn’t occur to me that it might be a scarce item. But yes, what you found should work, but it’s not ideal. The baggie is a bit too floppy, might not be as easy to clean the grains. The one concern I have with the tea infuser is that the metal might interact with the acidity in the kefir - I’ve had these things rust just making tea.
Well, the idea is very simple - a stiff container for the grains with slots/mesh fine enough to keep the grains from falling out, and small enough not to have excessive amounts of kefir invade the container - this is an important point, because it makes cleaning the floater a breeze without losing much of the kefir. The actual floater is composed of two parts: the grain container and a separable floater cap. The cap allows the whole thing to float on top of the milk/substrate. When cleaning, you pop the grain container out and let a stream of water rinse out any kefir leaving behind just the grains. You clean the cap with a small brush under a stream of water. Then you clip the container and cap together and are good to go.
Anyhow, those are the design ideas, which I suppose can be implemented in a variety of ways.
Some photos:
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Found this, don’t know anything about seller:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/253931752/kefir-fermenter-container-with-kefir
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