Perfect fermentation, not too much not too little
And here my strained grains, the rest of the jar I fill up with milk but I leave some room for expansions
“Perfect”! My mouth watering over here. But it takes several cycles to get all the components of the grains to reach the right level and for the taste to be right.
Ok, I think I’m ready to tackle this. I see your preferred source sells water kefier grains.
If there is a better source for those, of course chime in.
Can someone spoon feed me (pun intended) the exact directions on what I need to do…. Just a link to a good website will do!
@Arhu
You said the following: do you know if making water kefier is the exact same process?
“It’s really easy, no need to overthink it. Get milk (A2 jersey milk for me gives the best kefir) chuck in grains (ratios from 1:1 to 1:20 will all work but obviously 1:20 will take longer), wait 1-4 days strain in colander. Experiment with temperature and fermentation times, see what you like best, I prefer mine when the whey starts to separate but hasn’t completely separated. Kefir grains are very sturdy and the culture is very strong. You can almost not kill them unless you neglect them for weeks and it is virtually impossible to get contamination. The culture will change with the seasons and with the milk you use”
@Bicep hearing you mention cycles etc for the right taste makes this seems it’s not simple … if your wife wants to make water kefir and send it to me…. Just sayin
You could probably get by using a nut milk for 2 or 3 times, then cycle whole cow milk to feed the grains. They do need milk, mostly for the lactose, so you could add that to nut milk, but still they will get weak and need the milk at least weekly. Also start with actual milk for the first few cycles. Feed it to the husband or dog or something. It will improve their health.
I’ve tried water kefir a few times and was never happy. You may be able to get it to work. Good Luck,
Water kefir is slightly trickier because you need to find out which sugars, which dilution, which minerals, how much of them and which water (non chlorinated) they need and you need to experiment with your 2nd ferment (which is optional but basically creates a soda and just tastes much better)to see what you like but still. Still the culture is quite sturdy but if you don’t get the sugar, water and minerals right they might be slow to grow but there is very little chance of contamination or killing your culture (unlike with kombucha)
I make all three of them btw and used to make other ferments too. Anyway both water and milk kefir are forgiving with no chance of botulism and only a very small chance of mold (unless you seriously neglect your culture for weeks)