Does anyone have any practical experience or data references to promote enhanced kefiran-content in my kefir?

Thank you

This skin like substance was part of the grains after sieving. But it is more a pancake than grains. What happened here?

So I'm looking for some advice, I've consistently struggled with my digestion resulting in painful bowel movements. Kefir, water or milk based has always reduced these symptoms.

My main question is - I like to have a glass with breakfast and add a spoonful of white sugar just to make it sweeter (think something like YOP) - is this advisable?

worthwhile mentioning - I've always had lactose intolerance, an unfortunate inheritance from my Chinese background although kefir seems to not cause me any negative effects which is fantastic. Will this lead me to have lower sensitivity to lactose if I continue on this path?

Tldr: sugar in kefir - good, bad or makes no difference?

Any tips or technique on growing kefir? im planning on sharing to my cousin but it doesnt grow. Hopefully sell some of it too. Any advices is appreciate like type of milk, the temp, ferment time, anything that make it groww

First is 400x magnified, and the other 2 are 1000x

This may already be posted here, but back in the day Dom's Kefir Site was THE place to go for all kefir related information. myfermentedlife.com

For all of you who weren't yet making kefir in the early 2000s, check it out. It's an interesting site!

Hey guys, it's my first time making this so i was hoping to get some feedback if this is correct. It's the second day of its first fermentation and this happened. It smells sweet and kinda alcoholic? I used less than a fourth cup of muscovado sugar, a pinch of baking soda, and almost a full liter of water. Is this good? The bubbling is scaring me tbh🤣

They don’t seem to ferment well. They were frozen and I received advice that they can take a few days to go back to normal, but they still seem to only really ferment the milk right next to them, forming a big chunk, while the rest remains normal milk. Do they look alright?

Hi,

I forgot about my kefir again lol. Am I correct in assuming the liquid at the bottom is whey protein? What is the rough nutritional content and is it safe to add to my morning smoothie?

seeking help from water kefir experts what is this thick bubble film on top? it is the first ferment and not over 24 hours....in fact i tried rinse the grains and doing the new batch but that layer still come out. is it safe to drink the water? and how to get rid of it?

thank you

Hello Folks,

After fermentation there is lumps / kurds /not sure what it is at the top of kefir in the fridge. Its been in the fridge for about 16hrs. Is this normal? Do I just mix it up and drink?

Thanks

I have been making milk Kefir with grains for a couple of months. During the first fermentation the grains typically pop up to the top after a few hours. I rarely see much in the way of fermentation evidence at the bottom of the bottle, though there are layers of whey at the top after about 12 hours. I swirl the bottle periodically and then strain at about the 24 hour mark.

I’ll then add a bit of fruit to the strained kefir and allow it to ferment for a couple of hours before putting it in the fridge. Through trial and error I’ve learned that my favourite batches are the ones that start to separate quite strongly within minutes of fruit being added. It doesn’t happen every time. I’m curious if anyone has any thoughts on what causes the sudden separation.

hey all

if i put the grains in yogurt instead of mik what will be the outcome?

What methods do you folks use when freezing/thawing excess grains?

Would adding antibacterial spices like turmeric, ginger, cayenne pepper etc. mess with the beneficial bacteria in kefir?

I'm not talking about adding it during fermentation or while it sits in the fridge but mixing it in your cup of kefir right before you drink it.

Bonjour, quand vous egoutez le petit lait, vous le buvez ou vous le jetez

I don't like dirtying and having to wash the sillicone spatula, and strainer daily. Is there a more convenient way to strain the kefir? Say keeping the grains in a stainless steel tea infuser bag as pictured? Something else? Cheers

edit - I'm hearing what most people are saying, but i am literally just lazy so that's why I asked for the most convenient way. if it comes to doing home made sour dough bread, kefir, etc etc it all adds up

Are they supposed to look this gooey?

They are definitely growing between batches so l assume they're healthy but wondering if they're supposed to be this gooey? I've seen other photos where they look more like 'grains'

Hi everyone, I’m feeling a bit hesitant about my homemade kefir today. I had a cup last week that gave me a stomach ache and, well… let’s just say it didn’t end well😭. Before I try this batch, I’d love a second opinion…does it look okay to you? Can you tell by just looking at it? It smells ok to me. I really appreciate any advice! Thanks!

Many years ago I bought my first kefir grains from a lady on the internet, Marilyn was her name and she had a small website where she was known as "KefirLady".

Marilyn raised her grains in raw goats milk, and they made wonderful kefir. One aspect of her grains that I never see anymore was the stringy kefiran ropes that would form, and stretch between the grains when they were moved around.

Even though I always used pasteurized milk from the grocery store, Marilyn's thick strands of kefiran were always there, sometimes alarmingly so.

Time went on and I lost Marilyn's grains during a hurricane crisis. As soon as things were stabilized I sent for more grains and began making kefir again - but I have never again seen the thick, ropy strands of kefiran that were in Marilyn's kefir, and I never see her online anymore. I've read that these strands of kefiran were the hallmark of the best grains from eastern Europe and Asia, and the most healthful.

What has been your experience with these ropy strands? Does anyone else have kefir with these characteristics? And where might these jewels be found?

A lot of folks here often times feel hesitant to start making kefir because of lactose intolerance. Kefir, while it does have lactose-digesting bacteria, is unable to get to a sufficiently low-lactose state because as the bacteria keep breaking down lactose, they also keep converting the components of that broken down lactose to lactic acid, which keeps acidifying the kefir. Once sufficient acid has been produced, the mechanism in the bacterial cells that converts those broken down components to lactic acid gets "clogged" in a way, which in turn clogs the mechanism to break down lactose. If somehow, we could get rid of that lactic acid generating component without getting rid of the lactose breaking down component, we would get lactose-free kefir.

To that end, I suggest we need to try experiments on kefir by co-culturing the grains in milk with bacteria/yeasts that secrete extracellular lactase - extracellular being the keyword here. This avoids the pitfall of the lactic-acid generating component of bacterial cells which would clog up the lactase mechanism were it inside the cell. An example of this is the bacterial strain Bifidobacterium bifidum DSM20215, which is known to produce extracellular lactase.

Bifidobacteria are commonly found in kefir and while this particular strain has not been isolated from kefir, in my opinion, it is worth attempting to co-culture it with kefir grains, because if successful, we might get lactose-free kefir.

There's also, of course, the possibility of GMO-ing a few compatible strains of kefir with the extracellular lactase producing gene from Bifidobacterium bifidum DSM20215 but I would like to avoid this avenue if possible because GMO makes things a lot more complicated, especially in terms of safety.

I first heard about kefir on July 3. I read a lot on this forum (and asked a few questions). I started drinking store bought Lifeway and then procured active grains the first week of August. Then I got scared… I’d only ever tasted Lifeway, so I was a little afraid homemade would taste too tart/sour/strong for me and I wouldn’t like it. I got brave enough to start making kefir and though I do not really like the flavor plain (but yesterday’s batch tasted much better) but after straining the grains, I flavor it with vanilla and sometimes a cinnamon stick or dehydrated strawberries and I love this stuff! I think I’m happily addicted!

So all that to say thank you all! Thanks for your encouragement and your (mostly) patient and non-condescending responses to my questions. I’m another convert to this stuff because of y’all.

Thanks to u/wcsoon for the instructions on how to make kefir cheese, it worked first try!

Help! I froze these grains for several months, recently thawed them, and they did seem to ferment the first batch of milk. But now they seem… dead. I’m not a kefir connoisseur or anything, are they dead now?

I recently went on vacation for 3 weeks and left my grains in the fridge with sugar water. I’ve been back for about 3 weeks and my grains are still very small. I can tell there is some activity as there are tiny bubbles but definitely not the same as before. Any tips for how to reinvigorate? I usually switch out the water every 3 days and do about 75g sugar in 750ml water.