want to grow grains
Matthew Levy
I'm trying to grow grains in a jar. I put in some Lifeway kefir,
added some maple syrup and filtered water and I've had it on my
counter fr several days. Cultures are definitely growing but the
clumps are really small. Will I get grains from this process if keep
waiting.
Tim Uckun
If you are trying to grow water kefir add some molasses, a couple of
pieces of dried fruit, plain old sugar, and some eggshells. I found
that using that formula I was able to grow kefir at a crazy rate. It
got to the stage where I was overwhelmed so I took 90% of it out and
dried it.
Also taste the water. You should be able to detect the acidity of the
water with taste. Change the water if it's getting acidic. Personally
I would change the water at least once every two or three days
depending on your water to kefir ratio.
Matthew Levy
with Kefir out of the bottle from Lifeway.
Is there a difference in the grains for water vs milk kefir. It is
actually milk kefir from the bottle with a little extra water and a
little dried milk and maple syrup.
On Apr 27, 9:29 am, Tim Uckun <timuc...@gmail.com> wrote:
Tim Uckun
> Thanks, Tim. Just to be clear, I didn't start with grains. I started
> with Kefir out of the bottle from Lifeway.
I am afraid I don't know what lifeway is so I got confused. I live in
New Zealand and I have never seen it here.
> Is there a difference in the grains for water vs milk kefir. It is
> actually milk kefir from the bottle with a little extra water and a
> little dried milk and maple syrup.
Yes there is a difference between milk and water kefirs. I would not
feed sugar to milk kefirs so disregard my last advice. Feed your
kefirs milk and milk only. Try to use raw milk if you can
(unpasteurized). Don't put a lot of milk at first. Just a half a cup
or so should to start with. When they split the milk add another half
a cup and shake, when they split that do the same again. After three
times or so take out the kefir and put it in fresh milk to start over.
Time how long it takes for them to split the milk. At first it should
take a while but eventually you will be able to split a liter of milk
overnight.
Another approach you can take is to buy some lifeway and fill a jar
half full of lifeway and half milk and see how long it takes to split
that milk. If it's happening pretty fast then you have good active
bacteria in there. At this point you can filter out the kefir, take
half of it for drinking and put the grains in the remaining half and
fill with milk again. Every time you do this it should take less time
to split the milk. If the milk is splitting too fast change your milk
to kefir ratio (more milk). Eventually the grains will start to clump
up and you will get big grains.
Having said all that I would ask around your town. I am pretty sure
somebody nearby has some kefir grains they can give you. Like the
water kefirs I have more milk grains than I know what to do with. I
can't drink the kefir at the rate that they are producing it so I have
to put them in the fridge for extended periods of time so they can
slow down a bit. They are very prolific so anybody who is actively
producing kefir is sure to have plenty to give away.