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I have had kefir grains (symbiotic colonies of bacteria and yeast adapted to the fermentation of milk to produce kefir, which is a bit like a thin, drinkable yogurt; the grains look a bit like cauliflower florets) for about a week now, and they have about tripled in volume. I'm trying to get the fermentation time and temperature right to produce the result I want (a sour but not curd-y kefir with a prickle of CO2) but my results, while not ideal so far, are perfectly drinkable. It is looking like the reason my previous efforts were curd-y is that I overfermented, so I tried shorter fermenting times yesterday and got something more like what I wanted. Yay!
However the kefir grains need to be in milk pretty much all the time, and shorter fermenting times means more messing with them during the day and also more kefir than I can drink, so I'm moving them out of the oven, where I was keeping them with the light on to get to the ideal fermenting temp of 75 degrees F, onto the counter which is more like 68 degrees F, to see if I can push the fermenting time back up to 24 hours.
Messing with the kefir is basically a few minutes to strain the grains out of the old kefir and put them in new milk, but it does involve running the dishwasher more often, as the mason jars I ferment in, and their lids, and the sieve, and the bowl into which I pour the kefir all have to be cleaned. In some ways this is good as I have less leeway to let the dirty dishes build up to intimidating heights, but still, I expect there will be times I don't feel like it, and then I can put the kefir grains in less milk and put them in the fridge for a while. They can last up to two weeks that way, so vacations are not a big deal.
This will be cheaper than store bought kefir. Also, if someone in the neighborhood wants kefir grains I will have some to give away in about a week.
However the kefir grains need to be in milk pretty much all the time, and shorter fermenting times means more messing with them during the day and also more kefir than I can drink, so I'm moving them out of the oven, where I was keeping them with the light on to get to the ideal fermenting temp of 75 degrees F, onto the counter which is more like 68 degrees F, to see if I can push the fermenting time back up to 24 hours.
Messing with the kefir is basically a few minutes to strain the grains out of the old kefir and put them in new milk, but it does involve running the dishwasher more often, as the mason jars I ferment in, and their lids, and the sieve, and the bowl into which I pour the kefir all have to be cleaned. In some ways this is good as I have less leeway to let the dirty dishes build up to intimidating heights, but still, I expect there will be times I don't feel like it, and then I can put the kefir grains in less milk and put them in the fridge for a while. They can last up to two weeks that way, so vacations are not a big deal.
This will be cheaper than store bought kefir. Also, if someone in the neighborhood wants kefir grains I will have some to give away in about a week.
