homemade kefir and yogurt help me out....

[Rebbetzin]

Whole milk works best, and make sure it is not ultrapasteurized. I gave some grains to my mom, and told her to use whole milk. Of course, she still thinks skim is the best milk, and tried making her kefir with skim. It didn't turn out, but she could not bring herself to buy whole milk. (too much brainwashing) She tossed her grains.

My grains are growing very slowly this winter.

My favorite Kefir is "Lifeway" brand. To duplicate it's rich, smooth and creamy flavor, I add half and half or cream to the milk and once and a while I buy some Lifeway, (plain) and add it to the milk for the kefir.

I hear you can make Kefir with water.. But I think it would be yucky!

Here is the best Kefir site I have ever seen...

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

 

[CrimsonRose]

I have my grains ordered! Can't wait till they get here! I do use whole milk I switched over a few years back Hubby still picks up 2% from time to time but I don't let him go shopping much so it's ok... LOL

I know what you mean about the skim milk brainwashing... hence why hubby buys 2% (his excuse "it has SOME fat in it for the kids but not too much to kill me") at least he's learned not to bring skim into this house He was raised on skim and actually griped about the taste of whole milk at first... now it's grown on him

So anyone have more info on the water keifer? would it be like homemade soda or something? could you use fruit juice? but that would just make wine wouldn't it?

 

[miss_thenorth]

Whole milk works best, and make sure it is not ultrapasteurized. I gave some grains to my mom, and told her to use whole milk. Of course, she still thinks skim is the best milk, and tried making her kefir with skim. It didn't turn out, but she could not bring herself to buy whole milk. (too much brainwashing) She tossed her grains.

My grains are growing very slowly this winter.

My favorite Kefir is "Lifeway" brand. To duplicate it's rich, smooth and creamy flavor, I add half and half or cream to the milk and once and a while I buy some Lifeway, (plain) and add it to the milk for the kefir.

I hear you can make Kefir with water.. But I think it would be yucky!

Here is the best Kefir site I have ever seen...

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

I make water kefir, and it's not yucky. It's actually sweetened water, and it sort of tastes like soda. You can flavour it with different fruits etc. My fave so far is strawberry and ginger. I just got done drying some extra grains, and I'm sending them out to see if they can be reconstituted successfully. You need to have some type of unrefined sugar and that is what the kefir grains feed off of. It multiplies like crazy.

 

[Rebbetzin]

I hear you can make Kefir with water.. But I think it would be yucky!

Here is the best Kefir site I have ever seen...

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html

I make water kefir, and it's not yucky. It's actually sweetened water, and it sort of tastes like soda. You can flavour it with different fruits etc. My fave so far is strawberry and ginger. I just got done drying some extra grains, and I'm sending them out to see if they can be reconstituted successfully. You need to have some type of unrefined sugar and that is what the kefir grains feed off of. It multiplies like crazy.

I am glad to hear water kefir it is not "yucky"....

I may try it. It might be a refreshing change in the summertime

Let me know if the dried Kefir grains can be reconstituted. I keep mine for months at a time in the freezer. Periodically I "refresh" them and when I get tired of making it, or am going out of own, I pop a couple of tablespoons of grains in the freezer. So, far they come back to life very nicely from a frozen state. My grains are about 5 or 6 years old now, Well, they are probably not the same original grains anymore.

 

[ORChick]

Kefir grains (at least, milk kefir grains do dehydrate nicely; more to the point, they also rehydrate well . I keep some dehydrated, and stored in the fridge, *just in case* something happens to the active ones, or to send to others who need them. I just sent off two batches, so need to dry some more. If I'll be away from home for a bit, several weeks, or if production gets ahead of usage, I just put the active grains in a jar with fresh milk, cap it tightly, and store it in the fridge. The fermentation is slowed way down by the cold, and the grains (and milk) come out of the fridge in a perfectly usable state.

 

[Bethanial]

I just started my grains 2 nights ago (Thanks ORchick! ) The outside kitties are loving this new experiment of mine 1st night I just put 'em in a 8 oz mason jelly jar with about 6 or 7 ozs of milk and set it on top of the frig. The milk hadn't thickened up any last night when I swapped it out, but the grains sure had plumped to about double, and they were definitely no longer dehydrated! There wasn't any off smell to the milk, either, which I was expecting based on the main kefir thread. It sure was warm, though! (Warmer than room temp, which is I why I put it up on top of frig, we keep the house at about 64-67 in the winter)

So, Rebbetzin, based on what you're saying (Lifeway is the only kefir I've tried), if I want it thick like that I'll need to use cream, or even part of their kefir in mine?

 

[ORChick]

Beth, glad they are coming along so well for you. I'm amazed that they they don't stink at this point; they always have when I rehydrate them. Maybe because yours hadn't been in the dry state for a really long time . Your end product will get thicker in time; they are still re-finding their balance, and that takes a week or so.

 

[Bethanial]

Great to know that they'll thicken over time. And who knows - maybe it'll stink to high heavens when I open it up tonight

 

[Rebbetzin]

So, Rebbetzin, based on what you're saying (Lifeway is the only kefir I've tried), if I want it thick like that I'll need to use cream, or even part of their kefir in mine?

Well, that is what I came up with after a year of making Kefir I didn't like at all!

I put in Half and half, or add a bit of cream to the milk Right now it takes two days to thicken up due to the 68 degrees here in the house. In the summer, it only takes one day or less sometimes to thicken up. But, by adding the Lifeway, it appeared to me to make it very mild tasting and not so "fermented" or "carbonated". I don't like it when it has fermented too much.

I have yet to try making kefir with raw goat milk... I ought to try. But I am afraid it will go all "goatie" tasting. As it is, I milk on Tuesday, by Sat. the milk us usually too "goatie" for my tastebuds. On Sunday I give the chickens the goat milk. They don't seem to mind it being "goatie"!

Anyone make Kefir with raw goat milk?

 

[Bethanial]

Update - night 2 swap out, it didn't stink, but it didn't smell good, either. The kitties enjoyed it again. Night 3 swap out (last night) there was a good layer of whey(?) at the bottom, and a layer maybe 1-1/2 - 2" thick of really THICK curd(?). I poured it into a bowl, and fished through it with my really clean hands , and found my grains. It didn't smell horrible - a little sour, and I gingerly licked a finger (after transferring all the grains) and it tasted sour - not that awful "ewww, that's sour milk" taste, just a sour taste. So I shared that batch (once more) with the kitties - gave the dog some too, and decided if tonight's batch taste's like that, then I do indeed have kefir! If not, well, I'll keep swapping out milk for a few more days.