Fastest way for cloning Milk Kefir Grains

Question

It's about two weeks that I make Kefir at home. I started with three mid-size Kefir grains, and now I have six ones (three of them are really big)

Now my friends get interested in making Kefir too. But I don't have enough Kefir grains to share with them.

Is there any quick method for cloning Kefir grains? For example, keeping them in warmer place, giving them richer milk, or something like that?

Asked by Aidin

Answer

The kefir grains are a culture of bacteria and yeast that are active at near-room temperatures. Their ideal temperature is 71F (22C). Below this and they will grow too slowly. Above this temperature, up to 86F, for extensive periods the grains will be damaged.

http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html#temperature

Building the grains takes time- there's no way around it.

You can keep the grains at exactly 71F to maximize their growth. You can also change the milk often and keep the milk to grain ratio high to ensure that the milk doesn't acidify too quickly and the grains stay active.

You may see an improvement using organic milk as it won't have residual antibiotics in it.

http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefir-faq.html#growthrate

I have not read anywhere of a way to modify the milk itself to encourage growth. You might experiment with adding a small amount of milk powder to make the milk more nutritionally dense but my gut feeling is that this would have a negligible effect if any.

I'm afraid your friends are just going to have to wait patiently.

Answered by Sobachatina

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Homemade and commercial kefirs

Question

I want to produce kefir at home for personal consumption but I don't know where to find kefir grains. Any ideas?

Some of my friends buy commercial kefirs. Do commercial kefirs in the market have the same quality as the ones produced at home?

Asked by Mehper C. Palavuzlar

Answer

Kefir grains are like sourdough starters - just not as common. It's kind of cheating to buy them- you get them from other people that are throwing away their extra.

I got mine many years ago by finding a community mailing list and sending emails to a bunch of people asking to share. Unfortunately I have since lost the community that I used.

This page:

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

Has some info including links to a couple Yahoo newsgroups where you could ask for grains.

Alternatively- if you find yourself near Austin Tx. send me a note and I'll save some for you. It requires advanced notice to save the extra grains.

If all else fails you can buy them on ebay as well.

As for your quality question. It's difficult to compare homemade and commercial kefir. The commercial kefir that I have access to is very mild and sweet. I like my homemade kefir much more tart and yeasty.

All in all it's a lot like making yogurt or homemade buttermilk. You can't necessarily get better than the good commercial products but

• You have control over all the ingredients
• It is a TON cheaper. Just the cost of milk.

Answered by Sobachatina

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Milk vs. home-made kefir

Question

I got a bit confused when looking up nutrition values for milk versus kefir made from that milk. For some reason many tables list higher values of some nutrients (e.g. potassium and magnesium) than is in the source form, i.e. the milk.

Can someone shed light on how this would happen?

I realize that lactose from the milk gets turned into carbon dioxide and alcohol, but where does it take the additional nutrients from if the only nutrition for the kefir grains is the milk and air?

Answer

It could just be the difference in milk sources. Different cows, receiving variable types of feed, produce milk with varying nutritional content. They probably only tested kefir using milk from one or at most two sources. In comparison, the figures for normal milk could be drawn from hundreds of dairy farms across the nation.

I would expect there to be changes in the carb/protein/fat content of the milk, as well as vitamins produced/consumed by the kefir. Specifically, the carbohydrate level should be lower from lactose being digested into lactic acid.

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How to properly freeze kefir grains

Question

I have been making kefir regularly for a couple years. Lately, however, my family's interest in it has waned and I have been using it less often and so feeding it less often.

I want to store some kefir grains so I don't lose them due to my own negligence. I've heard that grains can be frozen but I'm scared to kill some in the experiment.

What is a proven procedure for freezing (and subsequently rethawing) my kefir grains such that they stay viable?

Answer

Less complicated than the other method, but similar steps at the beginning. I have used two methods and both worked. I have heard success stories for grains in the freezer for over a year. No milk powder involved.

• Wash the grains in both cases.

Methods:

1. Put in fresh milk (the same you used before to make the kefir) and then freeze in a plastic container or so (I used a plastic bag)
2. Let the grains dry. Not just with kitchen tissue, but actually leave it dry for an hour or two. Finally put it into kitchen tissue and wrap that in a plastic bag or so for freezing.

For thawing I left the grains in the fridge for half a day and then gave them directly into milk.

I tested both methods, as stated. Both worked just fine. In my case the max. time was more than 2 months. However, when "reactivating" the grains it took both some time and the results of the first two or three batches were not consumable (well, I guess they were, but just not pleasurable as kefir proper).

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