Kefir? Milk or water kefir?

[GoodyGoodyGumdrops]

Does anyone make this at home?

Is it a lot of work? What happens to the grains if you don't look after them properly, forget them for a week or two, say?

Anyone?

I've grown both but have the milk kefir away in the end. Water kefir is actually pleasant, I flavour mine with lemon or ginger mostly. It's slightly fizzy and really refreshing. Milk kefir is rather more hardcore and a bit of an acquired taste, although I do know people who really enjoy it.

Water kefir grains are much more resilient too, IME. You can pop both sorts in the fridge when you fancy a break from production but I find the water grains bounce back from that much more happily than the milk grains.

There's loads of info on line about how it all works

I've been making milk kefir for a while. It's very little work. The grains go in a big jar, to which I add enough milk to fill the jar 3/4 of the way up. I put a kitchen-paper 'lid' on the jar and leave it on the windowsill. After 24 hours or so, I strain off the kefir into a bowl, rinse the grains with cold water, clean the jar, then put the grains back in the jar with fresh milk. When I want to put things on hold I just stick the jar in the fridge with a little milk (enough to just cover the grains). Have left it like this up to 2 weeks and it's been fine. When I want to start again I rinse the grains/clean the jar/put grains back in with fresh milk as normal and get another 24-hour cycle going. Thinking of trying water kefir next.

If you forget milk grains (out of the fridge) it's yaksville and you'd need to get rid of them. water grains can handle that much better although they might be a bit unhappy and need some coaxing to rebalance the bacteria.

So, yeah. I'd say try the water grains first and then maybe the milk ones later if you get on well.

Faff is pretty minimal but it is another job to be done IYSWIM

I've used milk grains. I found them a big faff in the end because when summer came, it was impossible to stop everything going off. I was also slightly forgetful probably too and left them over 24 hours. In the end i stopped doing it because i just seemed to have a jug of off rotting milk in my kitchen more than i had a jug of kefir.

I did also use the powder as well as the grains. The powder is much easier as you don't have to wash all the grains but it runs out. Works a bit like a yoghurt culture.

Am going to look for water grains now. Didn't know you could do that. Thought it had to be coconut water. Will look it up now, thanks.

Watching as I have started making milk kefir. Our kitchen is cold so I need to leave it for 36-48 hours. Glad to hear the grains can be left in the fridge for a couple of weeks!

What do you use to store your kefir? I haven't found anything I am happy with.

There's lots of info online, but it's all from enthusiasts - I need to know about failures, too

I've only just discovered kefir, and I love it. Well, rediscovered it, really, as I recognised the taste. I'd often had it as a child, but I hadn't known what it was. I don't know whether I've ever had water kefir, though.

If you google 'kefir strainer' there are loads of options. I'd not come across the powder, might be a good first-attempt option.