Kefir Milk

[sub82]

Anyone giving this a go?

Had been buying Kefir milk in cartons from a Lithuanian shop and decided to give it a go at home. Bought the grains and have been changing the milk every 24 hours. Nice to have another sour drink on the go!!

[auralabuse]

I made some kombucha a few times alright, not sure if the process is the same. Enjoy that and it seems to settle any tummy problems the kids had

[Will_D]

I see the milk is readily available but where can you buy the grains?

I would think also that you could use some of the milk to culture up your own grains?

[gazz]

I have been making kefir for a while, you just add a few grains to some milk and leave overnight, grains multiply so have some spare if needed

[sub82]

I see the milk is readily available but where can you buy the grains?

I would think also that you could use some of the milk to culture up your own grains?

I also thought this but then read that the commercially available stuff is fermented with a few of the main bugs (for consistency) and grains contain many more. Bought some grains online (think here - Kefir Shop) and am getting to the same point of gazz where they're starting to multiply.

[Will_D]

So this afternoon off I went to Swords.

Parked up at the Old Boro and into the Pavillions to the "Health Store".

Yes they had the milk at €5.30 for 500 ml (FFS)

Also had the grains, bag of 6 by 5 gm starters for €28 (FFFFFS)

But I only need one says I! Tough Titty says shop!

Long story short, Bought the milk, into fridge for 2 days to let the solids settle and then step up a culture.

" the commercially available stuff is fermented with a few of the main bugs (for consistency) and grains contain many more" Err how come??

That means that the commercial milks are not the real deal?

[gazz]

Can post you grains will_d if ya need em

[Will_D]

Cheers Gazz, first off I will do the cultureing/upscaleing bit!

I will put the milk on the stir plate and see what happens.

[sub82]

Yes they had the milk at €5.30 for 500 ml (FFS)

The Polish section in Tesco/Sainsbury's will do it for a couple of quid.

That means that the commercial milks are not the real deal?

It's still a probiotic drink but from what I've read there's way more diversity in Kefirr from the grains than from commercial Kefir. Guess it depends whether the manufacturer uses grains or not.

Will be interested to see how your culturing experiment goes!

[auralabuse]

They are on adverts for about a fiver I think

[Eoin]

I used to do it for a while a few years back but went on a holiday and got out of the practice.
It's weird stuff, fizzy yoghurt takes a while to get used to.

Once you get used to it it's quite nice.

The homemade stuff has very little to do with the commercially bought, the cartons would expand and blow up if they were the real thing...

You can also use the water kefir grains to make a beer of sorts.

[Will_D]

So after a few days to settle, poured off the milk and we drank it. Not bad at all.

So with the bottom of the bottle I grew up 250 ml on the stir plate. After 48 hours there had been some activity, allowed to settle poured off 200 ml and tasted it. A bit thin but the taste was there.

Made up to 500 ml and back on for 48 hours.

After 24 hours already looking much thicker.

[Eoin]

So after a few days to settle, poured off the milk and we drank it. Not bad at all.

So with the bottom of the bottle I grew up 250 ml on the stir plate. After 48 hours there had been some activity, allowed to settle poured off 200 ml and tasted it. A bit thin but the taste was there.

Made up to 500 ml and back on for 48 hours.

After 24 hours already looking much thicker.

Come back to us when you have gelatinous grains floating about in it, it'll start as a slimy mess, but that will turn into grains eventually.

The ethos of kefir is generally free exchange for postage by the way, you shouldn't really have to pay for grains, there are groups all over the internet.

[irish_goat]

There's a person in Cork offering starters as well on boards.

[gazz]

Have a few starters spare if anyone wants em, send me Addy and I'll post out