Kefir Fermenters Unite!

[pepperette]

metqa! There you are! LOL Missed seeing you for a few days.
Tried my cacao nibs/milk kefir tonight. One word-- GRIND, GRIND, GRIND! I did not quite get the nibs to the powder stage, and had to keep stirring, then had to eat them. Not bad, but they take forever to chew! The mix was a bit too tart, so I added a dab of stevia, and it just sweetened it enough ( those nibs are bitter!)
metqa and porcupine- you need to join faithful and me on the 30 day kombucha challenge. It's already day 2!

[metqa]

M'kay. so where is this 30 day kombucha challenge?
Do I have to drink Kombucha everyday for 30 days?

[pepperette]

Sent you a pm.

[metqa]

Got it, I'm already on spot, since I had Kombucha Yesterday and Today. I don't drink coffee, and since I'm not driving I don't drink power drinks, and all of my teas are decafeinatted, so I'm off to a good start. Just need to drink more liquids in general. water and kefir. Hmm, I'd better restart my new brewer. last time something went wrong adn I think I made acetone or something poisonous, whole batch went down the drain and I couldn't feel my tongue properly for half an hour!

[pepperette]

Originally Posted by metqa

I think I made acetone or something poisonous, whole batch went down the drain and I couldn't feel my tongue properly for half an hour!

Mine gets a bit tart, but not as bad as that!

[iamfaithful]

Kefir thread but my buch got to 101.? With the heat mat. I took out SCOBY Cooled brew & threw in some SVOBYs from my hotel. Hope it takes off but will start some batches today. I didn't know the heat mat would get it that hot! I used an oral thermometer to take it's temp. Worked well incase you need to take the temp of your brew. Blessings!

[metqa]

Wow, I hope it works out after that steam bath, Faithful!

[pepperette]

Today I started a batch of water kefir. My grains didn't look as if they had grown any, but they were in the fridge. I started with a quart jar, and if it works out and tastes good, I might go to the half gallon jars. I made a batch of the milk kefir in one of those today. DS was teasing and said it was a good thing he did not get me a whole gallon of milk or I'd have done 2 of the jars. LOL! How right he is! I really need to get my chutzpa up and advertise for real (raw) milk on craigslist- and cream, and eggs, and chickens. I'm a big sissy.

[metqa]

I gave my water kefir grains, from Faithful, to my guy friend. He's had fun experimenting with them, but started getting gassy side effects , He said he was gonna cut back on the water kefir because of that, so I'm gonna see if he'll either return the grains to me, or split them cause I think I now I'm confident enough to be running three ferments: Kombucha, Milk Kefir and Water Kefir.
Makes me wonder how people are having such stomach upsets with kefir. Maybe cause I'm so used to eating live yogurt so long, and I don't care about gas, it's meant to come out , but I don't get tummy gas problems from kombucha or kefir or water kefir. I guess I can still claim the title of "Iron Stomach" a bit longer.

[iamfaithful]

Like gas..... This too shall pass!
My water kefir grains haven't recovered from losing all their relatives at Thanksgiving. They are making good WK but growth is slow.. Might be because of winter.. Blessings! See you on the kombucha thread!

[porcupine73]

Well since you guys brought it up haha....no gas problems here from kombucha or milk kefir....but oh my goodness...the water kefir...it was unbearable so I stopped brewing it.

I've noticed my milk kefir change consistency in the last week or so, I am guessing because it turned quite a bit colder here. It's very good, just a bit more creamier in consistency.

[iamfaithful]

Cool! I like creamy.

I put my MKSCOBY in my CB - the one that overheated. It is in the Rx Hotel now hopefully getting well. In about a month I will try using it for a batch & see if it is still alive!

[metqa]

I just drank four or five small grains. I made some kefir, last week and strained it and set it to 2F. I just had some now and it was super fizzy and still sweet. Lots of bubble and some curds. I thought I was drinking some large curds till I bit down on one and it was chewy.

I guess despite straining it, some small grains got through and maybe grew in the 2F? Amazing.

Burp!!!

[porcupine73]

That sounds good! I've had some small grains end up in second ferment. I'm guessing maybe they do grow a little because I definitely didn't see/get them out of the first ferment!

[metqa]

I kinda feel sorry for them. but I'll just assimilate them and absorb their wonderous powers into my own aura.

Power Up!!!!

[porcupine73]

Yes! They are pretty tasty, kind of a goey sour treat. Dom says they have a lot of the slimy (good) stuff in them.

[pepperette]

[pepperette]

My MKGs taste like gummy bears- can't begin to imagine what the WKGs would taste like.
I just tested my WK- tastes like pear juice, so it stays out a couple more days.
The MK was very thick last night when digging out the grains- set it to chill and this morning it was separated! Stirred it and drank a glass- yummy and thick with just a taste of tartness.

[iamfaithful]

I may have to make a meal of MKG way too many right now. Close to a cup!

WKG don't appear to have much taste. Anyone notice their WKG arnt growing real fast right now? My friend in AR said hers wernt XXing and mine are taking their sweet ime to XX. Guess it is winter blues but MKG just keep plugging along. Weird the WKG were doubling every ferment til Nov whem I mailed a bunch out and got back to 2 Tbs. Hmmm

[pepperette]

Had to put my WKGs in a new batch of sugar water- it just wasn't getting tart or fizzy, so I strained them out, rinsed jar in filtered water and made some more sugar water and "re-potted" the grains. Prolly' had too long a vacation in the fridge before I set them to brew.

Question- does anybody's milk kefir separate during or after first ferment? This is the 2nd batch in the big jars (1/2 gallon) and it did it again. Is this normal? It tastes good- nice and tart, and is thicker after stirring than the quart jars made. Of course, the grains are a bit hard to fish out, but I'm working on that.

Faithful-- how was shopping?

[metqa]

some separation is normal. you'd see little rivers of whey throughout the milk. Full separation (curds all on top, whey all on bottom) is fermented too long or too high temperature, or too many grains ( or too old milk, LOL)

[iamfaithful]

Yep Metqa is right! You can strain & it homogenizes the kefir & gets the grains out. You have to move them around a little to strain but it works! Use plastic or stainless steel. No other metal.

My wkg never gets fizzy cause I don't like the fizz...I use it to mix with other things. Did the fizz thing but I get that with with my KT.

Shopping was 7.5 hours & $3700 but I bought $1000 for my son to use during the renovation. I am in a state of shock cause that doesn't even cover the carpet & windows I need to order tomorrow. I just trust my boss to meet my need when the bill is due in 18 months! I never get wants just needs and this house has been let go for 24 years! It was a lot of laughing! We had a lot of fun!

[pepperette]

Originally Posted by metqa

some separation is normal. you'd see little rivers of whey throughout the milk. Full separation (curds all on top, whey all on bottom) is fermented too long or too high temperature, or too many grains ( or too old milk, LOL)

Thanks metqa , that really is as clear as mud! LOL

[metqa]

Hahaha, Okay, Uh....uhhh....

Okay So let say you put your milk in and let it set.... First the grains will rise to the top, but the milk will still be ... y'know, milky.

later you will start to see little clear pockets. The milk will still be all white, but sorta with yellow freckles. This is the start of the separation. You can't see through it, but you see little yellow clear pockets.

even later, you'll start to see rivulets, little streams of yellow where the whey is collecting but can't stay at the same level so the curds start to rise and the whey moved down into the empty space creating little paths of yellow rivers throughout the jar. the top will look much lumpier as the gas and rising curds push up on the floating grains. This is a good time to jiggle the jar, as this tends to be more at the top half while the bottom still looks solidly milky. This is also a good time to be prepared to stop the ferment.

Even later, the acid level is getting so high that the milk curds are becoming tightly bound and squeezing out the whey at a greater rate, you will see a thin layer of yellow whey on the bottom as the gassy curds push their way to the top. This is a good time to end the first ferment...

Uh Oh, much much much much later, the curds are so tightly formed that they are beady an have completely separated from the whey. Your jar will be half filled with clear yellow whey, and floating on the top, individual granules of curdled milk and your grains.

There,... Clear as whey!!

[iamfaithful]

Scale #s nnever disappoint me but sometimes like this morning they surprise me...

today & I feel so to have this happen

guess it is the tweaks I took out for the Honey Badger challenge.

will prolly bounce back up so I don't get

just saying & I you guys!

OK don't get upset , I forgot to tell you.

168.6 by noon it will go up ~ I dont count it a loss unless it stays there for a week!

Eat healthy today!

OOPS! Wrong thread! Guess I was supposed to share this here

[porcupine73]

My MKG doesn't usually separate too much during the first ferment, but by day 3 of the second ferment it is completely separated. Here's a pic of my MKG brews. The oldest is on the left, and then each one to the right is one day younger on second ferment.

[metqa]

Thanks for the Photos Porcupine. Yup, All my 2nd ferments separate like that. It's a given since it's already mostly there. My mom doesn't even let it get as far as separating to the rivulets stage, she likes it more like .... Ugh... Buttermilk!!!! Don't know why I don't like buttermilk, but Mom says the mild short ferment kefir tastes like it, maybe that's why I ferment the heck out of my milk to make it something completely different.

Milk Soda, FIZZZZZZZZZ!

[pepperette]

Mine generally looks like the left one, only more "curds" on top. I'm using 1/2 gallon jars and fill it just to where it starts to curve upwards into the "neck" part. I usually mix it up a couple times during the first 24 hours. Since it is cooler in here, I taste it then and decide if I want more tartness and let it set a few more hours before refrigerating. Have only noticed fizzy the one time I did chocolate milk and tried to mix it back up (it separated, also). Lost half a quart jar in the ensuing spew!

[metqa]

Originally Posted by pepperette

Lost half a quart jar in the ensuing spew!

[pepperette]

Only to a fellow "brewer" could that be funny! I tried catching it in a bowl, but every time I loosened the lid, it just boiled out underneath! Chocolate foam- YUM!