For water kefir 2nd fermentation, I’m a bit nervous of the explosions I’ve heard about. Is it best to get a self burping lid? I definitely want the fizziness but not all over my ceiling. I’d love any suggestions on people process on what has worked the best for them. Thank you!!

I made kefir, then let it ferment for a second time with a little bit of kefir grains in it for 9 hours. After drinking a little, I sealed it again and left it at room temperature. About 12 hours later, it separated, with whey forming on top (it usually forms on the bottom). When I opened it, it had a strong cheesy smell, like homemade cheese (similar to feta or sirene), and the whey was clearly visible with a slight kefir separation. I then put it in the fridge, and after 15 hours, I took it out.

So, the question is: is it still good to drink? It smells very cheesy and looks yellowish, like in the picture.

This is comical but annoying as well

My kefir keeps exploding, my wife is about to kibosh my fermenting due to kefir grains on the ceiling

I’m talking 12 hours at most then booooom

I’m just letting it sit at room temperature

Any suggestions?

How can I make kefir? I tasted this divine manna at school and can't forget it

Anyone have trouble with fusion teas. I bought some milk kefir grains. I paid an extra 15 dollars to get here fast,and I received bad kefir.

This is my first time making kefir.

I bought 3 packs of kefir water crystals from Amazon.

For the first pack, I didn't put the crystals in the fridge at all; I just opened the bag, followed the instructions on the bag, mixed 60g of sugar with 750 ml of water, added half a lemon juice, and some dried figs (these were the instructions on the bag).

I had no issues, and it looks like they’ve fermented.

The second and third bags of crystals were kept in the fridge for 5-6 hours, then I followed the same instructions as the first batch.

40 hours later, only the first batch has fermented.

Are the other ones dead? Or why haven’t they fermented?

I want a really tart and strong kefir but also easy straining before it becomes too thick. Can I just strain the grains lets say in 20hrs and let it ferment for 3 days total?

Usually my kefir has a distinct yeasty smell. This evening it smells kind of funky stinky but color looks normal. Has it gone bad?

My friend gave me a jar of already fermented Kefir with instructions to:

skim off the top of the kefir, pour the remaining in a container for drinking and put the 'skimmed off' portion back in the original jar with milk to referment.

Because I have done much reading on making Kefir I used a plastic strainer to pour the Kefir through to strain out the grains except there were None. Not even any little tiny ones.

I then put the kefir in two separate jars (I had no way to 'skim off the top' at this point and added milk to both.

The next morning both jars had separation at the bottom but having seen NO GRAINS, is this kefir or just fermented milk?

I'm planning on making my own kefir as store bought kefir is too expensive for me now but I just adore it. The only thing is I've seen some people talking about how you need to build up your tolerance. If I drink a lot of store bought kefir is my tolerance already built or will I need to build it again due to different/greater strength of probiotics? I'm sure there are going to be differences. Also if anyone has any advice for getting started or any resources I can look at I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi, I’ve been drinking kefir daily for a month now and definitely have felt some benefits. I originally started for my ibs and general gut issues that i was having, which kefir has helped somewhat since I started. Im also into fasting and the benefits that has on my gut. I was wondering if anyone has tried ‘kefir fasting’? As in drinking only kefir and nothing else for a couple days to see if it has any extra benefits for gut healing and health, and maybe if it can help with the probiotic effects of kefir. Either a big cup of kefir once a day or split into smaller amounts throughout the day for consistent probiotics. Thanks

Last year I started making my own kefir with goats milk and kefir starts from a local market. I probably made 5 or 6 batches and drank them and then started having panic attacks.

I have always had anxiety but never full blown panic attacks. The timing could have been coincidental but given the relationship between the gut and the brain I wonder if they’re related.

Has anyone else experienced this?

New to water kefir. Started off with new grains, and while I do detect a yeasty taste after a few days, I still feel like it's a very sweet drink. Is there a way to get it tarter? Minerals? Longer ferment? Just how it's supposed to be?

Does the process of fermenting eat the fat content out of full cream milk?

If someone on the street would have told me 6 months ago that I'd be addicted to fizzy sour milk I would have thought they were bonkers 😅. But I seriously miss it now if I run out before my next batch is ready. I'm glad I found this group and found out the difference between grains and culture. My culture batches tasted ok but they never got fizzy. Took a bit but my batches are seriously fizzy now and very tasty.

Can I just poor out the kefir and leave the grains in the bottom of the jar for reusing? Or do they need to be strained with the milk? Thank you

I would like something that taste closer to Greek yoghurt or Bulgarian yoghurt. I am making kefir with raw milk and getting a mild taste and not very thick. What can I do to get it to more yoghurt like.

Following up from update 1 here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Kefir/s/l1VbDGo5YZ

So my kefir grains seem to haaaaate the sweetened, unfiltered nut/oat milk that has been in their home jar in the fridge. I have about a dozen experiments that I want to run, though, so I have begrudgingly bought some full fat cow milk to rejuvenate them. It will also be beneficial to have them multiply so I can have lots of grains and not worry about having to get more if I kill these. I still think the second batch was a success, but the nondairy milk I made for their home jar was slightly different and much thicker. They seem to have shrunk a bit, which is sad.

I’m going to hopefully grow the amount of kefir grains I have, though. Once I start getting results from future nondairy experiments, I’ll post another update! Also, I learned that it’s best for food safety to cook homemade nondairy milks before fermenting them, so just an fyi to anyone who comes across this post.

I read this article https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.05.11.23289760v1 which basically says that having Fusicatenibacter bacteria in your gut microbiome is associated with having higher intelligence.

And then I read this article https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/218313v2.full which says that having Fusicatenibacter in your gut is associated with drinking milk kefir.

So obviously, I'd like my kids to grow up healthy and intelligent, so I'm starting to add kefir to our diet.

Does all milk kefir have Fusicatenibacter? If not, how do I test if my kefir strain has it? Does someone sell kefir grains where they have tested which specific microbes are present?

Well I think they all died or stopped working. The grains still produce bubbles but the F2 doesn‘t fizz anymore and it tastes way to sweet and there‘s this weird sugary/ rotten egg smell to all of the water kefir, also F1.

The only thing that changed is the outside temps. Is there a way to acclimate the Kefir grains or other tricks to keep them up? Or did I over-feed them? I use half a Teaspoon in every F1.

I just got my first kefir grains from someone local and I’m excited! They are organic and in raw milk. What is the best way to make the transition of the grains to whole pasteurized milk? I’m curious from other’s experience the best way to do this. Thank you in advance for your help!

I keep over fermenting my kefir by accident. This makes the taste too sour and yeasty. I'd rather not throw away the over fermented kefir. Is there a good way to improve the taste at this point?

I was successfully making kefir for a few months before leaving my grains in milk in the fridge for 5-6 months. I want to revive them and start making kefir again, but I don't want to waste the good expensive milk while doing the wash and revival. Would it be okay to use store bought 2% milk during this process? Would it help to keep a little of the fermented kefir added to it? What ratio should I use?

Hi, I out my kefir in a dark fresh place and they are growing so slow! I wanna share with my hubby but takes a lot. I have it since two days ago. 500ml of milk . Thank you

Im just wondering if this should work: adding milk to mostly kefir and leaving it at room temp for a few hours, to make more kefir? I got some lowfat trader joes kefir, and ive been adding whole milk, but im not exactly sure how i should be doing this… any tips would be appreciated!

I’ve been making water kefir for some time now. I think I’m ready to start making milk kefir. Anyone local have some grains they’d like to share or sell.