Can I Make Raw Milk Kefir Without the Grains?

[LilacMama]

Help me, I'm a clueless newbie.


I have raw milk. I have a bottle of plain kefir from the grocery store. I also have a kefir starter that appears to be powdered and suggests heating the milk up to 180 degrees first in the instructions.

I don't want to heat my raw milk up to 180 degrees.
I don't have kefir grains.

Can I make kefir with what I have or not? Thanks!

[dogmom327]

My experience with powdered starter is much more limited than with grains but the powdered starter is very similar to yogurt cultures. The main issue with adding a culture to raw milk is that the bacteria in raw milk is very strong and will compete (and normally win) against the culture you are adding. Therefore you can probably make kefir once or maybe twice but it's unlikely the kefir bacteria will survive beyond that (thus heating the milk to 180 to kill the milk bacteria).

For raw milk, hands down you will be better off in the long run with kefir grains which can be used repeatedly.