Thinking of making my own kefir...

[JMJ]

Right now, we buy milk kefir in the store, but we don't use very much of it at all. I am lactose intolerant, so I can't just drink it by the glass, but we use it for soaking grains and in place of milk in biscuit recipes because I tolerate it better than plain milk. It's just the perfect arrangement that we can buy it from the store and use about a quart in 2 weeks except for the fact that it is low-fat, vitamin enriched, and contains inulin. I'd be happy to make a quart of milk kefir every couple weeks, but from everything I've read, it's much happier if you keep the culture going every day, and that would mean a quarter cup of kefir every day. I'm not entirely convinced it's worth all that work and trying to keep my kefir grains down to the amount needed for a quarter cup of kefir. Thoughts, anyone?

Water kefir, I think I could keep up with a lot better. We don't use it yet, but I'm thinking of starting. I'm looking for using it as my probiotic. I've never tried it before, so I don't know if I'd like it, but if I'm convinced it's good for me, I'll probably learn to like it. Right now, I pretty much just drink water with a little bit of herbal tea on occasion. My body doesn't handle sugary drinks well. That's my only concern with the water kefir right now. The kefir cultures need sugar to ferment, and how much of that sugar is still sugar when it gets into my body, or will the cultures help make it more digestible? What about all the recipes that recommend mixing kefir with fruit juice. I know it's better than soda, but is it better than drinking water? Maybe it's a good once in a while treat.

So, I'm trying to figure out do I do just milk, just water, or both? I could soak my grains in water kefir. Could I use yogurt in biscuits? I'm going to start making my own yogurt that can be made on the counter, so presumably it's safe on the counter for soaking grains? Do you think that would work in my recipe? That would be easiest. Otherwise, is there an easier way to handle the milk kefir?

Thanks, mammas.

[Koalamom]

We are allergic to sugar so when we make our water kefir we use maple syrup. The grains seem to love it and are doing well on it. We can't do dairy at all.

[Faliciagayle]

There's definitely no problem with soaking grains in yogurt or buttermilk if you don't want to invest the time in dairy kefir. I don't want to go through all the trouble, either, so if/when we soak in dairy I use buttermilk.

The longer you let your kefir ferment, the more sugar is consumed. So a 2-3 day countertop ferment, plus a day or two extra fermentation after straining would result in a relatively dry beverage. It's probably 10% sugar at that point.

But you are getting the probiotics - which you don't get from water, soda, or juice...

[gardenmommy]

Well, I'll admit to being the lazy one. I only give my grains fresh milk about 2 or 3 times a week, or whenever I remember it. I have probably 1- 1 1/2 cups of grains in about 1 quart milk. I use it in smoothies and for baking. I think you could store it in the fridge if you didn't want to make very much kefir. Otherwise, I would just do what a PP said and use buttermilk for soaking.

[JMJ]

I'm less concerned about soaking and more concerned about making biscuits since I really can't tolerate regular milk. I've heard that when you store it in the fridge, it takes a few batches to get the cultures going again. Does anybody know of a good way to treat it kinda like sourdough where you take it out of the fridge once a week or so and make some kefir and then feed it and put it back?

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by JMJ

I'm less concerned about soaking and more concerned about making biscuits since I really can't tolerate regular milk. I've heard that when you store it in the fridge, it takes a few batches to get the cultures going again. Does anybody know of a good way to treat it kinda like sourdough where you take it out of the fridge once a week or so and make some kefir and then feed it and put it back?

Putting it back in the fridge regularly tends to be hard on the kefir grains. I'm not saying you can't do it, just that it's hard on the grains in the long run. You might look at a powdered kefir culture instead. It has a limited lifespan but it a lot like yogurt in that you just take a little from the previous batch to make the next batch. You'd want to make it at least once a week but it goes in the fridge in the meantime. Kefir cultures have a couple of downsides. First, they are only reusable for a limited number of batches--I've heard everything from 5 to several months worth. Second, they have fewer probiotic strains than do kefir grains (7-10 vs. around 30). It would really depend on the individual if it's strong enough to allow you to use it despite a dairy intolerance. Just a thought anyway

[JMJ]

Thanks for that information, dogmom. If I go with water kefir as my main probiotic, the kefir starter cultures may be just what I'm looking for in recipes. Still exploring my options, though, would it be reasonable to attempt to make 1/4 cup or so of milk kefir a day, or would it be really complicated to keep the population down far enough to keep my grains fed with that little milk?

[JMJ]

Oh, and one more question: Does anybody have any information on the lactose content of homemade milk kefir. I know I can handle yogurt if I strain out the whey.