what's going on with my water kefir

[anomaly13]

I got some grains about a month ago from cultures for health and have been following the instructions but have not been able to drink any of the water kefir i have made for a couple reasons.

one it is too sweet and not "carbonated" enough, the reason i got it was to get a bubbly drink to add juice to so we could stop buying carbonated/mineral water for the same purpose.  but this stuff isn't getting bubbly and so dh doesn't want to use it in his drinks and i for one and not a big drinker of sweets so it is too sweet for me and ends up down the drain.  will it ever get really bubbly?

another big reason is that it never smells right.  to me it smells like vomit a little and every time i go to try and work with it and make something with it, it makes me completely turned off and gets tossed.  is this smell normal?

so i culture it for 48 hours with 1/4 c organic evaporated cane juice crystals in 1 quart water with a little black strap molasses, sea salt, and baking soda since i am using ro water.  this is what was recommended to me by a lady at cultures for health.  am i doing something wrong?  did i get a bad batch?  

i seriously am getting frustrated because i bought the grains to stop buying mineral water but still have to buy the mineral water as well as dump a batch down the drain every 2 days, what a waste!

[CoBabyMaker]

Mine just did this too.  I guess it's a yeast/bacteria imbalance.  Try rinsing them very well in plain water and put them in  fresh sugar water in the fridge (with a lid) for 2-3 days.  Then try a new batch. If this doesn't correct the problem let CFH know.  I just had this happen and couldn't get them back, they sent me new ones.  Their service is awesome!