Newbie w/ Q about Kefir grains

[Mountain Chick]

Hi everyone,
I just found this board and have read several of the threads. Great recipes. Thanks so much!

My question is does anyone have extra kefir grains they are willing to share? I have a neighbor who is willing to supply me with raw, fresh goats milk and I really want to try kefir. I already make yogurt, but I know kefir is different.

By the way, I make yogurt by putting the quart jar of yogurt/milk in one of those plastic 1 gallon travel thermos and filling the thermos with hot tap water just up to the metal ring, put the lid on and in four hours...yogurt. Plus you can buy those thermoses in the camping section of Walmart for $5.

Thanks.
Deirdre

[mamaMAMAma]

I got some from gale force. You might want to check with her. She's in California also.

[Gale Force]

Deirdre,

PM me your name and address and I'll ship some out to you Monday or Tuesday. I'm sending out some others then, so this is perfect timing.

Amanda

[xenabyte]

Originally Posted by mountainmom

...By the way, I make yogurt by putting the quart jar of yogurt/milk in one of those plastic 1 gallon travel thermos and filling the thermos with hot tap water just up to the metal ring, put the lid on and in four hours...yogurt. Plus you can buy those thermoses in the camping section of Walmart for $5.

Do you still heat the milk to 115% and cool enough to add the culture, before doing this? I like this idea!!

[cjr]

Do you still heat the milk to 115% and cool enough to add the culture, before doing this? I like this idea!!

That's how I make mine too. I heat the milk to just before boiling, and add a packet of stevia. I then cool it off in a cold water bath until I can comfortably put my finger (clean) in it. Then I stir in my culture and some vanilla. Put it in a quart jar with a plastic lid and place in a small cooler we have. I then fill the cooler up with warm water, again as hot as I can stand it when I place my hands in it, just under the rim. Put the lid on and viola.

[Mountain Chick]

Yes, I still heat the milk, and then let it cool. I heat my milk in a metal bowl placed over a pan with simmering water (in other words, a double boiler), this keeps me from burning the milk. I use a Taylor candy thermometer, and when it reaches the right temp, I take it off the double boiler and then let it sit on my washer (cool metal) until the themometer says it has cooled enough. Then I strain the milk into the jars (cause the skin makes the yogurt chunky...yuck), and add the starter. Put the lid on and pop it into the big thermos. What I like about the thermoses is they are easily moved and the whole set up protects the jar. I don't even have to warm up the water if I warm up the thermos first. To do that I just fill the thermos with hot tap water, put the lid on and leave it to sit while I am heating the milk. When you put the jar in put new hot tap water and it will stay hot.
Okay, this was probably more info than you wanted to know, but it's something I enjoy making and so I like to share.

[xenabyte]

erm...have you seen the length of my 'average' post? hehehe :LOL

Never too much info!!

Thank you all, great ideas! I keep saying I'm gonna do yogurt, but I wanted a pretty simple way to do it, as I'm already dealing with my Kefir daily.

I like the Stevia idea, sweet but no added sugar!

[Merlin]

I personally never heat up the cold raw milk for kefir, I dumped kefir grain in cold raw milk straight from ref. I made one and half quart from two cups of kefir in approx one month. Some studies suggest to not heat, some studies suggest to heat it up to 100 degree (not any higher than 100). Actually it is up to you but let you know that I never heat the cold raw milk and it works fine

Cheers!

[xenabyte]

Yes, that's the beauty of Kefir...you DON'T have to heat the milk, and it'll even make Kefir in the frig!

However, regarding all the instructions I've ever seen for yogurt, they say to heat to 180 deg F (to kill off all other bacteria, enzymes, etc) so only the yogurt cultures specifically can breed.)

This is why I was wondering if anyone has actually just put yogurt culture in the milk (cold) and it worked

I finally made the yogurt yesterday using the quart jar in the thermos method, it worked AWESOME...came out nice and thick...YUMMY!! It was plain, I'm going to try vanilla and 'cocoa' flavored yogurt too... Thanks again for the tips.