r/Kefir

Started brewing Kefir a couple months ago, and now everyone who enters my kitchen is subjected to a science and history lesson about kefir.

Does anyone else do this too?

This was taken then morning after the night of straining and bottling. Was nicely fermented the first time, little to know whey. Nice and smooth.

Any ideas?

This is my third batch of new grains which travelled for 4 days. It's extremely hot where I live so I put it in a cabinet where it's cooler. This was done for about 16-17 hours. There was some splitting between the whey.

Is this normal?

Is it okay to let more grains in the same amount of milk?

Or should i throw them away or what should i do(i already have some of them to freez as a backup)

To preface this post: I'm a Web Developer who has never laid foot into 3D Modeling. The past years I've worked with AI a lot and I recently got into 3D printing to print a gift for my little brother. Buying the prints outright would've cost the same as this Ender 3 V3 SE I got. So I decided I'd just get into the hobby. I've been eyeing it for such a long time!

Being a developer, I downloaded AutoDesk Fusion and used Model-Context-Protocol (MCP) to connect Claude Opus 4.7 with AutoDesk. I told it exactly what kind of model I needed, a few minutes later it created this perfect 3D Model just like I asked for. I did need to iron a few things out so it would make sense to print, but it obliged without issues. I'm astonished by what AI is able to do. It's a scary technology and we attribute a lot of losses to the human touch. But for me, it simply helped me do something I never would've had the time to do.

Now for the print, I've been struggling with straining my kefir without the strained milk pouring off the side outside my container. That's no longer an issue. I simply pour in everything and out comes my kefir. No juggling a funnel and sieve, stuff dripping everywhere, trying to hold it all together.

I posted it on printables if anyone else needs something like this: https://www.printables.com/model/1716792-screw-together-strainer-funnel-for-bottle-to-bottl/files

Been making kefir at home for almost two years with grains purchased from a reputable online shop. I went on holiday for three and a half weeks and had no other option but to leave my grains in the fridge (in the past, freezing and drying didn't work). I divided them into two jars of fresh milk (from the supermarket), one about 500 ml and one about 1 L. Came back to what you can see in the photos, yellow/orange/pinkish wrinkly slightly fluffy layer on top. The body of the jars looks fine from the outside (although it has separated), but I haven't poured nor strained them yet so it's only an assumption based on looks. The top layer smells like aged moldy goat cheese - not a super strong smell, and not a "green" smell like blue cheese, but definitely an aged cheese smell. Not unpleasant if one likes this kind of cheeses (which I do). But... definitely a strong smell for kefir in my limited experience. A bit like a strong matsoni yogurt.

I have a tendency to err on the side of caution so I wanted to check here if I am being excessive in thinking something has gone wrong and this should not be consumed. Should I toss these grains? Or can they be salvaged?

My kefir has this massive congealed mass in it. It doesn't smell bad, but it doesn't look right and it doesn't quite have the kefir grain look to it anymore. I try to rinse it with milk, but it stays the same.

Are these still even grains?

Thank you in advance and happy Mothers day!

Should I store my Kefir babies in some milk in the fridge? Or on their own with some rest from the last fermentation it's ok? Or I should wash them?

Any other advice is very appreciated!

I prepare them for 5-6 days completely sealed in a glass bottle in a dry and not so cold but not so warm place, without direct light, always with „Fresh Bio/Organic Whole Milk 3,8% Fat".

Then I drain them, to put them in a glass bottle in the fridge to drink daily, I drain them actually with my salad washer 😂 because I don't have a plastic sieve and it's very hard to find one where I live. I will have to order one. But so far it works. The only problem is that sometimes the mushrooms go through the sieve and I end up drinking them, but I think there's no problem with that right? 😂

Thank you so much :)

For context, I kept it at room temperature for approximately 24 hours and this is what has happened perhaps due to the high temperature outside. What to do? Keep it and consume it or throw it away?

I just bought them and I have only done 2 batches I use
Milk that has not been homogenized so the cream rises to the top of the kefir after letting it sit for 24 hrs and I’m not sure if some of the cream ends up mixed with the grains because it looks like it , is it fine?

Since it's summer here, I noticed it's fermenting quicker relatively. How do I turn them back to the original color?

Yesterday i got some kefir grains from a friend and placed a tsp of grains in a cup of A2 grass fed whole milk. It's been about 28hrs and nothing's happening😭

This morning I checked on my kefir and it had this purple layer on top I have never seen before. consistency-wise It's a bit thiner/more watery than the rest, like when the milk separates slightly during fermentation. It doesn't smell off.

For context, these grains have been going for ~10 years. Lately production has been taking a bit longer (~5 days for a litre), but I put it down to the weather getting cooler (I'm in the southern hemisphere).

Interesting article about kefir in ancient times. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/mummy-cheese-discovery