Water kefir: need help please!

Did you receive fresh grains from someone local, or dehydrated in the mail? If dehydrated, your first batch hydrates the grains and your second batch becomes your first batch for consuming.

How far away is your water kefir jar in relation to other ferments in the house (sourdough, culturing vegetables, kombucha, etc.)?  Too close and there can be cross-contamination between cultures.

Plain water kefir is GROSS in general – after 24-48 hours, use a plastic strainer to strain out your grains and use them to start another batch.  Then add flavors to your finished batch, or start a double-ferment on your finished batch.  For immediate consumption, I like to add ginger (powdered or oil), raw apple cider vinegar, and stevia to taste. My sister likes to add lemon juice and stevia. For a double-ferment: add fresh or frozen fruit (1/4 – 1/2 cup per half gallon jar), put a lid on your jar, let sit on the counter 1-3 days, then strain out the fruit and enjoy. The residual bacteria eats up the sugars in the fruit.  I usually add frozen berries and lemon juice. Because the jar is capped, you may have a bit of fizz when you uncap it. You probably won’t have fizz at all after the first ferment because it is covered with a tea towel and the gasses can escape. But I don’t usually have fizz in mine unless I do an extra ferment by pouring my finished flavored kefir into grolsch bottles (truly airtight) with 1 teaspoon of organic cane sugar per bottle. Again, the residual bacteria eats up the sugar and, because the gasses can’t escape, it builds up a bit of fizz.

Make sure you are starting a new batch at least every 48 hours or so – when the grains eat up the sugars and there is nothing left over, they will eventually get gross and “die” and not be able to do their job. I sometimes don’t get to it for three days, but then I try and do back-to-back 24 hour cultures to get them good and healthy again. If you want to take a break, just put them in the fridge in a capped jar with some sugar water.

Also, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND adding minerals to your sugar water when you culture!! The grains love minerals and will stay healthy and multiply well.  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AMUWLK/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1445483807&sr=1&keywords=minerals They will last forever. I add 20 drops to a half gallon jar. Also, make sure your sugar is organic – pesticides aren’t good for grains over time.

Let’s double check to make sure you are mixing up your sugar water in the right ratios, too. I add a half cup organic cane sugar to a half gallon canning jar, swirl just enough boiling water to dissolve the sugar, then fill with cold filtered water, add 20 drops minerals, drop in my grains, cover with a tea towel and rubberband, and let it go to work!

A great resource for water kefir is http://www.culturesforhealth.com They have tons of info, FAQs, flavor combinations, videos, etc. that may help you troublshoot.

Best of luck!!

This website will have many tips. Just scroll down to the various links:

http://www.culturesforhealth.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=water+kefir

and

http://gnowfglins.com/2009/12/17/how-to-make-water-kefir/

It’s been so long since I made some, I don’t feel y advice would be valauble.