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7 votes
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What is the difference in the making of yoghurt to produce carbonated (like Kefir) vs non-carbonated yoghurt?

There are different kinds of lactic acid fermentation which are done by different kinds of bacteria and/or yeasts. The simplistic picture is that yogurt is typically made with only two types of ...
greedyscholars's user avatar
7 votes

How can I make my kefir milk smooth and creamy instead of watery and grainy?

I've been making kefir for about 2 years now and I've noticed a few things one of which is what you mentioned - kefir not thick and creamy. I've found when you use too many grains that's what happens. ...
Debbie's user avatar
  • 71
7 votes
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What are the mechanics of raw milk and products made from it?

Basically the processes are those that have been used for 1000's of years. Components of the milk along with some bacterial species that are commonly found in milk can, under the right conditions, ...
bob1's user avatar
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6 votes
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How can I make my kefir milk smooth and creamy instead of watery and grainy?

Most of the kefir recipes I saw online use whole milk, not low-fat milk as a starter. One source mentioned that commercial low-fat kefir recipes use large amounts of additives and stabilizers to make ...
Megha's user avatar
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6 votes
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Can I use sourdough starter (kvasek) to produce kefir?

No, you cannot. Kefir grains are a unique Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY). Kefir grains are a gelatinous mass of microorganisms including Lactobacilli, Leuconostic, Acetobacter, and ...
Kevin Nowaczyk's user avatar
5 votes
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Kefir sensitivity to drinking tap water?

In general, rinsing milk kefir grains is not recommended. Rinsing grains apparently washes off a layer of protective bacteria. An experiment showed that rinsing produced grains that were smaller, and ...
verbose's user avatar
  • 1,537
5 votes

Fermenting lactose water solution as if it were milk with lactic acid bacteria

Bacteria can’t survive and flourish on a lactose solution, any more than you can survive and flourish on pure sugar water. Other nutrients are needed for them to metabolise and grow and reproduce. ...
Sneftel's user avatar
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4 votes

What damage is caused to kefir when it comes into contact with metal?

The damage is not so much as to the kefir but to the consumer of the kefir if it was made in a reactive metal. Kefir, being acidic, should not be in aluminum, brass, iron or copper as they react to ...
Mike Miller's user avatar
4 votes

My milk kefir molded.. What should I do

The only safe thing to do is to throw it away. Preferably with a bottle or jar it is in, if you don't care for it. If you want to keep that jar, use dishwasher on it's hottest setting. I would also ...
Mołot's user avatar
  • 1,622
4 votes
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How to conserve kefir grains for 2 weeks?

Yes, you can refrigerate them for up to three weeks. Refrigeration slows down the fermentation without killing the culture. Three precautions: Use a jar with a tight lid. This will prevent cross-...
verbose's user avatar
  • 1,537
4 votes
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How can I tell if my kefir is healthy?

If the taste is similar to yogurt, cheese, or sour milk as you describe then your kefir is likely good. On the other hand, if it seems moldy or rancid, it is bad. This site describes proper ...
Dana Brunson's user avatar
3 votes
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Store homemade kefir with paper towel on top or close the lid normally?

If you'll drink it quickly, you can store it with an airtight lid, but this will make it "fizzy". Personally, I'd store it with a breathable lid to avoid carbonating it, and possibly causing it to ...
lspare's user avatar
  • 594
3 votes

Can water kefir grains be turned into milk kefir grains and if so how?

It might be technically possible (with a lot of work) to get water-kefir "grains" (or, more correctly, SCOBY, a Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) to survive on milk, although I'm not ...
Ratler's user avatar
  • 425
3 votes
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Ways to separate kefir grains from thickened kefir, how big are the kefir grains?

First off, not all kefir grains are alike. Maybe they're all descended from the same family tree long ago, but kefir grain activity will change significantly even in the same house from season to ...
Athanasius's user avatar
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3 votes

How to properly freeze kefir grains

I have been making kefir for many years now. I always freeze grains using the dry milk powder mentioned above. Four days ago I cleaned our freezer of expired foods and found grains frozen 5 years ago. ...
Mars's user avatar
  • 31
2 votes

How to properly freeze kefir grains

To freeze milk kefir grains, I place the unwashed grains in a pint glass bottle and fill the jar 3/4 full with fresh milk, put on the lid and place in the freezer compartment. To freeze water kefir ...
Rick Evans's user avatar
2 votes

Making my first big batch of Kefir, the milk went bad. Why?

I haven't made kefir myself, but this sounds very well explainable from a theoretical point of view. The reason why the milk in the kefir does not go bad is that the microorganisms in the kefir ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 140k
2 votes

When milk is cultured (eg kefir), what changes occur in terms of lactose, glucose and galactose levels?

In general, the process of fermentation is a conversion of sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. Lactose being a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose is somewhat harder for the culture to ...
Sdarb's user avatar
  • 1,119
2 votes
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Brewing kefir with powdered cinnamon

Since no one else answered, I'll give you what I can. Disclaimer: I never brewed with kefir grains. I brew beer, ciders, sometimes yogurt, and kefir started from commercial kefir. I'm a big fan of ...
Mołot's user avatar
  • 1,622
2 votes

Problem: grainy kefir

The texture of kefir depends on many factors, so it's difficult to give a canonical answer. Based on the information you've provided, here are some possible reasons. I'm assuming you purchased the ...
verbose's user avatar
  • 1,537
2 votes

Can water kefir grains be turned into milk kefir grains and if so how?

It probably won't work well, since you'll be missing the microorganisms that feed off milk sugars and what not. See this link for more details. Just buy some milk kefir grains rather than wasting ...
Batman's user avatar
  • 1,977
2 votes

Where to get active Milk kefir grains

Sorry, I didn't see this until just now. I don't know why it didn't notify me. Kefir grains are a life symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. They have to be fed and I imagine it is a niche market. ...
Sobachatina's user avatar
  • 47.6k
2 votes

Can i rescue my kefir grains?

The grains are really just a symbiotic colony of microscopic yeasts and bacteria that grow in and ferment milk into kefir, similar to the "SCOBY" that ferments kombucha, or the "mother" that ferments ...
logophobe's user avatar
  • 14.9k
1 vote
Accepted

Is double fermented kefir safe to eat?

It sounds like the kefir was further fermented by a second, more aggressive stain of acetic or lactic acid bacteria introduced after opening. It's likely safe, but probably not very tasty. And as with ...
Sneftel's user avatar
  • 30.3k
1 vote
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Do you have to drain all the sugar water from water kefir regularly?

Technically, you can. The advantage of cleaning is that you can start with the right amounts of kefir, water, sugar and whatever you add. If you are aiming for a certain taste, starting from scratch ...
pritaeas's user avatar
  • 310
1 vote

Is it possible to ferment milk Kefir using water Kefir liquid?

No, you cannot do that. Unlike other cultured dairy products like yogurt, kefir needs both the right bacteria and a fungus to ferment. The liquid will have the bacteria, but the fungus "mother" - the ...
rumtscho's user avatar
  • 140k
1 vote

How can I increase bifido bacterium strain density in kefir

The simplest way to increase the diversity of strains might be to start from a mixture of kefirs from the most diverse and independent sources you can find. There's no guarantee that putting two ...
Jay Moore's user avatar
  • 121
1 vote
Accepted

Making my first big batch of Kefir, the milk went bad. Why?

I've made kefir many times. When you first start using kefir grains, they take time to recover from not being in milk for a while (ie, if they were sent to you by courier or post) and to adjust to ...
LMAshton's user avatar
  • 634
1 vote

How can I make my kefir milk smooth and creamy instead of watery and grainy?

To the person that wrote "I prepare Kefir with RAW milk, Boil it then cool it down, when temp reaches 22-24 C Put kefir grains in it (2 litre milk 5 tablespeen grains)" Why would you want to boil ...
Susan Barnes's user avatar
1 vote

How to properly freeze kefir grains

I have frozen dairy kefir grains in a 1/2 c canning jar with no rinsing, adding in a little kefir to surround grains. When I was ready to use, I left jar in refrigerator overnight and added to fresh ...
Catherine Dobbins's user avatar

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