[beerocd]

I Cant wait for the grains. Its gonna be a few days.

So throw the first batch out? How big should that first batch be?

Once our radiators start getting warm Ill start making some yogurt too. 

The first batch I'd guess is gonna be somewhere along the lines of new shower curtain / acetone - with maybe a new trojan thrown in there for good measure. It wouldn't hurt you to drink it but it probably wouldn't be pleasant. I just use a collander or steamer to separate the two. Dump the grains back into the fermenter and start again. 1tsp grains is for half to 3/4 cup. They will grow - your batches will grow; when the batches get to the right size you gotta start taking away grains - cuz they keep growing. You try to keep your 24 hour cycle going.
Oh and "age" the kefir another day after you separate it from the grains. It's just better. I put it in the fridge overnight, and usually make smoothies the next day with it. (when I used to do it)

[bluefoxicy]

Hmm, I thought I got the same ones you did from the Real man Genius. Oh well. Ill try these first.

Yeah, that's what I got.  There's a set on there cheap that says "ORGANIC KEFIR GRAINS!!!!" and all and they're rarely alive; but the ones from RMG were minimal (seriously, dust sized man) but they grew RAPIDLY.

[capozzoli]

Got my kefir grains and started them "healing".

Here is what they looked like when they arrived.



Put them into a a ball jar and started them in some milk that was warmed to room temp. I have about ten parts milk to one part kefir grains.





MMM fermented slightly alcholic milk. How exciting is that?

[beerocd]

Yeah, I was totally wrong. These pictures ARE exciting. 

[capozzoli]

Give it time, they will get bigger and that is when the real excitement will start.

What will happen if I use heavy cream?



I was just reading about how the Georgian peoples who invented this method would secondary ferment and even age the kefir beverage.  While being stored in this second fermentation they would seal the lid. So it would get effervescent and slightly carbonated.

I wonder if it could be bottled with a little sugar for some kind of bottle conditioning? 

[tygo]

Echoing MrNate's sentiments from another thread, there are too many new things that people post on this forum that I want to try.  Luckily for me, this is not one of them.

[capozzoli]

Why not?

Its fun and its edible microbiology! Kinda like sea monkeys.



And the health benefits are seemingly endless.

http://www.yourkefirsource.com/kefir-benefits/kefir-health-benefits

Looks like the ones I have are starting to wake up.



It has a pleasant yeasty smell, kinda like bread or beer. Cant think of how to describe it.

[tygo]

That's just it.  Too healthy for me.  Now if the alcohol content of the yogurt-milk was somewhere in the 5+% range maybe I'd be tempted.   

[abraxas]

I used to make kefir, just sort of lost interest, think I'll order a new culture though...  It's great for lactose intolerance, something in the kefir eats the lactose.  Watch sealing the containter for too long, I came home to a cracked glass bottle when I would naturally carb it.  You'll get to know you're culture.

It won't grow in size but kefir grains can be used to ferment other things to add a twist to a beer or cider.

[euge]

I'm not all that eager to try this though I will eat the hell out of some moldy stinky cheese. 

Thinking about the anecdotal health benefits and their citing the longevity of Caucasus peoples; I'm more inclined to believe they benefit from a diet extremely low in processed foods and that they probably walk(ed) everywhere.

[capozzoli]

My brother who works for one of the pharmaceutical companies told me that they are looking hard at the organisms in kefir. They are thinking about drugs to replenish healthy bacteria in the body that gets killed off in people that are taking heavy doses of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill everything even the natural healthy flora in the body.

Thats pretty interesting.

Did you read all of the claims, some of them say "cures".

[tschmidlin]

My brother who works for one of the pharmaceutical companies told me that they are looking hard at the organisms in kefir. They are thinking about drugs to replenish healthy bacteria in the body that gets killed off in people that are taking heavy doses of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill everything even the natural healthy flora in the body.

Thats pretty interesting.

Really, drugs to help replenish the healthy bacteria?  Why not just feed the people kefir and yogurt?  That's what I do when I'm on antibiotics, it helps with some of the digestion side effects I get.

[capozzoli]

Makes sense to me. Guess they want to make pills.

Who knows it was one of those "I remember" things. He brought up the story when I showed him the little buggers. Apparently they are pretty unique or something.

[beerocd]

Makes sense to me. Guess they want to make pills.

HMO's don't pay for yogurt and kefir - they pay for pills. No one wants you to be healthy - where's the money in that?

[abraxas]

My brother who works for one of the pharmaceutical companies told me that they are looking hard at the organisms in kefir. They are thinking about drugs to replenish healthy bacteria in the body that gets killed off in people that are taking heavy doses of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill everything even the natural healthy flora in the body.

Thats pretty interesting.

Did you read all of the claims, some of them say "cures".

This article is about Kombucha, but in many ways it's similar to kefir:
http://www.fungi.com/info/articles/blob.html