Congratulations on your decision to include milk kefir into your life. We hope it brings joy to your gut!!
Step 1 - Place a strainer over a jar/bowl/cup and pour the contents of your newly acquired milk kefir jar out onto the strainer. The gel-like gooey little balls that will be left in the strainer are your kefir 'grains'. The strained liquid below in your jar/bowl/cup is just milk that we have used to store your grains in. It won’t have turned into milk kefir just yet, so you can either toss this away or drink it (assuming you’ve kept it cool/refrigerated up until this point), the choice is yours.
Step 2 - Place the grains into a clean glass jar then cover them with fresh cow’s milk. Depending on how much milk kefir you'd like the next day will depend on the amount of milk you use. (We use about 100-150ml of milk for this process each day). The lactose (sugar molecules) in the milk is what the bacteria will feed on, which leaves you with a soured milk – milk kefir.
Step 3 - Cover the jar with a small circle of cotton cloth which can be secured around the mouth of the jar with a rubber band. The kefir is an aerobic ferment, which means it needs oxygen. The cloth allows it to breathe whilst keeping bugs out.
Step 4 - Leave the jar out on your kitchen bench to ferment overnight at room temperature. Keep it out of direct or bright sunlight. Kefir ferments best at around 22 degrees Celsius (give or take). If it’s cooler, it will take longer and if it’s warmer, it will ferment faster. It’s not an exact science, well it probably is but you certainly don’t need a science degree to make milk kefir. Have a google if you feel you need more specific info.
Step 5 - Place a strainer over a jar/bowl/cup and pour the contents of your milk kefir jar through the strainer. Again, your strainer will contain your milk kefir grains but this time your jar/bowl/cup below the strainer will contain your milk kefir.
Step 6 - Enjoy your fresh milk kefir!
Step 7 – Repeat this process by heading back up to Step 2.
A few notes ...
This is a daily process. If you need to take a break, simply place your kefir grains in milk and store in the fridge with a lid on. You can even freeze the grains.
Over time, the grains will grow in volume and will require more food (milk). At this point you can either;
