Brew Your Own Water Kefir Tutorial

Since my water kefir grains arrived a month ago they have been growing at a ridiculous rate! That has enabled me to spread the kefir love to many friends, family, and even strangers in the far reaches of the US. After explaining over and over... and over again how to feed and care for their new grains I decided it'd be a whole lot easier to post a hand dandy tutorial. Much like the dairy kefir tutorial I posted last year.

Please keep in mind that there are as many right ways to do this as there are people doing it. Feel free to take what I do and tweak it to fit your needs. Also, don't stress over this. Water kefir grains are pretty darn resilient. I think you'd have to try pretty hard to kill them. So, here goes....

When your grains first arrive in the mail you are going to want to open the bag they came in as soon as possible, strain off the liquid, and rinse your grains in cold water.

Speaking of water - I have had great success with our straight from the tap well water. Friends have reported less success with chlorinated city water. While it may work to make kefir, you will likely find that in a few weeks, months, or even a year the water just isn't kefirizing as well. Chances are your grains are slowly being killed by the lovely chemicals that are supposedly protecting us. Alas, that is another soapbox for another day..  Probably the best thing you can do is to either buy water or mooch off a country dwelling well water enjoying friend. If those aren't options then what you can do is fill your jar with water 24hrs before you plan to use it and just leave it on your counter. This will give allow some time for some of the chlorine to evaporate.

 Now, we're ready to brew our first jar of yummy bubbly fermented probiotic-rich goodness. :) I do mine in a two-stage process. Here is the first -

Take a 1/2 gallon glass canning jar and dump in 1/4-1/2C your choice of "sugar". This can be anything from plain ol' white sugar to sucanat. I have been using turbinado sugar because it is cheaper than sucanat but not as refined as white sugar. From what I've read, it really doesn't matter because the grains will digest all the sugar anyway so don't feel bad if you use a refined sweetener. Some people will say that if you are using white sugar then you need to also throw in a splash of molasses to make up for that which was stripped out of the sugar. I've never tried white sugar, so I can't say for sure.  The only thing I would recommend against is using honey. Honey is anti-bacterial and we don't want to be killing all the good bugs in our kefir water.

Then, fill your jar almost full of water and stir to dissolve. Since I have a TON of kefir grains right now I'm only able to fill my jar to about the 6.5C line to leave room for my grains.

Once the sugar is mostly dissolved throw in your kefir grains. Now, you want to cover the mouth of your jar so nothing falls in and contaminates it, but it needs to breath. I use a coffee filter for mine. You can use a cloth as well.

Just set the jar some where out of the way, out of direct sunlight(not in front of a window) and let it brew for 24-48hrs. The fermentation time is going to depend largely on the temperature of your home. When it's cooler in the winter it will take a good 48hrs. In the heat of summer it may take less than 24hrs. You'll know that it's working if when you wiggle the jar a bit your see carbonation bubbles rise to the top.

After you feel it has fermented sufficiently it's time to strain the grains out. Don't be alarmed if when you open the jar you see all kinds of floaty junk. I have no idea what it is, but it happens.

Get out a colander and a big bowl of some sort. The general rule for things like kefir is that you stay away from metal. I'm not generally a big plastic advocate, but in this case it's what I use. The plastic colander I have here is from Target. They are like $3 or something. Anyway, pour the contents of your jar into the colander placed over a big bowl.

Now you have a colander full of happy little kefir grains....

.... and a bowl full of water kefir!

At this point I take and rinse my colander of grains over the sink. Then, you can start the grains all over again by putting them into the jar of sugar water. I don't wash my jar each time. I'm not a fan of needless dishes and from what I've read a good rinse in cold water is all your jar needs. You do whatever floats your boat. :)

This next part is the optional 2nd ferment. You are more than welcome to drink your water kefir just the way it is. Personally, I don't like the taste of it and would much rather give it some flavor. Here's how...

If you have a big gallon jar, I'm jealous and now would be a great time to use it. If not, divide your newly strained water kefir into two 1/2 gallon jars.

Now, you're going to add fruit juice to each jar to double what you have. Our favorite to use is grape juice it makes a very yummy grape soda-like beverage. It's delicious. We tried other juices to and while they are good we don't like it as well as plain grape. Once you have filled the jar you are going to put a tight lid on and leave it at room temperature to ferment for an additional 36-48hrs. After 24hrs, I crack my lid open to "burp" it. I'm afraid that if I don't let out a bit of the carbonation I may have an explosion. Again, you'll know that the kefir is digesting the sugar in the juice and further carbonating if when you jiggle the jar little bubbles come to the top. Here is what my jar looked like without even touching it one morning. I had some serious carbonation going on!!

When the 2nd ferment is complete, you can transfer the jars to the frig, chill, and enjoy your delicious homemade kefir "soda". : )