Yemoos Nourishing Cultures Forum

It sounds like yeast which is harmless. I've seen it more with fruits or dried fruits. Mold is usually very apparent - colorful and fuzzy so its probably not that. I think if still tastes and smells good, then its okay. Try adding some fresh sugar or juice for a 2nd ferment and bottle it. It should ...

Like mix the finished kombucha and water kefir? Sure, I don't see why not. It probably will be overwhelmed by the stronger kombucha though.

I have both cultures and never had any issue crossing. I keep them fermenting fairly close to each other and use a separate strainer & spoon. They don't seem to cross very easily, but that's just my experience.

Hi Kev

I've wondered that too. I checked once and I think its really expensive to test for probiotic strains. I know that in homemade kefir there's way more probiotics than store bought kefir. If you do figure out how to test it let me know the results, I would be curious. Thanks!

Hi,

I don't have the answer to that, but I've heard that water kefir has a much higher amount of lactic acid than kombucha.

That's strange! Milk kefir grains have a very solid shape and they don't typically just disappear like that. I've heard of them breaking down and slowly disintegrating, but not over one batch like that. The strainer looks like it would hold the grains. Maybe they accidentally fell out of the straine...

It sounds like they are doing quite well. Water kefir grains can grow like crazy under the right circumstances. You don't want to stop growth as that is a good thing. I would suggest just putting in more sugar or use less grains, so its not so strong.

I think if it was only short term contact, they should be fine. Only real way to know is to do a batch though. It takes a lot to kill the grains, so I suspect they are just fine.

I've gotten slimy thick water kefir when I use too many minerals and its cold. I've been doing water kefir for a while now and it never happens in the summer time no matter what I do. Are you using a very dark mineral sugar? If so try use part white sugar. Or are you adding any other supplements or ...

When you say they look the same as the day you got them, does that mean they haven't grown at all? I don't think its the sea level. It's probably the sugar. Try a mix of white and dark sugar (like rapadura) or white sugar and molasses. And make sure you are NOT using RO water or distilled.