Hello, I am sending this mail to several folks..I emailed one of the big outfits a week ago and have not received an answer yet, so I found you on google and am hoping for a reply from someone who can help me.
I have been producing kefir and ginger ale for many years.I live here in Honduras..When i first started out I just used rapadura because it is made right here locally within a few miles of my home. I have had good luck using the same old 1/4cup to 1 quart ratio...
I have had to shut down my operation and dehydrate my grains from time to time when I travel for months at a time and always have reactivated the grains using the same methods all of you do.
I just got back from a 4 month absence and I was thinking why can't i just use pure cane juice for growing kefir..I actually have a friend who makes cane juice daily right down the street..So I decided i would give it a try, and I dumped a small pile of grains maybe 2 table spoons into a quart jar to reactivate them and usually when I use the 1/4 cup to 1 quart ratio it will take 2 or 3 days to rehydrate and plump up nicely..But in less than 18 hours using 3 cups of cane juice to my 2 tbsp of grains, the whole jar swelled up and overflowed when i came to look at it early this morning..the grains are incredibly beautiful and all this happened in less than 20 hours maybe even in 12 hours or so because I wasn't watching it closely..
SO...Wow, I am fired up..My question is: If I were to make my batches now I usually do 1 gallon batches would I use just pure juice or would I cut the cane juice?? This quart jar last nite was thick like syrup this morning..that is the 3 cups in the jar what did not spill over from the swelling of the grains was very thick...So I am thinking I should cut it maybe 1 part cane juice to 3 or 4 parts water ? If you have any idea please let me know what you feel is best..thanks for your help, Harlan Busch