Can I mix 2 different sources of milk kefir grains?

[PooiMun]

Hi, I have a question I hope someone can help me with. I have some milk kefir grains I have been culturing for 4 months. Then my friend passed me another tablespoon of her milk kefir grains. My question is...can I mix her milk kefir grains with my current milk kefir grains and culture them all together? Thanks

[AlexP]

For sure. Milk kefir grains usually combine well. The thing about milk kefir grains is even if you separate them, they generally will all adapt to your environment (your milk, temperature, etc) in the same way. I've had grains that looked and started out very different, but after a couple or weeks, they turned out almost exactly the same as the grains I already had. And they were isolated from each other. It was fascinating to see that.

Alex

[Gypsy]

i used to keep my 2 different kefir grain strains seperated but eventually just mixed them all together because how rapidly they were growing, no issues what so ever. The milk for both was the same, the envviroment was the same, the marriage has been successful, so dont be hesitant to combine them, AlexP's results are pretty much same as mine.