Welcome to the Milk Kefir Forum

[yemoos]

Welcome! This is an open forum for the discussion of home made Milk Kefir and Milk kefir grains. Feel free to ask the community any questions, but if you need order specific troubleshooting, please email info@yemoos.com. Thank you and have fun!

[ggrreenn]

I would like to ask a question.
I made a big recipe of Milk Kefir but forgot one container in the frig. I think it has been about a month and I would like to know if it is still ok to drink. The quart glass container had a tight lid. I served the kefir and it is sitting in a cup and it is bubbly. It does not smell bad or taste bad. What do you say???
Thank you in advance for your assitance with this issue,

[AlexP]

Sure you can drink it. Once milk kefir is fermented, its preserved for a very long time. It will just get more sour and less sweet as the remaining sugar gets used up. If it smells and tastes good, I would go for it. If its a little too sour, you could even add some sugar if desired.

Alex

[Stubudd]

Hi. I have some milk kefir i've been culturing for a few weeks now, it's going really well. Getting to be a surprisingly large amount of grains now. I have a friend whose 3 year old has had some ecxema type issues for a long time, nothing at all has helped her, and I've convinced him to have her try some kefir. From what I understand there is nothing to fear about trying this, the worst that could happen is a bit of a reaction, and even that would be a good sign most of the time, based on what I've read. I have a couple of questions on how to go about this.

Here's the situation- I'll need to prepare it myself beforehand, since the child will only be in town for a weekend here and there, and I really don't think they're gonna bother doing it themselves, but they might try it if i prepare a couple weeks' worth in advance. So how should i go about storing it up, and how long will it be good for afterwards? I'm sure I have plenty of grains enough to make twice as much milk volume daily as what I'm currently doing, so can I just store the extra in a couple jars and then give them to parent when they're in town?

And how can I make it taste better? Seems like having a toddler drink this stuff might not go as planned. What could i mix in with it that would keep with storage for a few weeks? I really just know very little about fermentation in general, and i can't find many answers for this situation. I've found lots of stuff you can do to sweeten it up on the spot, but I'm not sure how they'd work for storage.

To sum up, I'm trying to prepare and temporarily store a two or three weeks worth of milk kefir using the grains I already have going, with some kind of added flavoring that will make it more drinkable for a little kid. Thanks for any help.

[aryaya]

First off that's really awesome to be helping like that! I have heard it helps eczema sometimes. I think as you may know it can take time, and sometimes it is in conjunction with cutting wheat etc too.

But in any case - storing kefir past a week (flavored) is kinda hard. It never spoils, it just gets higher alcohol, sometimes more bitter or more sour too. Whatever you put in it (strawberry banana is always a fail safe flavor with kefir that kids usually love)...is going to speed up the ferment too. It won't be dangerous to eat, just more fermented and higher alcohol as time goes on. Which isn't horrible, it just may be a bit off-putting to the toddler (or not who knows!).

Kefir can make good popsicles (if they have plastic molds to pour it into)! Probiotics are cut some, but there's still a good amount left. And consumption doesn't have to be huge anyways to benefit, especially for a 3 yr old, a 1/4 cup once a day is great. My toddler started drinking it around 1 (I think?) and loved it plain, but usually doesn't want more than 1/4-1/2 cup. Some people feel that breaks are beneficial too so I wouldn't worry about it having to be something in her diet every day. Hope that helps some!! Oh and if not I'd try your hand at a veggie ferment as that stores for much longer - only problem is whether she'd like it or not! pickl-it has a site dedicated to this.

[Stubudd]

thank you very much

[msbuksar@aol.com]

[KONI]

Thank you,
Fermenting is new to me so , I am reading these post and all other information.
I am excited!
I love your web site- great resources..

[AlexP]

[DanielIceme]

Has anyone experimented with using commercially produced kefir as a starter culture to make homemade fresh kefir? If so, what were the results and how does it compare to traditional grain-based fermentation?