Can Commercial Kefir be Used to Make Fresh Kefir?

[ainmkefir]

Can I use commercial Kefir (from Nancy's dairy, near Euguene, OR) to start my own Kefir culture?

Thanks.

Mac

[AlexP]

Well yes you probably can create your own kefir from it, but you won't get any grains or anything. I'm not sure what kind of commercial kefir it is, but any bacteria strains (and any yeast strains) will reproduce in fresh milk. So you can make your own type of kefir. If there's anything added besides milk and bacteria strains (like thickeners), that won't be carried on to the new milk. You can probably do that a few times before its gets a little too weak / weird. But keep in mind that most commercial kefirs are more like yogurt than the kefir you get from milk kefir grains.

Alex

[ainmkefir]

Thanks, Alex.

That raises a good question.

I am told that the commercial kefir that I am buying, when it is being made, uses NO kefir grains (which I am told contain bacteria AND yeast).

Is that right? Do kefir grains contain bacteria AND yeast?

Is there some big difference in the final product between dairy kefir made from kefir grains (yeast and bacteria?) and dairy kefir made from yeast-free cultures?

Mac

[AlexP]

Yes, kefir grains do contain many bacteraia and yeast strains. From my understanding, commercial kefir is made out of a lab where they select the strains of bacteria they want. Some of those strains may be found in kefir made from the grains. They don't like to put beneficial yeast strains in commercial kefir because yeast creates carbonation (sometimes a lot) which makes things difficult to bottle or pack due to the risk of explosion. Also yeast creates a small amount of natural alcohol, which they don't like either. The biggest difference is that kefir made from the grains have beneficial bacteria and yeast strains that are content and balanced with each other. And there's a lot of them. Priobiotic count is typically much much higher in kefir made from grains. Commerical kefir is more like yogurt where they just select a couple or so bacteria strains they like and that's it.

Alex

[Moonmomma]

I have been making kefir from a bottle of Lifeway plain kefir for a half year now and every batch is the same as the one bottle I bought. It has 12 strains of probiotics and is mildly sour. I simply use the bottom, thick curd-filled 1/4 cup added to milk to make a quart. Both whole and 2 percent milk work great. Skim milk works, too, but neither of us liked the taste. I recently bought kefir grains here and it is a lot more sour. I like it, but it made my husband so sick he missed 2 days of work (stomach and bowel distress). He was used to drinking 16 oz. of the store-bought reproduced kefir with no problems and many benefits. Now, I make kefir from my new grains and drink it, but I make kefir for my husband from the old, store-bought kefir. He plans to try to introduce it an ounce at a time mixed with what his system is used to when his belly is no longer tender.