Grains don't reproduce well

[kagy]

I've been making this kefir for a couple of months now. It works well and makes a quite drinkable product, but I can't seem to get those "cauliflower" grains that others get. Instead of thumbnail sized grains, mine look more like a very small curd cottage cheese, and they don't seem to multiply, giving me back about the same 1.5 Tbs each time.

Here's what I'm doing:

Place those 1.5Tbs of culture into a 3 cup jar with 2+ cups of 2% milk. I usually place this in the fridge for timing purposes. Even with a cool climate and cool house, I find that 14-16 hours is plenty of fermentation for me. Longer will result in way too much whey.

So I will remove the milk/culture mix from the fridge and place on the counter top at about 7PM, where it will sit overnight and be ready for straining by noon the next day. I strain it through the plastic funnel strainer that I got from Yemoos when I order the culture. The resulting kefir is outstanding, but the grains are unchanged in size and volume.

If someone asks me to share grains with them, my technique has been to separate them into two batches and ferment one cup at a time. Then I have to build my own up to be able to ferment two cups. Tedious. On the other hand, my brother bought some culture from Yemoos and has to throw grains away every new batch, and his curds are thumb-tip sized!

What could I possibly be doing wrong?

[AlexP]

My best guess is that it has something to do with the fluctuations between the fridge and room temperature. Kefir grains can have trouble adapting between those extremes if its done too often. They can become imbalanced or yeasty. Smaller grains and grains that don't grow usually indicate yeast issues or weak bacteria. If its fermenting super fast, that can indicate overpowering yeast as well. From my experience, once milk kefir grains stop growing, it can be hard to rehabilitate them.

Alex

[kagy]

That's discouraging news, AlexP. But assuming your correct, and my kefir has too much yeast, I may have a solution based on how I manipulate my sourdough culture; something I've years of experience with.

Sourdough has two main cultures, yeast and lactobacillus. Both cultures survive in temperatures up to about 115ºF and start to die off beyond that. But they thrive in different temperatures. Yeast flourishes best at 70º to 80º, whereas the lactobacillus likes it warmer, between 90º and 100º.

So a baker who wishes to favor yeast (better for leavening) will incubate his dough at 75º for at least the first few hours after feeding. If the baker wishes to encourage the lactobacillus (to make the dough more sour), then he will incubate at temperatures in the 90-95º range.

I'm hoping this might work on the kefir as well. So thank you for the idea!