Fresh, tart, and effervescent, milk kefir is a living food teeming with beneficial bacteria and yeasts for gut health! Recipe easily scaled up or down.
Put 1 quart of milk into a wide-mouth quart size jar.
Add (hydrated) dairy kefir grain(s) and stir briefly and gently with a wooden spoon.
Let culture until you are happy with how thick and sour it is (about 18 hours to 2 days). It will get more thick and more sour over time, as well as more effervescent. How quickly it cultures will depend on your preferred thickness, taste, and the temperature of the room.
In about 6 to 24 hour intervals, you can take a wooden spoon and gently “poke” down into the milk, at the sides of where the grains are. You can see where the grains are because they tend to float at the top, and they are bumpy whereas the milk is smooth.
*I've made kefir with goat milk and cow milk, and both are delicious! If you're dairy-free, you can even make coconut kefir!
Dairy Kefir Grain Storage
Milk kefir grains may be stored, when not in use, in the refrigerator in a small amount of milk. This will keep for one or two weeks.
If stored much longer, I recommend draining the liquid and replacing it with fresh milk. People report 50% viability results with freezing dairy kefir grains, so I recommend freezing several grains to ensure a backup.
You may also dehydrate grains for future use (or backup). Here is a step-by-step tutorial.
Once dry, store in the refrigerator or freezer.
Milk Kefir https://traditionalcookingschool.com/food-preparation/why-kefir/?utm_campaign=autoblog&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=bloglink&utm_content=The+ULTIMATE+Milk+Kefir+Guide+%28how+to+make+it%2C+troubleshooting+tips+%26+MORE%21%29