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Yes, you are right! Let me know how it goes. Thanks.

Perhaps your room temperature is colder so you may want to increase your fermentation time to 36 hours. What kind of milk are you using?

@@momentswithlawrence507 I'm using semi skimmed, and full fat milk too. Do you think it's just not having enough time? Also, what is the benefit of your process, where you add small amounts of consecutive days?

Using skimmed milk has the tendency of making milky or watery consistency. Whole milk will have a better drinkable yogurt like consistency. If your kefir is not having a slight whey and milk solid separation, you can try changing to using whole milk or increase the fermentation time. Remember, this process of doubling your kefir grain in 6 days is for beginners when you are starting at low amounts of available kefir grain. This process helps in increasing your available grain. I hope this helps. Thank you.

@@momentswithlawrence507 thank you so much! Extremely helpful. I'll be away on holiday for 18 days soon. What do you recommend for this time?

Before you leave for your holidays, ferment a batch for 18-24 hours. You can then keep it in the fridge. When you come back, you can immediately filter and consume without having to wait. 18 days is not that long. I have kept mine for more than a month. As long as you always use clean uncontaminated utensils.. I hope this help. Thanks.

When I made this video, my room temperature was about 25 C. I left the bottle on my kitchen table. Your room temperature is too warm so it will ferment too quickly. You can perhaps try to use an insulated cooler and measure the inside temperature. If it can help lower the ambient temperature, it may help the kefir fermentation to to ferment at a slower pace.

@@momentswithlawrence507 i always put mine in the fridge in summer .. thanks for the advice

Yes, you can. You can choose the one with an alcohol content higher than 15%. Rice wine is about 32% and higher. Thanks.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thank you for your comment. Do share your result.

yes you can

Thank you for your question. I normally use fresh whole milk that I buy from the grocery. The better the milk quality, the better milk kefir it will produce. I have also tried using powdered milk as well as low fat milk and the quality of the milk kefir produced was not good. In fact, prolong use of low quality milk is detrimental to the kefir grains.

Yes, you can use UHT milk. If you are starting at 5g kefir grain to start making milk kefir, use between 30-50g of milk and ferment for 24-48 hours. Make sure that the surface has coagulated. if after 24 hours the surface has not coagulated, give another 24 hours. After a week of making milk kefir, you can then increase the milk volume accordingly.

Yes, especially when using non-stainless steel like aluminum or mild steel, that oxidizes.

Thank you for your question. When fermenting the milk kefir, I just place it on my kitchen table. No need to store it in the fridge.

Thank you for your comments!

When fermenting the kefir milk, it has to be at room temperature. The temperature in the fridge is too low and the good bacteria and yeast will become dormant.

I haven’t seen it advised to let milk warm before pouring over grains. I strain my fermented kefir milk and store in fridgie then i use cold whole (pasteurized) milk direct from fridgie to pour over grains and leave on counter for 18-24 hours. I have whey separation, i shake and strain, repeat

Yes, No need to warm up your milk coming out from the fridge. The grains will start to ferment by itself when left in your kitchen counter-top when the temperature is just right for the grains.

@@momentswithlawrence507 Thank you.😍😄

After 6 days, I actually drank the kefir milk. It is very sour through since all the lactose has all been converted to lactic acid. When you use clean utensils, bacterial contamination is unlikely due to the acidic environment of the fermentation vessel.

Thank you so much Lawrence, that helps such a lot, looking forward to trying your method as my first time 😃

Yes, I just leave it in the kitchen counter.

This process is basically suitable when you are just starting with limited amounts of grains. But if you are already doing normal batches, you do not need to do this process for you will have enough grains.

Thank you for your comment. I did not have any bread at the time when I was making this apricot jam.

This video is about how to double your grains. Regular kefir fermentation only require between 12 to 36 hours depending on your room temperature and how fermented you prefer. Store bought kefir smell and taste better because it uses a limited number of bacteria and yeast. Sometimes, it does not even have any yeast or perhaps just one type of yeast. So it basically take like yogurt. Are you staining using a colander with large holes ? If yes, perhaps try changing to a stainless steel or nylon mesh with smaller mesh size so you can also trap the smaller grains. Kefir fermented with kefir grains is an acquired taste. It does not smell like yogurt. It does smell more like slightly yogurt with a vinegar smell. This is because, the lactose were converted to lactic acid. If you are smelling sour milk with an off smell, then it could be spoiled. How long was your fermentation time and what was your room temperature? If you are having warmer temperature like 30 degrees centigrade, you can shorten your fermentation time to 12 or 16 or 18 or 20 hours.

@@momentswithlawrence507 Thanks for the prompt reply. These are fairly new grains I purchased from Fusion Teas on Amazon. I followed the instructions to activate and the grains successfully convert milk into curds and whey (something I'm assuming wouldn't happen if the grains were bad). The temperature in my house is climate controlled, keeping a steady 24° C (75° F) and I haven't found the grains to be multiplying as I have the exact same size I started with going on my third week now. I use a fine mesh stainless steel strainer with a silicone spatula to push things through so the holes are very small. Thinking perhaps the kitchen counter was too cold I placed a folded tea towel underneath. I even tried placing it in an oven (with no heat) but just a light on. When I did that I noticed the temp got up to 35° C (95° F). The milk separated as usual but that time the milk took on a more pleasant yeasty smell. I was concerned that temp was too warm, so back to the counter it went. In all those scenarios, I had a tight closed lid (glass Mason jar). Then I tried a coffee filter with rubber band and no lid. Same results, the milk separates into curds and whey in around 12 hours with only about a tablespoon of grains to about 1c of milk (237 ml). So, my goal is to: - have my grains multiply so I can have a greater amount of kefir and - find a balance between beneficial health properties and palatable taste. While I understand homemade won't taste like storebought, I just can't stomach the feeling that I'm drinking soured milk that smells spoiled to me, and is grainy, and not thick and smooth - that's what I really want.

I think what is happening to your fermentation is that with the oven temperature, it is fermenting fast so that the curds and whey would separate. You can try fermenting it on your kitchen counter even at 24 degrees, it would be able to ferment without separating the curds and whey even at 24 hours. Try again and it will be much better. You can also try washing the grains occasionally with clean water. The give the grains at least 24-48 hours fermentation time after washing. This will take out the acetic sour taste. I hope this helps. I would normally wash my grains when they gets too sour.

​@@momentswithlawrence507 Ok, I will try that. Thanks again for the engagement.

Sugar is optional. The function is to add a touch of sweetness so that the final product will have a sweet and sour taste.

@@momentswithlawrence507 i though sugar is also food for the bacteria and yeast

38 degrees Celsius is actually one of the best temperature the kefir bacteria and yeast love to grow and multiply. With such warm temperature, your concern would be to shorten the fermentation time from 24 hour to perhaps 12 hours. You can try between 8 - 16 hours. You can taste and see how you like the sourness. When all the lactose has been successfully converted into lactic acid, your milk kefir will be very sour.

Thank you for your comment. The lid could be to keep away unwanted bugs like fruit flies. To avoid contamination.

Yes, you are right about the smaller grains theory. If conditions are perfect like temperature and using the best type of milk like raw milk, I am sure that you can more than double the grains. You can certainly try using more than 5g. Thank you for your question and do let me know how it goes. Thank you.

Yes, I smelled it first and made sure there was no strange smell before trying it. The taste is very very sour. The lactose was all transformed into lactic acid.

Thank you for your support!

Yes, if your region allow the use of raw milk. It will be very creamy.

Were you able to ferment some milk? Did the milk turned sour with yogurt like consistency? If the milk tasted like milk, then the kefir grains is no longer workable. You would need new grains.

@@momentswithlawrence507 Many thanks for replying, Yeah actually the kefir grains ferment my milk perfectly. It's just their amount (count) and shape that bothers me.

If the grains are fermenting the milk into the sour kefir yogurt consistency, then your grain is still good. Do not worry about the cauliflower consistency. The grains only look like cauliflower consistency before it has been strain since they clump together. But after the grains has been strained, it will have individual grain consistency. Perhaps you are using a colander with bigger holes. Try using a strainer with a smaller mesh size so that it can trap even the small grains.

This process is for first time user after you have obtained your first grain specially if you have limited amount of grain. This is a quick way to double your grains.

You are most welcome! Thank you.

Try to wash your kefir grains with clean water and strain off the water as much as possible before adding in your milk. Thanks.

Thank you for your question. I kept the fermentation vessel in room temperature.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

The spoon I used was a stainless steel spoon.

Do you find the teste of your milk kefir very sour? Or does it have the slight sweetness from the milk? If it has that slight sweetness, the lactose in the milk may not have undergone 100% conversion into lactic acid. You can try an experiment if the sour taste is the same when you have a 24 hours and a 48 hours fermentation time. if the sour taste is the same, then the lactose conversion into lactic acid is complete for the 24 hours time with 1.5 teaspoon grains. You have the right amount of grains to milk ratio. If however the sour taste is different for the 48 hours, than your 24 hours fermented milk kefir, then you need more kefir grains or you need to ferment it a longer time. Perhaps ferment it to 36 hours or 48 hours. I hope this helps and thank you for your question.

@@momentswithlawrence507 Thank you!

You are most welcome!@@chaeliackerman1394

Yes, after the 6 days protocol, you can make daily kefir milk as per normal. Kefir grains are indeed a bit yellowish. If you wash the grains with clean water, you will see that the grains are a little yellowish. I do wash the grains every couple of weeks. You can wash it with clean water or with milk. As long as the grains are making kefir milk with the correct sour note. then your grains should be okay.

Thank you for your comments!

In the 6 days protocol, you are giving these small bacterial growth enough time to grow to a bigger size so that it can be collected after 6 days. Compared to daily filtering, some very small size grains do pass through your filter mesh.

yes I realize that we want the grains to grow larger, my question is why does a daily incremental milk feeding work better than simply placing the grains into the total six day milk quantity on day one and then leaving it to ferment for six days?

ok you are saying with daily harvest you will lose some of the small grains each day if you harvest. What I wanted to understand is placing the original quantity of grains into the six day milk total on day one and just fermenting for six days. What happens then? Same total quantity of milk same six days.

With daily incremental milk feeding, I am also stirring the mixture at least once a day. I did not try using a 6 days milk and then just wait for 6 days. You can try to do this experiment and let me know if you also obtained a similar result. I would suggest that you still do a daily once a day stirring to avoid the surface from drying out and becoming moldy. @@morayjames92

will do. I will set it up today and get back to you in a week.@@momentswithlawrence507

That is wonderful news! Thanks for sharing your experience.