Hi Matt!! Thanks for the info! i too have been making water kefir for years now! my grains are like crystal diamonds and huge! i keep a big pickle jar full in the fridge because we consume them!! i put them in my smoothies, puddings, cakes...all over the place! they are like probiotic pills only better cause your liver knows how to process this as opposed to a lab made pill. Just wanted to say, i use so much less sugar than what you do!! my jaw dropped when you said a cup! lol...but i make a one quart jar, at a time and 1 tbsp grain 1 full tsp Tea) sugar! i often changed up the sugar where one day i will use a fig, another day a piece of date...sometimes raisins 6-7) my grains thrive like you wouldn't believe and ya, if not carefull i've had the bubblies and pows!! the other thing i'd suggest to you is to add ginger!! it's soo good for you, and gives you that extra fizz!! i only ferment for 24 hrs! second ferment is 24 hrs in mason jar, then they stay on counter for few hrs..until i see activity! the other different thing i do is is will add about 10-12 grains in my second ferment! (with the fruits) to ensure no sugar remains and again, in my swing bottle...i add two or three grains in there too! sneaky!!😊 i look at it as a little extra probiotic!! i'm 63 and i don't take meds and i've never been sick! so far!!! ☺ i also love milk kefir!!!
ps: i know adding fresh ginger sounds like a pain, and yes it could be, so i peel it, shred it and put it on parchment paper then freeze it!! once it' s good n stiff i put it in a container and i have no excuse to not just pop a piece into my "second ferment" and wow, it really enhances any frozen fruit you have in it!! promise!! ;)
Thanks Matt & Joanne. I've tried everything to help my grains multiply and can't figure it out. I'm interested that you use less sugar - any tips to share on why your grains are so big and prolific? Or could you share out your process and recipe?
I love your video. I wouldn't say it's stronger than kombucha. Coz the temperature resilience and survivability of kombucha is CRAZY. Water kefir is more delicate than milk kefir or kombucha but it's extremely versatile. I am just as fascinated by the mystic qualities of kefir. Though there may not be enough studies to back this up, but I feel that they can contribute to longevity and overall well-being of people who consume them.
I have some as big as those and even bigger. I use naturally ionized water and 1micron filtered water on my water kefir fermentations. I also discovered that when I pick the biggest ones from the top and feed them first, they are really well developed. Well done video. I wonder why I haven't come across your channel, yet I've been doing this for about 10 years. I'm glad I found your channel and saw a presentation from your shop in another person's channel. Really cool stuff. Blessings from Finland. People are discovering Water and Milk Kefir in Finland more and more now. I hope I would be not the only one who brings this ancient knowledge to my country. :)
I've been making kefir for just a few months and I love it - I've ordered grains twice from the same place and both times the kefir grains disintegrate into almost sand.. I use organic cane sugar and natural spring water. To the first set of grains I was adding a small piece of date but the place I ordered it from said the extra minerals were probably causing the disintegration.. but it happened pretty quickly to the second batch too. I'm still enjoying my kefir but I'd love to grow actual grains and not sand! I don't understand how you are skimming off the large ones - are you starting a separate smaller batch with just the large ones??
I am a new friend 👍🏻 how do I keep gnats away I just started mine and noticed a few thank you for your help love your channel I’m trying to heal my gut so glad I found you have a great weekend
So thankful for the abundant knowledge! Sounds like you leave the brew for many days and keep adding sugar to feed. Approx how many days? How much sugar? When you say you use the big grains to "lead in my capture for the next grow", what does lead mean? You separate the big ones and grow them separately from the small ones?
My water kefir grains are pretty Big just like yours, I use well water, coconut sugar, an organic pure cane sugar mixed together, 1 Tbs coconut Sugar the rest organic cane sugar an they love it
Your video is certainly accurate about the importance of temp. In winter my place is quite chilly (like 62ish f). My Water Kefir is not doing well, no bubbles at all and itnrains sugary. I am going to add a heat mat and see if that helps on summer they will hopefully perk up again. Great vid. Btw my milk Kefir is doing great even at such cool temps.
Love the blue bottles where can I get those ? And what kind of sugar do you use ? Your water looks different in color of other people that makes kefir I like yours .
Do you like adding any fruit? It’s said the kefir really love sugars in fruit and they eat the fructose leaving the good sugars behind that are bodies need. Cheers
Awesome video. I am going away for 3 weeks. Can I leave the 1 1/2 of grains in 1 1/2 gallon of sugar water on the counter and have a friend come and feed 3 tablespoons of sugar in every day?
The one I'm using says for first ferment 1 TBSP molasses to 1/4 C kefir grains with 1/4 C unrefined sugar in spring water (unchlorinated) for a 32 oz jar. And I make sure the sugar and molasses are completely dissolved in the water before putting the grains into the jar.
For the large jars, I use 1 cup of grains and 1 cup of sugar. I use turbinado organic sugar but I've also used coconut sugar (though a few years ago something changed and it no longer brewed right) and any natural raw sugar that dissolves well - I've used molasses and maple syrup as well.
@@ThePermacultureStudent Taste-wise I absolutely can’t stand molasses. Do you recommend using maple syrup or coconut sugar instead? What is the ratio that you use?
No you do not grow them from scratch - they are found in nature and have been grown and passed down person to person from those sources. Blue bottles I found at a brewing/fermentation store local here in Washington.
There's some good grains over Amazon of all places!! They love sugar and especially unrefined sugars that retain mineral profiles :) They also like to be warm and away from direct sunlight :)
Donna Schwenk Is a great place to purchase grains. I purchased my grains from her website. I'd like to share her video with you, its her heartwarming story. Here on CZcams Type: DONNA SCHWENKS STORY (extended cut) And I hope you enjoy it!!!❤
Usually Rapunzel whole cane sugar (organic), but I've switched to sucanat sugar since they are out of stock all over online and in stores. 1 cup of grains to 1 cup of sugar in 1 gallon - in the jar size that folks can in, you can do 1/3 cup of each.
ThePermacultureStudent Thanks! I have some new grains I'm starting so I was going use quart jars and move on to 1/2 gallon masons. Thanks for all the info! 😁
I always use organic dark brown sugar - also known as "Sucanat" My all time favorite brand is Himalaya Organic brand. It is Fair Trade, finest quality. The darker the organic sugar, the higher the mineral content is in the sugar. The kefir grains LIVE and EAT the minerals in the organic dark brown sugar AND they eat the carbs in the sugar. If you ferment kefir water properly 100% of the sugars are eaten and consumed by the kefir grains - so it is a LOW GLYCEMIC beverage. Please do NOT use honey. Honey is anti bacterial and will MURDER and KILL your kefir grains. Do not use dried coconut sap sweetener, it is far too LOW glycemic to keep the kefir grains alive. DO not use supermarket brand white sugar or high fructose corn syrup. The ONLY proper food for kefir grains for water kefir is good quality very dark brown organic sucanat sugar from Fair Trade company.
I am new to this, just wondering why your water looks brown, I don’t think I could drink that, it looks gross to me, sorry, I just haven’t seen any with color like yours
Over mineralization. If there are too much minerals they will turn mushy and die. So either your water has too much minerals, or you are adding too much molasses or other minerals. I use a bit of sea salt, a little bit of brown sugar...if you are using molasses or stronger minerals, then it shouldn't be in every batch. Only once in like 3 times. I stopped using molasses at all because my grains weren't growing...so I will see if that changes things.
SEED SOAK RATIO! So understanding that Lactobacillus is great for fermentation but also a conditional "Facultative Anaerobe" as well as an Endophyte, have you ever tried a diluted ratio for seed soaking?
Innoculate it with yourself. Lol. Come on now. We think the same you and I. I've watched your ammoniacal nitrogen video about fungal to bacterial dominance and I see when I go into flower now the acidity of my no till beds drips on its own. I use to battle that because of the gnats that come with that. After your videos I learned to let it go and let the soil do its magic. And magic it does.
Hi Matt!! Thanks for the info! i too have been making water kefir for years now! my grains are like crystal diamonds and huge! i keep a big pickle jar full in the fridge because we consume them!! i put them in my smoothies, puddings, cakes...all over the place! they are like probiotic pills only better cause your liver knows how to process this as opposed to a lab made pill. Just wanted to say, i use so much less sugar than what you do!! my jaw dropped when you said a cup! lol...but i make a one quart jar, at a time and 1 tbsp grain 1 full tsp Tea) sugar! i often changed up the sugar where one day i will use a fig, another day a piece of date...sometimes raisins 6-7) my grains thrive like you wouldn't believe and ya, if not carefull i've had the bubblies and pows!!
the other thing i'd suggest to you is to add ginger!! it's soo good for you, and gives you that extra fizz!! i only ferment for 24 hrs! second ferment is 24 hrs in mason jar, then they stay on counter for few hrs..until i see activity!
the other different thing i do is is will add about 10-12 grains in my second ferment! (with the fruits) to ensure no sugar remains and again, in my swing bottle...i add two or three grains in there too! sneaky!!😊 i look at it as a little extra probiotic!! i'm 63 and i don't take meds and i've never been sick! so far!!! ☺ i also love milk kefir!!!
ps: i know adding fresh ginger sounds like a pain, and yes it could be, so i peel it, shred it and put it on parchment paper then freeze it!! once it' s good n stiff i put it in a container and i have no excuse to not just pop a piece into my "second ferment" and wow, it really enhances any frozen fruit you have in it!! promise!! ;)
Thanks Matt & Joanne. I've tried everything to help my grains multiply and can't figure it out. I'm interested that you use less sugar - any tips to share on why your grains are so big and prolific? Or could you share out your process and recipe?
How many ounces do you normally drink each day?
@@beverlycharles6534 I use those swing bottles, so about 8 ozs
By chance could I buy some from you? It's been a month and the kefir I buy seem like they barely do anything at all I only see a few tiny bubble.
I love your video. I wouldn't say it's stronger than kombucha. Coz the temperature resilience and survivability of kombucha is CRAZY. Water kefir is more delicate than milk kefir or kombucha but it's extremely versatile. I am just as fascinated by the mystic qualities of kefir. Though there may not be enough studies to back this up, but I feel that they can contribute to longevity and overall well-being of people who consume them.
Total mad scientist! Awesome sauce, keep up the experiments, TY for the idea of probiotic compost tea. You opened up a whole new thought paradigm
Thank you so much! I love and appreciate your extra aliveness and unique perspective that adds new information to everything you teach.
I have some as big as those and even bigger. I use naturally ionized water and 1micron filtered water on my water kefir fermentations. I also discovered that when I pick the biggest ones from the top and feed them first, they are really well developed. Well done video. I wonder why I haven't come across your channel, yet I've been doing this for about 10 years. I'm glad I found your channel and saw a presentation from your shop in another person's channel. Really cool stuff. Blessings from Finland. People are discovering Water and Milk Kefir in Finland more and more now. I hope I would be not the only one who brings this ancient knowledge to my country. :)
That's epic!
Thank you for sharing! I'm into permaculture too.
I've been making kefir for just a few months and I love it - I've ordered grains twice from the same place and both times the kefir grains disintegrate into almost sand.. I use organic cane sugar and natural spring water. To the first set of grains I was adding a small piece of date but the place I ordered it from said the extra minerals were probably causing the disintegration.. but it happened pretty quickly to the second batch too. I'm still enjoying my kefir but I'd love to grow actual grains and not sand! I don't understand how you are skimming off the large ones - are you starting a separate smaller batch with just the large ones??
Thank you for your knowledge ♥️
Thanks for this video I just start my first Kefir, this helps tons
I am a new friend 👍🏻 how do I keep gnats away I just started mine and noticed a few thank you for your help love your channel I’m trying to heal my gut so glad I found you have a great weekend
Very helpful information, thank you. 🙂
Lol you are like a mad scientist! But a good one, thanks for the info.. 😂
Do you do a closed or open lid fermentation?
So thankful for the abundant knowledge!
Sounds like you leave the brew for many days and keep adding sugar to feed.
Approx how many days? How much sugar?
When you say you use the big grains to "lead in my capture for the next grow", what does lead mean?
You separate the big ones and grow them separately from the small ones?
My water kefir grains are pretty Big just like yours, I use well water, coconut sugar, an organic pure cane sugar mixed together, 1 Tbs coconut Sugar the rest organic cane sugar an they love it
well water is the best for water kefir grains i think.
Your video is certainly accurate about the importance of temp.
In winter my place is quite chilly (like 62ish f). My Water Kefir is not doing well, no bubbles at all and itnrains sugary. I am going to add a heat mat and see if that helps on summer they will hopefully perk up again. Great vid.
Btw my milk Kefir is doing great even at such cool temps.
Matt will you do videos on health?
How to buy if I am in the USA?
Love the blue bottles where can I get those ? And what kind of sugar do you use ? Your water looks different in color of other people that makes kefir I like yours .
I use unrefined sugars that have all their minerals still like coconut sugar or Rapunzel's whole cane sugar :)
Hey Matt!!! what WATER do you use???
Do you like adding any fruit? It’s said the kefir really love sugars in fruit and they eat the fructose leaving the good sugars behind that are bodies need. Cheers
They seem happier when I throw in a banana
Awesome video. I am going away for 3 weeks. Can I leave the 1 1/2 of grains in 1 1/2 gallon of sugar water on the counter and have a friend come and feed 3 tablespoons of sugar in every day?
LOL!! I do that backwards walk when I’m taking a video too!! Bahaha! I feel your pain! I love kefir or what we call Tibicos.
how much raw sugar to molasses do you use? I saw on the comments the types of sugar you use
I'm looking for that exactly!
The one I'm using says for first ferment 1 TBSP molasses to 1/4 C kefir grains with 1/4 C unrefined sugar in spring water (unchlorinated) for a 32 oz jar. And I make sure the sugar and molasses are completely dissolved in the water before putting the grains into the jar.
you really havent shared how to grow kefir grains! how much sugar for 32oz? jars? what all do you put in your jars??? what kind of sugars? Thanks Ron
For the large jars, I use 1 cup of grains and 1 cup of sugar. I use turbinado organic sugar but I've also used coconut sugar (though a few years ago something changed and it no longer brewed right) and any natural raw sugar that dissolves well - I've used molasses and maple syrup as well.
@@ThePermacultureStudent hi, how much molasses per table spoon of grains???? I also saw that baking soda makes them grow bigger too!!!! 😦
@@ThePermacultureStudent Taste-wise I absolutely can’t stand molasses. Do you recommend using maple syrup or coconut sugar instead? What is the ratio that you use?
What happens If your grains don’t float? Does that mean they’re dead? I’ve had mine in for 48 hours & only 1 is floating.
Goes up AND down only one grain?
Mine grow like that!👏🏼👏🏼
Where do you get your blue bottles and how do you grow Kefir kernels from scratch? Thank you!
No you do not grow them from scratch - they are found in nature and have been grown and passed down person to person from those sources. Blue bottles I found at a brewing/fermentation store local here in Washington.
Amazon has all the bottles and other equipment you need. I’ll bet Walmart.com tries to compete on price too.
Hi there! My husband and I are big fans ☺. Can you offer any advice or sources for kefir beginners?
There's some good grains over Amazon of all places!! They love sugar and especially unrefined sugars that retain mineral profiles :) They also like to be warm and away from direct sunlight :)
Donna Schwenk Is a great place to purchase grains. I purchased my grains from her website.
I'd like to share her video with you, its her heartwarming story. Here on CZcams Type: DONNA SCHWENKS STORY (extended cut) And I hope you enjoy it!!!❤
I was wondering what sugar you use and how much?
Usually Rapunzel whole cane sugar (organic), but I've switched to sucanat sugar since they are out of stock all over online and in stores. 1 cup of grains to 1 cup of sugar in 1 gallon - in the jar size that folks can in, you can do 1/3 cup of each.
ThePermacultureStudent Thanks! I have some new grains I'm starting so I was going use quart jars and move on to 1/2 gallon masons. Thanks for all the info! 😁
I always use organic dark brown sugar - also known as "Sucanat" My all time favorite brand is Himalaya Organic brand. It is Fair Trade, finest quality. The darker the organic sugar, the higher the mineral content is in the sugar. The kefir grains LIVE and EAT the minerals in the organic dark brown sugar AND they eat the carbs in the sugar. If you ferment kefir water properly 100% of the sugars are eaten and consumed by the kefir grains - so it is a LOW GLYCEMIC beverage. Please do NOT use honey. Honey is anti bacterial and will MURDER and KILL your kefir grains. Do not use dried coconut sap sweetener, it is far too LOW glycemic to keep the kefir grains alive. DO not use supermarket brand white sugar or high fructose corn syrup. The ONLY proper food for kefir grains for water kefir is good quality very dark brown organic sucanat sugar from Fair Trade company.
@@colleenwhalen3518 , thanks for the important information!
I am new to this, just wondering why your water looks brown, I don’t think I could drink that, it looks gross to me, sorry, I just haven’t seen any with color like yours
Why my kefir grain dissolving and disappear?
Over mineralization. If there are too much minerals they will turn mushy and die. So either your water has too much minerals, or you are adding too much molasses or other minerals. I use a bit of sea salt, a little bit of brown sugar...if you are using molasses or stronger minerals, then it shouldn't be in every batch. Only once in like 3 times. I stopped using molasses at all because my grains weren't growing...so I will see if that changes things.
You’re so funny 😆
SEED SOAK RATIO! So understanding that Lactobacillus is great for fermentation but also a conditional "Facultative Anaerobe" as well as an Endophyte, have you ever tried a diluted ratio for seed soaking?
Innoculate it with yourself. Lol. Come on now. We think the same you and I.
I've watched your ammoniacal nitrogen video about fungal to bacterial dominance and I see when I go into flower now the acidity of my no till beds drips on its own. I use to battle that because of the gnats that come with that. After your videos I learned to let it go and let the soil do its magic. And magic it does.
Mine are ginormous!
This is nothing in comparison to what I just watched LOL
❤
10x for sharing