KEFIR - who makes it, drinks it, and/or feeds it to their chickens?

[kathyinmo]

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I've never heard of it until just now!

Now I must investigate further..... Thanks for all this information, to make my search easier!

 

[Illia]

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Mine has never smelled bad, and I have no idea of why yours does. The longer you keep the milk the sourer it gets, at least that's what I read. I have some that's several days old, it tastes a little more sour but nothing really notable, just a very mild lemon taste.

By a bad smell, I mean of the area where my jars are stored when I'm growing the grains past 24 hours. . .

We usually grow ours to 24 hours, then refrigerate it to slow/stop the growth process. That stuff gets consumed, and is a strained version of what is grown. We basically grow the grains in the milk, strain the milk out and drink that, then place the grains in fresh milk, then start the cycle over again.

The Kefir we use for drinking (basically milk with tiny particles of Kefir left) doesn't stink at all unless it has been refrigerated too long.

I do agree with the old saying though, it is like a champagne of the gods.

Oh, and of course the best type of Kefir is from extra-rich milk. If you've got milk with a high amount of cream/butterfat (my goats produce about 7-8%; Cows produce 3%) it actually makes the Kefir a lot more thick, creamy, and less sour in taste.

 

[jenjscott]

By the way, the reason it gets more sour is that as it ages the fermentation uses up more and more of the lactose in the kefir.

 

[joebryant]

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When I'm ready, I'll probably get a start from daughter who lives in Florida. She's just now starting again. I'll be taking her some kefir grains when we go down for Christmas.

 

[Amyh]

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You cannot drink regular kefir, but water kefier would suit your dairy free needs.

 

[HorizonSon]

Glad o stumbled across this post! I sssoooooo need to start making kombucha again. I probably won't get keifer gram until I have my own goats. Once I do; It's on!

To get a "starter" for kombucha (this what I did back in the day): go to a health food store and buy a bottle. Your batch will have the essence of the flavor for a batch or two. It'll take a lot longer for the first batch, so be patient.

 

[posey]

We've been making kefire for about 2 1/2 months. It is just my husband and I so we can't possibly drink/eat all the kefir I make.

Questions:
1. How long will it keep once made, in the refrigerator? I mean will it keep for say a week or two or more if kept at 40 degrees or below?

2. I have divided my grains twice and sent them to friends. These are productive little buggers, I have more than a cup again, which consumes way too much milk for just us. So I divided again and kept only 3 tablespoons to make kefir with and fed the left overs to the chickies, they loved them.

We only need about a half pint of kefir for a day or two. If I use 3 tablespoons of grains and 1 cup of milk would this be the correct ratio of grains to milk? I am so used to doing this by sight with larger quantities.

I also left a jar of kefir on the counter until it separated into large chunks and whey. I poured off the whey and strained out the grains and then poured it into a bowl which I refrigerated for a week. Yesterday, I baked bread with fresh ground whole wheat flour and the recipe called for cottage cheese. We don't like it and I didn't have it on hand, so instead, I used my cheese like kefir (looks like ricotta cheese.) The bread turned out wonderful. This is a keeper in my bread recipies.

Thanks for your help
Posey

PS: Thanks Joe for starting this thread. It's what got me into kefir and with all of the posts it's a valuable resource. Thank you again.

 

[Erica]

Another thing to do with kefir (sorry if this has been posted already).

I strain mine through a loose sieve into a cloth-lined bowl. The sieve takes out the grain (to be put into new milk).

The cloth is then gathered at the top, lifted out of the bowl and allowed to strain properly by suspending via a dowl rod. The bowl fills with whey (which goes in chick and chicken feed), while what's in the cloth after 3 days is mixed with salt and becomes a spreadable cheese for kids' lunches. It's sort of like labne (the Greek/Turkish yoghurt cheese) but a little yeastier in taste.

 

[posey]

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Thanks Erica. My husband is from the middle east and grew up eating Laban cheese but didn't know how to make it. Now we do.
Blessings

 

[Stacykins]

Alright, now that I have that out of the way

I just started making kefir again, I managed to wrangle up some grains. I make it for myself, but sometimes I accidentally overripen it so it is chunky like cottage cheese. I know that overripe kefir can make a wonderful spread, or be eaten like cottage cheese, but unless I am in the mood for it, the chickens score! Thankfully like yogurt it has all sorts of beneficial bacteria (and yeast!) that should be good for them, and hardly any lactose since the aforementioned bacteria ate it

Now if only I could find someone local who would sell me goats milk each week!