Update: Order water kefir grains and all of Becky’s other cultures at waterkefir.co.nz.
Here’s some information about keeping and using water kefir grains. I feel that I’m still learning about how best to care for this culture, so this information is a work in progress. Still, after four months, our grains are continuing to increase by well over 100% every two days, so I suppose I must be doing something right. I’d be really interested to hear about the experiences and ideas of others who are keeping water kefir.
Basic Water Kefir Recipe:
6 Tablespoons water kefir grains
4 Tablespoons sugar
3 Cups water
½ lemon or a piece of lemon (if you can’t find an organic lemon, then take the skin off first)
A dried fig, or a tablespoon of raisins
(Optional: add 2-4 teaspoons of fresh ginger root juice to make a refreshing ginger beer kefir. To make the ginger root juice, pound or chop finely about 60g fresh ginger root and blend it to a mash with half a cup of water. Strain through a cloth, squeezing out the juice. You can also use dried ginger powder. Boil 1-2 tablespoons of ginger powder with 1 cup of water and then strain through a fine cloth. Cool this liquid before adding it to your brew. When brewing with ginger, you can leave out the raisins. The grains do really well when cultured with ginger!)
Water kefir
I make this quantity of kefir in a 1 quart (1 litre) glass preserving jar. Whatever jar you use, please make sure you leave an inch or so at the top to accommodate the carbon dioxide gas produced by the fermentation process and avoid explosions! As your kefir grains reproduce themselves, you will need to adjust the ratios of ingredients for a bigger batch, or make more batches.
Method:
*Strain and rinse the grains under clean running water.
*Put them in the jar with the other ingredients, and stir until the sugar dissolves.
*Close the jar with a good firm lid, and leave it at room temperature to ferment. Stir after 24 hours, and as often as you like.
*Brew until the raisins float to the surface and the liquid is a bit fizzy. This might take about 48 hours, but could be a good deal faster when the weather is warm.
*Scoop the lemons and raisins off the top of the liquid.
*Now use a strainer to separate the water kefir grains from the liquid. Rinse the kefir grains thoroughly under cold water.
*Squeeze the lemon into the liquid and put it into tightly sealed bottles or jars. You can chill and drink the beverage now, if you wish. Or, to make it more fizzy, you can leave it to ferment (secondary fermentation) for another day or so at room temperature, before moving it to the fridge to chill for drinking. (Further fermentation will increase the alcohol content of the drink, depending on the amount of sugar in the liquid. In any case, water kefir drinks seem to be only very mildly alcoholic – like home-made ginger beer.)
Other Tips:
*Once you have made your first batch of water kefir, you can rinse the grains and start the next batch immediately.
*If you don’t want to make another batch immediately, you can store the grains in the fridge in a sugar water solution (1Tablespoon of sugar to 1 Cup water) for up to 7 days. You can also freeze strained, rinsed water kefir grains in plastic ziploc bags for up to 2-3 months.
*Sugar: Apparently the grains do best on less-refined, more mineral-rich sugars, though any kind of cane sugar will do (refined white sugar, golden sugar, muscovado, rapadura).
*Water: The grains do best in hard, highly mineralised water. If you are using soft or distilled water, add ¼ teaspoon of baking soda per 6 cups of water to keep the grains healthy. You can also add a piece of limestone, some boiled egg shell or a tiny pinch of calcium carbonate powder to the brewing water.
*Fermentation time: One of the main reasons why water kefir grains become sick and stop propagating is over-fermentation. In general, they should be brewed no longer than 2 days, though they may need 3 days in colder conditions. During the summer, daily brews might be needed to prevent over-fermentation. A brew is ready for straining when the raisins are floating to the top, and the liquid has become slightly fizzy and a little sour.
*Most of the information I’ve seen says to keep the kefir in glass containers.
*Wash water kefir containers and implements by hand using mild detergent, and rinse thoroughly.
*Always keep a batch of water kefir grains brewing with the basic recipe (or the ginger beer recipe) above. Please use only your extra grains for other recipes, since some ingredients (honey and herbs, for example) may cause the grains to lose their vigour and stop growing.
*Healthy fast-growing water kefir grains produce a brew with less alcohol and more health-giving probiotic properties than sluggish, sick grains.
*Use spare water kefir grains to make experimental brews using honey, herbs, or fruit juices. You can also try adding these other ingredients to the brew for the secondary fermentation.
Thanks Rebecca – VERY useful;-)
Hi Rebecca – great to read all this! You’ll be pleased to hear your grains are still doing well down this end of the island.
I’m interested to know how your honey blends have turned out?
Also, why do you put the lid on tight? My kefirs are not always as fizzy as I’d hoped, and I’m wondering if it’s because I’m not making them airtight when fermenting.
Oh – I know the other thing I meant to ask Rebecca – what are you finding are the differences between the ginger beer plant and the water kefir?
I had been meaning to post something on this (just some wonderings) on my blog, but never got round to it. Do they taste different? Behave differently? They look so darn similar.
I saw that Dom on his website reckons they may be one and the same thing. But wikipedia seems to list different organisms as making them up.
Do you think one might be a mutation of the other?
I love wondering about the evolution of microbial colonies, and would love to know if kefir and ginger beer plants share a common heritage …
That looks so good. Do you currently have grains going spare? I live in Christchurch and would be happy to pay for courier when you have spare grains.
Hi There,
@ Catherine: I’ve just emailed you about the water kefir grains. I do have some to spare, and can send them to you for $15 plus $6 for the overnight courier.
@ Johanna: Thanks for all your interest. The honey mead that I made with the water kefir grains was really delicious. I’m planning to write another water kefir post focused on alternative recipes with honey, herbs, herbal teas, etc.
The ginger beer plant and water kefir are visibly quite different. The ginger beer grains are smoother, smaller, and more opaque than the water kefir grains. They reproduce more slowly than the water kefir. To my mind, their different appearance and behaviour suggests a different set of organisms to the water kefir — as per the wikipedia entry. Having said that, the two cultures have much in common, and it doesn’t stretch the imagination too much to suppose that one might have evolved from the other.
Cheers,
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca – I would love to hear more about your alernative recipes!
We tried adding a big sprig of fennel instead of ginger once, but that’s about as adventurous as we’ve got!!
Hi Rebecca,
Just was wondering if you got my email? I’d love some of these water kefir grains! It doesn’t actually look like any of my family will be making their way to Kaitaia any time soon- Have you shared by change any of your water kefir/milk kefir with people in Auckland? If not, I’ll look at postage.
Thanks, Kylie
Hi Rebecca
Any news on your cows? And how are the goats doing?
cheers
Sonya
Hi There,
@Kylie: Yes, I got your email. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. Email and website have been a bit neglected with all that’s going on around here with spring planting etc.
Anyway, I’ve just responded to you about the kefir etc.
@Sonya: Funny you should ask about goats and cows. I was just today hounding Kevin to take a picture of Coco, who is looking huge and fabulous. Her udder is springing, and she could really calve any day now. The goats are enjoying the spring weather, and the spring grass. Owen loves feeding them, petting them, and watching them play around and bunt each other. It might be a bit difficult to catch all this with the camera, but we keep hoping to be ready to snap a photo at the right moment!
Hi There,
@Kylie: Yes, I got your email. Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. Email and website have been a bit neglected with all that’s going on around here with spring planting etc.
Anyway, I’ve just responded to you about the kefir etc.
@Sonya: Funny you should ask about goats and cows. I was just today hounding Kevin to take a picture of Coco, who is looking huge and fabulous. Her udder is springing, and she could really calve any day now. The goats are enjoying the spring weather, and the spring grass. Owen loves feeding them, petting them, and watching them play around and bunt each other. It might be a bit difficult to catch all this with the camera, but we keep hoping to be ready to snap a photo at the right moment!
Cheers,
Rebecca
hi, my family drink milk kefir. and i need to know what is the different between milk kefir and water kefir? n can u explain me include the bacteria, the benefit and wich is the best for our health to drink? thanks for the information.
Hi Aminia,
Water kefir propagates in sugar water solutions, and milk kefir propagates in milk. I can’t tell you the exact differences in the yeasts and bacteria composing the two cultures. . . but they are different. I believe that milk kefir is the king as far as providing a pro-biotic health tonic, but the water kefir also contains many beneficial microorganisms which will benefit the health of those who drink it.
Cheers,
Rebecca
Hello, I am interested in getting some of these for my mother (I make milk kefir, but my mother’s arthritis seems to have flared up with the milk kefir – she doesn’t have milk at all usually). Please let me know when you have some spare, as I would love to buy some. I live in Auckland if you are happy to courier. I don’t mind waiting if you don’t currently have any extra. Thanks so much!
Hi, Thanks for the post, it is very informative. Do you supply the grains? I would love to get hold of some to get started!