1. What is your ratio of grains to milk? It is normally suggested to use 1 T. grains to 1-cup of milk (give or take). It sounds like you may be adding too much milk for the amount of grains.

2. The curd is very delicate and smaller than yogurt curd. Once it's stirred or shaken it will break up and turn to liquid, and will stay that way. It won't develop a curd again.

3. The grains always rise to the top during fermentation, and that's where they will be located when fermentation is complete. If you are careful you should be able to pluck them out without stirring or straining the kefir (try using a plastic fork - or one in each hand --- the kefir will slide through the tines of the fork so all you get is the grain). If you are going to immediately start a new batch, kefir on the grains will help speed things along a bit, so you don't have to worry about adding some kefir to your milk along with the grains. If I'm in a hurry I'll go ahead and add a couple T. of kefir and make sure the milk is warm. That will give it a head start.

If you need to use your fingers while removing the kefir grains, make sure your hands are washed with soap and water and well-rinsed. Soap residue can cause problems just like bacteria. The lady I got my grains from had a large dairy and she always used her fingers to remove her grains (different strokes for different folks ;-). I use a plastic slotted spoon to lift the grains off the top of the kefir, and the curd will fall through the slots. If I want to maintain the curd I'll use a couple plastic forks and try not to disturb the curd any more than necessary. It seems like everyone does this a little differently.

I drain the curd in a yogurt cheese strainer or a fine-mesh permanent coffee filter over my 2-cup glass measuring cup to use it for plain yogurt, cream cheese or sour cream. How long I drain it will depend on how thick I want the kefir curd. I shake it and use it in the liquid form in our morning smoothie, cooking and baking - a good substitute for buttermilk. I use the drained whey for soaking grains, lacto-fermentation, whey lemonade...

4. Yes, you will get a thicker curd with higher fat milk products, much like you will when making yogurt from half-and-half or whipping cream instead of reconstituted non-fat dry milk or low-fat milk, but you still need to try not to stir or shake it because that's what destroys the curd. Try adding some non-fat dry milk powder to your 2% milk. This adds some milk solids without adding more fat and will change the curd. Give it a try and see if you like it that way.

I also use reconstituted Wilderness Family Naturals powdered coconut milk (you can also use canned coconut milk) which makes a lovely, thick, delicious kefir. Great with granola for breakfast or mixed with fresh orange/pineapple juice in a smoothie. I also use coconut milk kefir in desserts.

5. The ambient temperature will also contribute to the curd consistency. It's generally thicker, smoother, and not as tangy the cooler the room temperature; and more tangy, not as thick, and can even get grainy when the temperature is warmer.

When it's cold in the house I'll start fermentation late afternoon and it may take 12-18-hours to ferment 2-1/2 cups of milk. When it's warm I'll start fermentation early in the morning (I get up around 3 a.m.) and it may only take 8-10-hours to ferment.

6. If your grains don't divide by themselves you can pull them apart. I usually do this when they get about the size of a quarter. They will divide into 2 or 3 sections at the weakest point. You can use 2 plastic forks to pull them apart, or with your fingers. Make sure your hands are clean and rinsed before dividing grains.

You'll soon get the hang of it ;-). I remember when I first got my grains I would count them to make sure they were all accounted for every time I made kefir. That didn't last long (LOL)!

I've included a link below with some frequently asked questions (FAQ) for milk kefir that might help you out.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Milk Kefir FAQ

Thanks grainlady. Funny how such a simple process is confusing! After fermentation I strain the kefir, and I assumed anything left in the strain are grains. What is left is a mass of cottage cheese-like stuff, more and more each day. There is no way I can "count" separate entities, nor is anything growing to the size of a quarter where I can pull them apart. So are these curds or grains? If both I am unable to tell them apart.

I will add to grainlady's excellent tutorial. I have been growing my kefir for about 2 months now. I got my grains from a friend that fed them 2% milk. Our home is always at 68 or less. At first I had large firm grains that were easy to lift out or strain out and it did everything that gl describes. We were having pretty warm temps here and I was letting it ferment on the mantle over our gas fireplace in the kitchen.

Time passed and we got a really chilly cold snap that has lasted for weeks. My kefir really changed...and for the better I think. It now takes 2 tsp of curds added to a pint of chilled 2% milk and left in a very cool place. In 12 hrs or less I have essentially a fragrant yogurt -type thick unseparated jar of goodness.

I can't tell curds from grains at all anymore. As an aside I fix a new jar and left it in the fridge for 2 weeks while were out of town. I came back yesterday and took it out. Oh wow...lovely...thick and the freshest tasting drink we have ever had.

I have looked up a lot about this product that I currently have in a jar. It seems as gl says that when you have very cool temps you will encourage the growth of the "yogurt" bacteria. When you have very warm temps you get more " kefir " bacteria. The beauty of this is that if I wanted to make real yogurt it would need to be kept at 90 degrees or so and is quite fussy about its fermentation. As it happens now I have the very best of all worlds. I have a very fast fermenting product that has all the bacterias in residence and it is not fussy and it loves very cool temps. It is also thick which we love. Hope this helps with your efforts.

So take 2 tsp of your curd/grain and add it to a pint of cold 2% milk. Stir and set it in a cool 64-68 temp place for 12 hrs. Do not drain and take out 2 tsp for your next batch. Set the rest in the fridge for a couple days...it will thicken more and more. Lovely stuff !! c

-Kefir grains feel "rubbery", much harder than the curd, and as they grow they look a little like a small rubbery cauliflower. The curd is like yogurt, unless it was fermented too long or at too high a temperature.

-How fine are the holes of your strainer? I've never strained the grains out of my kefir, especially if I want to use the curd as a solid mass, I just remove them from the top of the jar where they rest on the top of the curd. Dom's info. suggest: Holes or slots of no less than 2mm or about 1/8" in size gives good results. But once you run it through a strainer it will be liquid because the structure of the curd was compromised, and not like yogurt.

-How many grains did you start with and how large were they?

-How much milk are you fermenting at a time?

-Are you storing your grains in milk in the refrigerator when you are resting them?

-How often are you making kefir?

-What is the ambient (room) temperature? If the temperature is too warm you will end up with a gritty, cottage cheese-like curd instead of a smooth yogurt-like curd. I personally think it's best when fermented in cooler temperatures for taste and texture (we keep our house between 62 and 64-degrees F in the winter), but alas, that's only a few months of the year and I make it a couple times a week all year round.

I've included a link for an even more extensive FAQ at Dom's. Please keep in mind you will find differences of opinions among the "experts" as well as the users. Kefir is a lot like making sourdough starter. For every "rule" you'll find someone who has broken the rule and it still works for them.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Don's Kefir FAQ

grainlady, I think I may try to start over and obtain new grains. I honestly don't know whether I am making kefir or not. The answers to your questions are:

--I bought the grains from an amazon site on the internet. I received a little baggie with about 2 tsp. cottage cheese looking slime. It did nothing for two weeks. Now it has grown and grown and grown to equal a big bowl of cottage cheese looking stuff. So whatever I have IS growing well. There are no large pieces, just uniform small lumps that look just like cottage cheese.

--I'm using a couple of heaping tablespoons to ferment about 1 1/2 pints of 2% milk.

--I haven't rested the grains at all over the three-four weeks I've had them. I'm making kefir every day.

--My kitchen is about 65 during the day; 58 at night. After 24 hours the mixture is frothy and slightly yeasty--but no thicker than the original milk. After 48 hours the whey separates from the curd. I stir it and strain it.. The holes in my strainer are pretty large. One way or another, the mass is all uniform in the size of the particles: the liquid goes into the bowl; everything else--the cottage cheese--stays in the strainer. One again, the liquid is no thicker than the original milk.

If the mass is growing (and it is, like crazy) it must be kefir and not just curds, right? And it all does taste very good.

I have read Dom's site and many others, and still don't know what to think.

marita...my understanding of what you should receive when you purchase the grains online is a dried product that takes approx 7 days to fully rejuvenate. There are exact inst. on the net for how to reconstitute dry grains. I haven't heard of anyone sending out wet/slime grains :)

There are no grains per se in my kefir since the weather has gotten cooler. But...today just to help out with your research I let a jar of kefir set out in a warmer place and it has indeed formed a large mass of grains floating on a bunch of clear whey. So it is indeed temp related. I had another jar of fresh milk and 2 tsp of grains sitting in a cool place in the kitchen since this AM and it has become my usual jar of soft yogurty type stuff with no separation and it is ready to go into the fridge to be used in a smoothy in the AM. All temp and time related.

As I said...at cool temps it is highly unlikely that you are going to get any distinct grains/curds. It will all be soft cheesy stuff. If I were to put mine in a strainer most of it would stay in the strainer just as yogurt does. When it was hotter weather it drained out a lot of white and clear together and left drier distinct curds...again it is all temp related.

I would not give up on what you have. It tastes pleasant...it smells pleasant. When the temps change so will your kefir. I hope you cont. to enjoy. I have now shared my grains and they are living in Montgomery AL and Lexington VA !! It is a wondrous process. c

Oh..ps about resting the grains. I take 2 tsp every AM of the current kefir that I am going to eat and place it in a jar of fresh cold 2 % milk and leave it in a cool place for 12 hrs and then place it in the fridge over night...Next AM take out 2 tsp and place in cold milk and leave out....then in fridge and repeat. As far as rest...well they are in new milk every day and they are at a pretty cool temp and the source has been in the fridge all night fully fermented but very cool and waiting /resting. As my grains seem so happy I am not going to change anything. If your grains are happy and taste good I would say " yes" to the process you are following.

Just want to report that I finally gave up on my old "cottage cheese" grains that would not thicken the milk no matter what I did (I ate them all :) I got new grains locally (Craigslist) that do an amazing job fermenting and thickening. So happy; love kefir!

Glad to hear the new grains are working better for you. :-) -Grainlady

Grainlady, would you mind giving a little more information about the coconut milk kefir? I'm interested in the powder you mentioned. Do you use grains that have been used to living in cow's milk? Do they convert happily to the coconut milk? Is the process pretty much the same for making the kefir? I After cancer treatments, I found I couldn't drink dairy products anymore, so I gave up making kefir. I may need to try this again with the coconut milk!
The coconut milk you mentioned sounds yummy. I may need to order some and give it a try!

Thanks for the information,
Cj

cj47-

It IS yummy ;-)

I found the information on-line and converted it to using reconstituted powdered coconut milk instead of canned, but both types of coconut milk will work.

I generally use 1-2 cups of reconstituted powdered coconut milk and 3-5 kefir grains (from my milk grains). Sit at room temperature, just like making kefir with milk, until it is as thick as you like. Remove the grains (they float to the top) and I put them back in the same jar as the milk grains and they all seem to do fine. I make coconut milk kefir once or twice a month.

When I first did this I would isolate the grains and rest them in coconut milk (I did this for many months), then I just added them back to the regular milk batch. I'm not sure if, or how long they will live fermenting coconut milk only.

Something else I do when I get an abundance of kefir grains is to ferment grape juice. If you rest them in milk between uses they will last for awhile, but not thrive. But since they are "extras", it doesn't matter.

I purchase Powdered Coconut Milk from Wilderness Family Naturals (link below). I purchase the 5# bag and 1# bags are available. On the label you'll find mixing instructions and you can make it any ratio of water to powder you'd like.

I hope this works well for you.

-Grainlady

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Here is a link that might be useful: Wilderness Family Naturals - Powdered Coconut Milk

Thank you!