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.

Good Morning ! I know the kefir is much better for one. That is why am so glad to have a happy culture. My experiment from yesterday REALLY payed off. I added fresh cold milk to 1c of whey. It turned to a nice thick layer of curds/soft grains on top by this AM...so 24 hrs in a cool place. The 2tsp of culture added to a pint of cold milk did as usual and became a jar of soft yogurt consistency uniform product. I took the curds from the whey in jar 1 and took all but 2 tsp of jar two and added 8 strawberries and some honey. Whirred it up. It was fizzy in the back of the throat...like the best kefir and thick like a frosty !! Amazing. I have not tried culturing coconut milk. Or water for that matter. Will definitely explore using this in other liquids. I do know that the grains must be stored in reg. milk so won't forget to do that :) BTW I have been using it in my sourdough wild yeast baking with fantastic results. Rich crumb like a challah w/o out all the fat and eggs. A real treat. I sure do enjoy the sharing of info here. c

Updating my kefir experimentation results: I made a kefir cheese ball, by hanging the curds is a bag until solid, then adding dried onion flakes, red pepper flakes, granulated garlic, basil flakes, salt, pepper, and a little sugar to try to balance the sourness of the cheese. I still didn't care for it without the butter and cream cheese, but my son loved it with crackers, so I sent it home with him. If I have extra cheese, I'll save it for his visits. I made sugar cookies today, using a drop cooky recipe that I've been using for many years, but I substituted 1/2 cup kefir cheese for 1/4 cup of the butter, and left out 1 Tbs of the milk. Since the cheese was a little 'curdled' and very sour, I added a couple of Tbs. of corn syrup and substituted 1/4 tsp of baking soda for 1/4 tsp. of the baking powder, because of the lactic acid. Oh my, are they good!

I love hearing about others experiences with kefir! I've been "doing" kefir for about three years now. Grainlady has consistently been my best source of info. Thank you Grainlady! Our temps have been in the 100's (F) and I have found that 12-15 hours gives me the tartnesss I enjoy without being TOO sour. DH hates it, so I don't have to share. In this heat, the cycle goes like this: take the pint jar with kefir (including the grains) out of the fridge in the morning, put a solid lid on the jar and give it a good shake, fish out the grains with a plastic fork and put them in a clean pint jar and fill with whole milk. I bought plastic lids for Ball jars, heated a knife and cut most of the top out, got some large square plastic canvas mesh (the kind used for coasters and such), cut it to fit over the top of the jar, then add my holey lid. It sets on the shelf over my sink, not anywhere near a window, until I put the jar in the fridge before I go to bed. The kefir I separated goes into my travel cup to enjoy on my way to work, usually with a little agave nectar, but sometimes plain. In what we Californians laughingly call winter, I'll give the milk and grains a full 24 hours to ferment.