You'll never be sorry to have rediscovered cultured milk products and this almost magical beverage, kefir. It's actually beyond buttermilk not only in the hugely increased amount of active LAB cultures but also because of what happens upon 'ripening' . The end of the room temp. culturing process is a period when the lactobacillus (LAB) has consumed all its food (milk sugar-lactose)and the yeastie beasties spring into action making lots of B Vitamins before they, too, expire.

This is accomplished by cooling down the curds right from the culturing station with the kefir grains still within the jar. Anywhere from a few hours to 24 later, one can then whisk the soft white curd thoroughly, strain it and then make more kefir with the grains & milk in another wide-mouth jar. I even use the same jar w/o washing – it doesn't seem to affect the taste at all. Making a new batch is a breeze.

While watching The Story of the Weeping Camel documentary awhile ago, I noticed them passing around a cup dipped from a communal container. The tribesfolk did this often and certainly whenever anyone arrived into their yurt(tent). I'm fairly certain that this drink was kefir made from camel's milk. All ages consumed it with gusto but only one swig each at a time. It certainly seemed to be the 'guest cup'.

I was inspired to pour my own—what I thought was finished Kefir—into a ceramic pitcher to be left on my counter for my own 'swigs' throughout the day. What I discovered is almost a completely different beverage!

It becomes effervescent just as I'd heard it described on Dom's Australian Kefir site (http://users.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html)and thinner more like true buttermilk than thick storebought. I think that I may have been consuming 'green' kefir these past few years, and it has given slight tummy upsets on occasions. So, I've started 'ripening' my brew for a further day on my counter at room temperature.

Try a wineglass full with a meal sometime – it may enhance the flavor of each item of your meal as it does mine.

Whether your kefir is still good depends upon a couple factors.
1. The quality of the milk it has been stored in. Clean, organic milk (http://wewantorganicfood.com/2008/01/26/key-to-safe-raw-milk-from-cows/) from grass-fed cows that has not been pasteurized (http://wewantorganicfood.com/2008/01/26/pasteurizing-milk-destroys-essential-nutrients/ ) would have given the culture its best chance.
2. The grains, after half a year, may have run out of food – lactose (milk sugar).
3. Its color should be completely white with no other odor but the clean, tart aroma of buttermilk or yogurt. There may be a faint yeast bread smell but the long refrigeration should have deactivated the yeast. Pink or green is NOT good and happens with truly spoiled dairy that has been heated to high temperatures.
4. Because it has cultured so long, the taste will probably be extremely tart; good for cooking or pet supplement. Lately, I’ve been making kefir cream cheese by letting it culture a long time to get the curds really separate from the liquid whey before dripping it through cheesecloth. If I do not want to drink the kefir or make cheese, I find other ways to use it. As a last resort, the compost pile. Never waste it down the drain unless it was a pasteurized dairy product – in my opinion already spoiled by processing.

Try to make more; remove or strain the kefir grains from the B-vitamin rich whey liquid and place them in a glass container with sweet farm-fresh milk – about 2 Tbls. per qt. Give them 2-4 days in a dark, cozy place and transfer to the refrigerator for a day or overnight as soon as you have tipped the jar and seen a soft jello-like consistency. If no soft curds form, the wee beasties have expired, and you’ll need to obtain fresh kefir grains with vitality.

Good luck! I hope this helps.
Lynn

Thanks for giving your input regarding kefir. I find myself craving certain things (raw milk, for instance) and can understand how kefir might be one of those things.

Good luck on your stint on the yacht. That sounds heavenly … and I hope you're able to set up the kitchen as you wish.

Sorry to be so tardy in replying but I've been out of the US of A into the countryside of the REAL kefir drinkers. Yes, Greek yogurt, the real homemade stuff, is better and more satisfying than ice cream, creme fraiche, sour cream and whipped cream all rolled into one. It keeps amazingly well with very minimum refrigeration, too.

I've just made my first batch of kefir since getting home a day ago. I made it from kefir grains I'd kept in fresh milk in the fridge and summer milk I had put by in the freezer and labeled "milk for kefir" because I'd skimmed off the top milk before freezing. It's perfectly passable & I'm thrilled to have it, but I'm looking forward to my next fresh milk club delivery Dec. 3rd so I can make both yogurt and kefir from whole milk again.

For 3 adults, I place 2 wide-mouth qt. jars filled with milk to shoulders and grains into a cooler in a warm place for 24-36 hrs. Every time I decant them, I replace them with fresh milk. This keeps us in all the kefir we wish to drink – a couple times daily. Often we'll have a wine glass of it with our evening meal sprinkled with a little pink salt. Some like it first thing in the morning; some just before bed (probiotic beasties do their best work during the night); some when just in hot from the field when salt is particularly tasty.

Kefir is the easiest to make. When you branch out into yogurt, it can be a little trickier. I recommend finding a yogurt maker and buying some powdered culture to start. The longer you keep your yogurt milk at scald temp, the more firm will be your finished yogurt.

Good luck, Dy – and remember that over-kefired kefir that has defined kurds makes the most delicious cream cheese ever with the whey left over to culture veggies and make sourdough breads.
Discard nothing of this white gold – if humans choose not to consume it, feed it to your animals or put into the garden compost.

Best,
Lynn

What a wonderful resource you've put together, here. Thank you, for taking the time to share your knowledge.

We've just begun our kefir adventure. The children love the water kefir, so that's been a good experience. Now, I am turning to the milk cultures, and that's proving a bit more involved. (Why does the learning curve seem to much steeper, the older I get?) ;-) The information you've provided, here, helped tremendously.

There are seven of us, and I'm not clear on just how much kefir I should be aiming for – not just for production, but overall daily incorporation into our diet. If you have any thoughts to share on that topic, they'd be much appreciated by this member of the Peanut Gallery.

OK, I'm off to peruse the rest of your site for information! Thanks, again, so much.
Dy