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Troubleshooting Kefir
- karen
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11 years 3 months ago #1
by karen
Troubleshooting Kefir was created by karen
I am grateful that a friend gave me some Kefir to start my healthy living.
She had added some milk in the morning, so the next morning (today) I went to drain my kefir, well, it was all separated with a clear water at the bottom. I thought that the kefir was shoked, or took too long for me to change it, maybe my home was warmer than my friends.
Problem 1: The 'grains' were more like a paste, so small, and I decided to use coffee filter paper to help my strainer which I bought from my asian market, but was not as meshy as the pictures I see now online.
I took the pasty "grains" and put them in a new jar (bigger) and added milk around 6am today. At around noon it was separated again! ah!!!
Problem 2:
It took a couple hours for it to get a middle watery layer, but I thought it had to go 24 hrs.! so I just mixed it and kept it on the counter.
Well I separated it again using filter paper in my new colander. I kept the watery stuff from both siftings...
My question is
can I save this pasty "grains"? how do I do kefir now... what is left is the curdy top layer. trying to attach a picture. the attachments does not work, or I don't know how to do the attachments.
Do I need to buy kefir? I have maybe 2 cups of this cheesy/curdy stuff, and almost a full tumbler of the watery stuff.
can I still use it to make kefir?
thank you!
K
She had added some milk in the morning, so the next morning (today) I went to drain my kefir, well, it was all separated with a clear water at the bottom. I thought that the kefir was shoked, or took too long for me to change it, maybe my home was warmer than my friends.
Problem 1: The 'grains' were more like a paste, so small, and I decided to use coffee filter paper to help my strainer which I bought from my asian market, but was not as meshy as the pictures I see now online.
I took the pasty "grains" and put them in a new jar (bigger) and added milk around 6am today. At around noon it was separated again! ah!!!
Problem 2:
It took a couple hours for it to get a middle watery layer, but I thought it had to go 24 hrs.! so I just mixed it and kept it on the counter.
Well I separated it again using filter paper in my new colander. I kept the watery stuff from both siftings...
My question is
can I save this pasty "grains"? how do I do kefir now... what is left is the curdy top layer. trying to attach a picture. the attachments does not work, or I don't know how to do the attachments.
Do I need to buy kefir? I have maybe 2 cups of this cheesy/curdy stuff, and almost a full tumbler of the watery stuff.
can I still use it to make kefir?
thank you!
K
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- Andrea Fabry
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11 years 3 months ago #2
by Andrea Fabry
Replied by Andrea Fabry on topic Re: Troubleshooting Kefir
Have you been to Dom's kefir site? He has virtually every troubleshooting topic in the world. It sounds like the grains are eating up the milk quickly. This could be a temperature issue or quantity issue. What proportions are you using? It should be 1 tbs. grain to 1 cup milk.
I have extra dairy grains if you want to try some new ones. You can email me
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The kefir should be safe...it just separated prematurely. You can use the liquid whey in bath water, as a toner, or drink with some lemon juice. The curds should be OK too. If there are severe lactose issues, however it may not have fermented long enough.
I have extra dairy grains if you want to try some new ones. You can email me
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The kefir should be safe...it just separated prematurely. You can use the liquid whey in bath water, as a toner, or drink with some lemon juice. The curds should be OK too. If there are severe lactose issues, however it may not have fermented long enough.
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- karen
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11 years 3 months ago #3
by karen
Replied by karen on topic Re: Troubleshooting Kefir
I have many mason jars, pints and the regular size.
Can I separate the cheesy mess into them? to be more like a few table spoons for a couple cups of milk?
Or, should I use a pitcher and use the ~2 cups of cheesy mess and add milk to the top? (1 ga of milk)
Thank you for the bath idea!
Karen
Can I separate the cheesy mess into them? to be more like a few table spoons for a couple cups of milk?
Or, should I use a pitcher and use the ~2 cups of cheesy mess and add milk to the top? (1 ga of milk)
Thank you for the bath idea!
Karen
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- karen
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11 years 3 months ago #4
by karen
Replied by karen on topic Re: Troubleshooting Kefir
I saw dan's Troubleshooting questions, Q3, Q33 or Q32, where the ones I thought relevant, but they don't say if I can make kefir with the curdy cheesy mess I have.
Thanks
karen
Thanks
karen
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- Andrea Fabry
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11 years 3 months ago #5
by Andrea Fabry
Replied by Andrea Fabry on topic Re: Troubleshooting Kefir
If it were me, I would probably toss the grains and the curds and keep the whey. Or you can try to build them back. My thoughts anyway.
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- karen
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11 years 3 months ago - 11 years 3 months ago #6
by karen
Replied by karen on topic Re: Troubleshooting Kefir
i put 4 tablespoons of the cheesy mess in mason jar, added 4 cups of milk. left it on the counter. the rest of the cheesy mess i put it together with some milk in another jar. to the fridge!
I figure that if I loose it all anywhey I can add salt to it and add it to my lasagna casserole I am planing for this week.
It took me a while to actually know that they whey is the watery part....
So now I do hope I can save the fine granules...
God bless! will post pics if Ican.
k
ps. How can I try to recover them?
I figure that if I loose it all anywhey I can add salt to it and add it to my lasagna casserole I am planing for this week.
It took me a while to actually know that they whey is the watery part....
So now I do hope I can save the fine granules...
God bless! will post pics if Ican.
k
ps. How can I try to recover them?
Last edit: 11 years 3 months ago by karen. Reason: adding PS
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