So we’re ready to start making your first kefir milk. Woo hoo!
We’re going to keep this super quick. And super simple!
As we’ve talked about in previous posts throughout this kefir series, you can use:
- Dairy milk (cow, goat, sheep)
- Coconut milk
- Rice milk
- Soya milk
- Hazelnut milk
- Almond milk
Phew! Have I left any out? (I’m sure I have! 😉
That’s just an example of 6 types of milk you can use to create your delicious kefir. Or 8, if you count the 3 dairy milks. (Does a little happy dance.)
Bacteria eat the lactose (sugars) in regular milk during fermentation. That’s why kefir milk is almost lactose free once it’s ready.
Lactose free milk contains a different type of sugar in the form of lactase, which is added to lactose free milk to make is taste sweeter.
To de-activate the lactase enzyme, the milk is then highly pasteurised (a more intense process than that used for regular milk) which also gives it a longer shelf life.
I haven’t tried using this milk, but I’ve read that ‘it’s worth a try’ and could be successful.
For today I’m using the milks below, but please just grab your favourite milk and try with that. I haven’t made them all myself to date, but I’ve just bought rice/soya/hazelnut and almond (shop bought) to try them out for you .. and will report back when I’ve experimented!
Gather Your Goodies
Coconut Kefir:
Canned Coconut Milk (organic, with no additives or sweeteners is best – It’s said that Gar Gaum doesn’t seem to interfere with the fermentation process)
1 packet of Kefir Starter Culture
Cow’s Kefir:
2 pints of Cow’s Milk
Your Kefir Grains
For kitchen utensils, check this post and have the necessaries to hand
It’s Action Time!
How to make Coconut Kefir Milk
Take your can of milk and give it a jolly good shake.
Open it. (This helps a lot.) (Wink.)
Take a small glass/cup and pour a little of your milk into it.
Follow the instructions from your kefir culture starter box and blend the start into the milk with a teaspoon (you don’t HAVE to do this, but I just think it’s good to mix it in).
Now grab your clamp down jar and pour in the rest of the milk. (Glug. Glug.)
Don’t you just love a sound effect.
Next, pour your blended mixture into the clamp down jar.
Pour the cup of milk in next.
Stir with a long spoon, shut the lid, clamp it down and move it to a warm space.
- A utility room
- An airing cupboard (place the bottle on a tray – in case of any spillage, if you do this!)
- Above a fridge
- Near a radiator
- A warm room
- Under your partner’s furry pyjamas (the ones you’ve been meaning to burn when they’re not looking)
Keep an eye on the jar (oh alright, not ALL the time 😉 and in 24-48 hours (usually 48 I find, for coconut kefir) your milk will be ready.
Ta da!
Oh, I’m sorry. Did I make that too easy? Hmmmmm. Let me try to complicate things so I can look uber clever.
Nope. Can’t do it.
Wink.
Ooh, Really?!
If you read that a clamp down jar won’t work for fermenting kefir, please know that it will work brilliantly. They’re easy to source, cheap to buy and this is the only style of vessel I’ve used to date.
You may read elsewhere that you can make kefir in an oxygenated environment (open jar covered with muslim) .. That simply encourages mould and there’s no need to make your life more difficult. Trust me. Clamp downs are dreamy-easy!
I love to use glass because I can keep an eye on my ferments; watch them change consistency, texture, even shape (things shrink, rise, bubble – it’s a busy old thing, this fermenting lark!)
I haven’t used airlock jars to date. It means buying a different lid.
Again, there are some who say they’re essential to many ferments. To be honest, I now can’t remember which ferments. But I’ve been fermenting milk, fruit AND veg for a year now and have found glass, clamp down jars to be just the ticket.
I don’t have enough shelf space (regarding height) to house the airlocks. It does make jars very tall and I like to pack my jars in and work ’em hard. (Call me Meany Mum.)
It’s said that they can help to prevent mould forming – although I have only seen mould if I’ve seriously neglected a ferment – and some people believe it can make the ferment taste better, but others are firm fans of canning/mason jars or clamp down jars. It all seems to be a subject of healthy ongoing debate!
Who knows though, maybe one day, both you and I will fall in love.
With an airlock lid.
Awww. Won’t that be cute?
These are used with canning/mason jars. (If you use these jars without airlocks, try to use plastic lids or if you go with metal, ensure no food touches the metal. I was gifted one and the lid rusted fast, even though no food touched it. I wouldn’t use one again for that reason.)
Here’s an example of a plastic airlock lid. Just so you know …
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-Easy-Fermenting-Pickling-Probiotic-Plastic-Reusable-Jar-Lid-Airlock-3-p-/121172436297
I’m getting distracted! Back to milk. Yay!
Some manufacturer’s instructions will advise you to heat the milk to a certain temperature before fermenting it.
I use mine at room temperature, whatever that is at the time I’m making milk. We don’t live in a tent, so it’s pretty warm 😉 .. I’ve even used it straight from the fridge. Naughtyyyy!
I think I have a little devil in me that wants to do things in the kitchen that I’m told won’t work. 😉
In truth, it’s a good way to confirm that there is no rule that works for all. I’ve happily made ferments in a particular way for months before reading somewhere that my successful method never works.
This is the amazing and exciting thing about fermentation. Following instructions the first time is like slipping on your favourite onesie. (No, I don’t have one. I’m just not cool enough 😉 It’s cosy. And it feels safe.
However …. after you’ve found your way, allow ‘challenge’ to be your friend. She’ll dare you to break ‘the rules.’ Drag you down a road less familiar. Tempt you to try things your own way.
Never been creative? Welcome to a world that is positively crying out for you to ‘do your own thing!’
Gosh. Where was I? Distracted again by the many faces of fermentation.
Back to the plot!
So your milk and powder are blended.
Now you need to grab your clamp down jar and pour in the milk. (Glug. Glug.)
Don’t you just love a sound effect.
Next, pour your blended mixture into the large jar.
Onto the next milk then!
How to make Cow’s Kefir Milk
With this baby you start with the kefir grains. Pop them gently into the bottom of your clamp down jar.
Pour in the milk. Stir.
Shut the lid, clamp it down (leave in warm place, blah blah, see above) and 12-24 hours later your milk will be ready.
Grains can make less sour milk for the first few ferments. It’s the luck of the grains you receive and how they’ve travelled (who knows? maybe that bus journey was rocky) but I seem to remember that mine were fine from batch two.
Don’t be disheartened if the first batch isn’t perfect. You can still drink it. The grains can just take a little time to find their feet in a new home. (Sweet, huh?)
When your ferment is ready, you need to take a jar with a sieve resting on top.
Pour in your milk and gently stir it until the milk drains through to the jug and the grains remain.
Pop those in a new jar and start your process again.
Grains are pretty hardy, but they can be broken up with a spoon, so you want to treat them with love (even kefir grains like love 🙂 because you’re going to be looking for them to thrive and multiply.
Eventually they will clump together and start to look like little chemistry experiments. Aliens from Planet Kefir.
Mine are getting quite sizey now. It’s fascinating to see them morph.
Let’s to a quick round up, so you have something simple to refer to:
Summary
Coconut Kefir Milk
- Add the relevant volume of powder – to volume of milk – into a glass.
- I use 1 packet of culture powder to 1 quart/2 pints milk, but it will depend on the brand you choose.
- Stir in a little milk with a spoon, so the two are blended nicely.
- Take your clamp down jar and pour in the milk.
- Add the powder culture/milk to the jar.
- Stir with a long spoon.
- Close the lid and clamp it down.
- Move the jar to a warm spot (around 68-75% is good – cooler will slow the fermentation time a little, wearer will speed it up, but that’s okay; you just need to be prepared).
- Keep an eye on the milk so it doesn’t curdle. Once the milk separates from the whey (curds and whey) it will look messy, is still drinkable (you can pop it in a blender and redeem it) but it will be more sour. Too tangy may be too much, which is why it’s best to catch it before it curdles.
- Once ready, keep in this vessel and refrigerate. Or transfer to a jug (see the ones I use, which are perfect for our fridge door).
- To make your next batch, keep back 6 tablespoons to use for your next 2 pints/quart milk.
- Grab a clean jar, add fresh coconut milk and the 6 tablespoons of milk from your previous batch.
- That’s it. It’s a repeating cycle until the bacteria pack up and stop fermenting your milk.
Cow’s Kefir Milk
- Take your clamp down jar and add the kefir grains.
- Pour in your milk.
- Shut the lid and clamp it down.
- Move the jar to a warm spot (around 68-75% is good – cooler will slow the fermentation time a little, warmer will speed it up, but that’s okay; you just need to be prepared).
- Keep an eye on the milk so it doesn’t curdle. Once the milk separates from the whey (curds and whey) it will look messy, is still drinkable (you can pop it in a blender and redeem it) but it will be more sour. Too tangy may be too much, which is why it’s best to catch it before it curdles.
- Once ready, take a jug with a sieve resting on top.
- Pour your milk into the sieve.
- Gently stir the milk, allowing the milk to strain into the jar, leaving your grains in the sieve.
- Transfer the grains to a clean jar and repeat the process to make a new batch of milk.
- Refrigerate your kefir milk in a jar. Or a jug (see the ones I use, which are perfect for our fridge door).
- Your grains will multiply in time, allowing you to make larger batches of milk. And more (but we’ll talk about that in another post!)
So that’s it my lovely. We’re in business. I’m drinking kefir. You’re drinking kefir.
There remains only one thing to say.
Cheers!
Toodle Oo for now!
