Kefir Brewing Directions

Happy grains will dance up and down in the container. If you see your grains moving around, you'll know you're doing things right.

Kefir Basic Recipe

In a nutshell, the basic water kefir recipe is:

1 tablespoon kefir and 1 table sugar per 1 cup of water

Directions:

Using a one quart glass jar, fill it with 3 ½ cups of non-chlorinated water. Dissolve in it 1/4c of raw or organic sugar. Add 1/4c (4T.) of Kefir grains and dried or fresh organic (non-sulfured) fruit; the more fruit you add, the more flavor it will impart. Cap but don't tighten completely. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hrs. or so (longer won't hurt anything). Half way through this process, jiggle the jar a little—you should see some bubbles going to the surface (like in soda).
After a full 24 hours you can tighten the jar further if you want to build up pressure and create more bubbles. You can leave it on the counter to do this quickly, or put it in the frig. It will continue to ferment in the frig, but it’ll be a slower process.
Drink right from this jar, or you can strain out the kefir to start another batch. With time, you should see your kefir grains increase in volume. Mine grow by at least 50% each time I make it, but we’re using well water high in minerals with no chlorine and no fluoride. Your results may vary.

Your strainer, as well as anything that touches the kefir, should NOT be metallic. I use a plastic strainer and a dedicated wooden spoon

Rules for kefir:

To store kefir grains that you're not going to use right away, either leave them in the kefir solution in the frig or make up a light sugar water and put them in that and keep in frig; they'll go dormant but will only last a few months. If you want to store them for a longer period of time, they will need to be dehydrated.

NEVER touch metal to the kefir grains. Strain through a plastic strainer or use cheese cloth.

Stir with a non-metal spoon. I use a dedicated wooden one.

Never fill the jar/bottle to capacity. Leave some air space for the kefir to breathe.

3 1/2c of water + 4T sugar + 4T kefir is a quart
7 1/4c of water + 8T (1/2c) sugar + 8T kefir is a half-gallon jar

Use non-chlorinated water to make the kefir. If it likes your water, the grains will probably double with each batch you make. The grains can be mixed into smoothies or anything else you want for added pro-biotic benefits.

Recipes:

Some things I like to add to my kefir are:
Pineapple (I use the core since it’s usually thrown away anyway)
Thinly sliced apples
Strawberries, also thinly sliced
Raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, or other type of berry: pureed
Organic raisins
Dried apricots and/or dried figs (with no preservatives or sulfur)

If I am using something very colorful (like berries) to flavor my Kefir, I usually do so AFTER I have removed the Kefir grains so as not to stain them. If you do stain your grains, don't panic. They will turn back to their normal white hue after being used one or two more times in a batch that doesn't contain dark colored fruit.

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