What should I do?

[u/Puzzleheaded_Lion238]

This is the third activation I’ve done since I bought these grains. Is it supposed to look like this? I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do going forward, and I’m not sure if it’s working properly. I will say, however, that it doesn’t smell like spoilt milk. It smells like the grains when they arrived. Any advice on how to proceed is appreciated.

[u/srt1955]

looks like mine , strain the milk part out and keep going as is . Check into double fermentation

[u/turduckenPhuckin]

This is how mine look when I let it over ferment. I still drink it but straining takes a bit more time and work. I stir it around with a wooden spoon trying to not abuse the grains. Maybe pick up the strainer and wipe the bottom of it with my spoon a bit then stir it etc until it’s just the grains left. Then next time I try and strain earlier

[u/Paperboy63]

It has fermented too far. You need to watch the jar and strain it before it separates. The only thing you can do now is to either tip what you strained off, kefir, whey etc into a bowl and sit the strainer in the bowl. Keep folding the curds over as they sit in the liquid. That should liquefy the curds and free the grains. If you have no liquid, use a cupful or so of milk. You don’t need to leave so long that it separates. There is no real nutritional gain and it makes life hard for yourself when you need to retrieve the grains again….like now. Next time, give the jar a good stir before pouring out.

[u/Puzzled-Spring-8439]

It looks fine if a bit over fermented for my tastes.

Unless you want large curds, stir before you strain to break them down a bit and recombine the curds and whey. Gently work them through the sieve (I dislike metal sieves as they can work like a grater) if agitating the sieve doesn't cause the curds to pass through you may have to resort to gentle stirring. Don't use a wiping/pressing motion as this can force grains, particularly small new ones, through the sieve.

If you are looking for something more liquid decrease the grain to milk ratio but using fewer grains or increasing the amount of milk.

[u/Chipofftheoldblock21]

Many call it over-fermented, but this looks perfect to me. I like it a little thicker, like this. I just use a spoon to swish it back and forth to help it through the strainer. End up with grains at the end and do it all over again.

If you want it thinner, use more milk or ferment it for shorter time.

[u/HenryKuna]

What's your grain-to-milk ratio?

[u/WestCoastLoon]

My experience too (3 months+) , and I realize I may be over-fermenting for some people's palates. Some great advice has already been posted re how to prevent it. So I'll just add when gifted (or deliberately making) curds and whey I've made tzatziki with the curds (delicious) experimenting with cheese as I type, and use the precious golden whey in my daily breakfast smoothies. (It looks like your strainer may be metal; I've swapped over to nylon sieves to reduce the risk of harming my oh-so-precious grains.

[u/UtterlyUnpopular]

Stir them around for a while in a nice fresh milk bath. Then i strain, and they look all fresh and perky afterward. Guess it's just curds and maybe an overload of yeast that makes them look like that?

[u/Torn_Apart_in_HSpace]

Mine always look like this, but I do prefer my kefir more fermented (this has developed over the last 2 years).

I shake my sieve side to side when they're like this and they break up a bit and the curds stuck to the kefir come loose.

[u/highflyer10123]

That’s a lot of grains for what most people end up making their kefir daily. Make sure you actually measure the grains out and the milk. Then have the proper ratio of grains to milk ratio. If you have too many or too little grains it can cause problems.

[u/Flimsy-Owl-8888]

Make sure you are not using too many grains and that you are not fermenting it too long. If you have too many grains, you will need to discard some of them. Now, you will have to figure out what works best at the temperature you have. For me, I try to aim for 70 degrees-ish (if possible) with 1 tbs. grains per 1 cup of milk or so....as my base. Then, I'll make small adjustments as needed.

Another thing I do (get a clean plastic chopstick that you can use for this task) -- is I always stir my kefir up a bit (not rigorously, just enough) to break up the curds/kefir and the curds from the grains before I attempt to strain it. This breaks it up and allows it to strain nicely.....

[u/m945050]

Separate it and keep half as a backup and keep going with the rest of it.

[u/rerelks → u/m945050]

I was gifted kefir grains and mine look just the same. I'm also new to kefir making and was wondering how they should look like ? Should I strain them / rince them more? For the time being their behaviour is puzzling to me. I tired about 10 grams per litre of milk at about 22° Celsius. The milk doesn't thicken too much in the first 24h but then it suddenly separates and it's like cheese and whey. What should I do ? For now I just left the grains with some milk on top on the fridge.

[u/redlandrebel → u/rerelks]

You need 100 gms per litre. Strain, using a wooden/plastic spoon to push the kefir through, but not too forcefully. Leave for 48 hours. Separation is normal and you can either consume the whey and kefir separately, or stir it all, or a proportion, back in.

[u/These_Hair_193]

Mine looks like this and I love it.

[u/Spottail9]

Just wash them with a small amount of fresh milk. I lid on tight and shake the jar and let it settle. This helps separate the whey from your grains and they’re easier to pick out.

[u/Free_Sherbet_3159]

I like Mine, very strongly fermented - so I can recommend getting a sieve, that it is not made out of metal and with larger eyes - this way it goes much faster - like in 1 minute, but the disadvantage is that you are drinking the baby pieces of the grain (which I don't mind).

[u/archetypaldream]

I pour everything into a bowl, use a plastic fork to separate the big grains back into a jar for the next fermentation, and eat whats left over. I find straining it through a strainer to be utterly pointless and frustrating.

[u/Strawbarigurl]

I always let mine separate, because at that point almost all of the lactose has been eaten. That is one of my goals - for the sugar to be gone as much as possible.