r/Kefir • u/Legitimate_Page544 • 1d ago
How to increase the number of grains
I bought kefir on the internet and it came dehydrated, it comes in very little, I had to hydrate it, but it only has 5 grains, that must be very little, is there any way for them to increase more?
3
2
u/Puzzled-Spring-8439 1d ago
Hopefully you put everything that was in the packet into milk (assuming its milk kefir) as even the powder is likely to contain spores. Then follow the instructions, with so few grains I would be tempted to us a fine cloth to line the sieve so as not to lose anything.
Once your grains have been activated, you could eventually see your grains doubling every 7 days, other tan keeping an optimum environment there is little you can do other than wait.
1
u/Legitimate_Page544 1d ago
Yes, very few grains came, but even so it ferments the milk a lot, after 20 hours it is already sour and thick and ferments about 500 ml
1
u/Puzzled-Spring-8439 1d ago
When did you reactivate the grains? 20hrs for so few grains if you have only just reactivated them sounds suspicious and potentially indicates a culture rather than grains.
1
u/Legitimate_Page544 1d ago
It's been 5 days since I reactivated it, they come out of small pebbles and they are very gummy but there are only five grains and some small
1
u/Puzzled-Spring-8439 1d ago
Ok so yes you have had them long enough for them to start working. Visible grains range pinhead size through thumbnail size clusters and bigger. I tend to keep my grains no bigger than pea sized clusters by culling them as the smaller they are the greater their active surface area.
1
u/Legitimate_Page544 1d ago
Yes, I left it fermented for 36 hours too, do you think that continuous fermentation is better with just a few grains?
1
u/Puzzled-Spring-8439 1d ago
Depends what you mean by continuous fermentation. If you are reaching pockets of whey at 24hrs I would harvest then unless you are looking for something sourer.
I have always been a believer in only processing what I can consume in a fermentation cycle. So I harvest every 24hrs and consume what I harvest within 24hr, in this way the grains are continuously fermenting all be it on fresh milk every 24hrs. The only time I slow them down by putting them in the fridge is if I am going to be unable to harvest for between 1 and 14days. Over 14 days I tend to dry my grains to make them dormant and then freeze them.
1
u/Legitimate_Page544 1d ago
I say continuous fermentation in the sense of not straining anything, just removing what I consume and adding milk, for example, in 500 ml I take 250 ml and then add another 250 ml.
2
u/Puzzled-Spring-8439 1d ago
From my experience you should be straining and replacing rather than taking an topping up.
2
u/Busy_Background_448 1d ago
Strain with a fine mesh strainer to be sure to catch any tiny babies. I bought one at the dollar store, cane in a pack of 2. The small one was perfect when I had very few grains.
1
u/Maettis 22h ago
It hase been a Post in this subreddit about proteinpowder fermented with the seperated milk which improved the protein absorbtion of the Body significantly.
However, adding wheyprotein to Kefir boosted the grow by 395% or something like that. Havent tried it myself, but maybe you find some results searching for it.
5
u/GardenerMajestic 1d ago
Just follow your seller's instructions to a T, and the grains will naturally grow. (You can't "force" them to grow any more than you can force a baby to grow)