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How to make Milk Kefir

Milk kefir is a fermented probiotic-rich drink that helps restore and maintain a healthy gut microbiome, essential for maintainig optimal health. It's an especially powerful probiotic in terms of the variety and number of bacteria it contains, much more potent than other probiotic drinks such as Kombucha or yoghurt.

It is ideal to make it yourself at home rather than buy it from the supermarket. Homemade kefir is vastly superior in terms of its nutrition and probiotic value than the standard supermarket stuff. That said, some farms do sell high-quality kefir.

Things Needed

All you need are milk, and milk kefir "grains" - not grains in the literal sense, but rather clusters of bacteria and yeast. The microbes from these grains eat the lactose (sugar) in the milk and ferment it. The grains grow and multiply over time and you re-use them with each ferment.

You can buy organic milk kefir grains online and have them delivered to you in most countries. Ensure that you purchase organic milk kefir grains and avoid mistakenly purchasing water kefir grains (water kefir is a different drink).

The milk you use needs to be as high quality as possible. Usually people use cow, sheep, or goat's milk. The ideal is raw organic grass-fed milk from a healthy animal. By raw I mean the milk should not be pasteurized or homogenized, processes that damage the nutrients and natural bacteria in the milk. Bare minimum, the milk must be organic and unhomogenized.

Note that coconut or other plant milks are not suitable for making milk kefir, they do not contain the nutrients needed for the grains to survive and multiply.

Activation Process

If you get kefir grains shipped in the mail then you definitely need to do this. The grains will be dehydrated and dormant, having not been in milk for some time, and in need of "re-activating". Place the grains in a bowl with approximately 250ml of milk and allow them to sit at room temperature for 1-2 days. Cover the bowl with a cloth or paper towel. I use a paper towel with an elastic band to hold it onto the bowl.

When the milk starts separating, the grains are ready. If there's no separation for 2 days, you can strain out the milk and replace it with new milk, and see if there is any separation after another 1-2 days.

First Fermentation

Milk kefir may go through one or two stages of fermentation before you drink it.

For the first fermentation, place your grains in a glass bowl or jar and add milk. It is recommended to use 250ml of milk for every 5g of kefir grains, although you may deviate from this guideline slightly without issue. Then cover the bowl or jar with a cloth or towel and leave it for 1-2 days. In hot climates the fermentation may only take 12 hours or less. It's a good idea to stir the kefir occasionally too.

When the ferment is done you'll see the kefir grains floating at the top of the milk, the milk will look thicker, and you'll see some separation of curds and whey. Strain out the milk into another bowl/jar, separating it from your grains. You then reuse the grains for another first ferment. By now it's likely the grains have grown and multiplied somewhat.

You may drink the milk you just strained out, or refrigerate it to drink later. Alternatively you may do a second ferment with it.

Second Fermentation

The second fermentation further increases the kefir's bacteria count and nutritional value.

Put the kefir milk taken from the first ferment into a glass container. Cover it and leave it for 12-24 hours, though again in a hot climate it will ferment quicker, perhaps in 6 hours. Unlike the first ferment, I usually do the second ferment anaerobically by putting the milk in a sealed jar or bottle, carbonating it a little. However this is totally optional and if you don't want to risk an explosion then you may do the second ferment aerobically like the first one.

You may also put some sliced fruit into the milk for the second fermentation, to add some extra probiotic value and flavour. For milk kefir, I like to add some chopped blueberries.

When the second fermentation is done, the milk will have noticeably separated, like a large white blob sitting on top of a layer of clear pale liquid. You can stir it up or even put it in a blender to create a consistent texture. Drink it straight away or you may refrigerate it for later.

Dos and Dont's