Kefir

[shelley262]

At the moment it's still milk. But hopefully tomorrow something will have happened. I expect it to be slow though, the warmest spot in my house is currently 12 °C, and usually colder.

Hope it goes well you need to wait until grains rise to top and some separation at bottom takes me about 24 hours at moment but we do have heating on a few hours a day so could take you longer. Last summer in the heatwave it was fully fermenting in about 10 hours which is harder to manage.
I've just tried adding flavour to mine - I strained the kefir when ready as normal and then added some grated lemon zest to the fermented kefir and left out for a second fermenting without the grains just the lemon zest for 12 hours. Meanwhile I started my normal next batch of kefir with The grains. The lemon zest second ferment kefir is thicker and delicious would recommend when you get in full production.
Good luck with your first kefir meanwhile.

 

[Antje77]

Hope it goes well you need to wait until grains rise to top and some separation at bottom takes me about 24 hours at moment but we do have heating on a few hours a day so could take you longer.

I've left it from saturday afternoon up to just now, so 3 full days.
The grains were at the top but I didn't see any separation.

I've just sieved it, and I think it tastes like kefir. It's also slightly fizzy.

I put the grains back in the pot and added milk again, that's what you're supposed to do, right?

 

[shelley262]

I've left it from saturday afternoon up to just now, so 3 full days.
The grains were at the top but I didn't see any separation.

I've just sieved it, and I think it tastes like kefir. It's also slightly fizzy.

I put the grains back in the pot and added milk again, that's what you're supposed to do, right?

Really good news. Yes you put the kefir youve made in the fridge to stop it maturing more and the sieved grains back in the pot and add fresh milk and start the process again. You will soon have lots of kefir ! I keep my made kefir in a bottle with a top and it always produces a pop sound when opened You never get that with commercial kefir - proof I think that it is definitley alive and doing what it should - plus it tastes better. In a few weeks you may have too many grains for a small amount of milk so to keep process under control you will need to discard some of the grains - you can eat them or your animals would love them too.
Once confident Id recommend thinking about a second ferment after adding flavour like lemon zest it really gives it an extra zing and thickens the kefir nicely but of course you do this with your once fermented kefir not with the grains. I also only leave out of fridge for a few hours for the second ferment before popping it into fridge as usual. Or you could just stick to your plain kefir - sounds like a success so your friend clearly gave you some active grains.
The separation is when all the sugar in the milk has been digested by the good bacteria in the grains - as your grains mature and it gets warmer it will happen - promise. Meanwhile a fair bit of sugar will still have been removed if grains have made it to the top.

 

[shelley262]

@Antje77 this is today's kefir showing the separation just about to sieve it