Also – are you using a muslin bag? I have seen slime when using bags, too, as sometimes the grains get stifled and can’t circulate freely as they would like. I am a bag-user proponent for the sake of convenience, but I also recommend to get rid of it fast if you think for any reason that it is hampering the grains.

Have you heard of water kefir grains getting a film or granular “slime” to them? My grains have been in use for almost 2 weeks, I only ferment for 48 hours and transfer them to another quart of water with sucanant. I keep them at room temperature, the resulting beverage still tastes the same, but I feel like my grains are smaller and I’m losing them.

Thanks,

Jaime

The water kefir tastes more like soda than wine, but if fermented long it can have a fermented flavor/smell also.

Probably what you saw at your friend’s was Kombucha — the mother culture looks a big floating mushroom. Water kefir’s mother culture are grains, like small translucent pebbles.

The only thing milk really loses during the culturing process is some of the lactose which is consumed by the culture. The vitamins remain in tact. Milk kefir is more nutritionally dense given that it has more calories, fat and vitamins (or at least different vitamins if you happen to be using juice to make water kefir) but the general probiotic profile is the same—water kefir is just a bit less concentrated so some people find they need to drink a larger quantity of it to get the same benefits.

Think of it this way: by kefiring your raw milk you’re just making your raw milk better. If you like drinking kefir, using it in cooking, etc., then kefiring your raw milk just adds benefits to a beverage you would be consuming anyway. If you aren’t a huge fan of milk kefir but want the probiotics of kefir, then use water kefir for the beneficial yeast and bacteria and use straight raw milk for other things.

Hopefully that makes sense, but let me know—we’re always happy to help!

Julie at http://www.culturesforhealth.com gave me this info! Thank you Julie

I do have questions that I cannot seem to get an answer to.

What are the comparisons of water Kefir and milk Kefir? Does Milk Kefir still have all the good qualities of the milk such as Vitamin D, calcium, etc… Surely milk kefir has more vitamins and nutrition than water kefir… since milk has so much more in it than water. If the answer is they are both the same, than what is the point of making milk kefir? I use whole raw milk. I pay $9.00 a gallon for this milk. It is senseless to use this for milk kefir if water (free) kefir has all the same nutrition.

Any direction to find the answers on the above will be greatly appreciated!