Water Kefir - Great stuff.

Is anyone else making their own? Someone mentioned it in a thread on here a few weeks ago and I cant find that thread anymore. It got me wondering so I spent about $15 and bought some grains online. This stuff is awesome and so easy to make. I got the wife and neighbor hooked on it. The grains multiply really fast too, so you can make bigger batches and give extra grains away.

Here is a little write-up on it http://www.weim.net/homeovet/Docs/water%20kefir.pdf

There are plenty of recipes online to change the flavor of it. Youtube has a lot. I used a cup of pure'ed strawberries and a 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice on my last batch and it turned out tasting like a carbonated rose water kombucha. Good stuff.

I think it was Europe that mentioned it. Thanks!

That's a good document angstman, thanks for posting. Have you noticed any positive affects from the kefir yet? Where'd you buy your grains?

My wife and I are definitely more regular than we were prior to drinking it. Since its only been about a week, thats all Ive noticed so far. I got my grains from a girl online who has her own video blog on how to make it. http://zoevblog.com/2010/03/17/what-is-water-kefir-and-how-to-make-it/

I already have 3 people in line to get grains from me when I have multiplied enough of them. If I get a bunch going before too long, Ill be able to mail some out to people on here.

Thanks angstman, I just emailed Zoe for the payment method. She mentioned that some people have issues with it at first, did you ramp up slowly or just go for it?

Can you substitute the sugar for something else? Will kefir just feed on the fruit, or can you put stevia in there instead?

Apparently the kefir grains consume just about all of the sugar, so the end product is not a sugary drink. Fruit alone won't work because it won't be broken down in the water and made available to the grains as food. The woman angstman referred me to has a few videos that explain it pretty well, and she does add a few pieces of dried fruit to the mixture for flavor.

How many calories does water kefir contain?

sdguy- I used all of the grains i got from her with about 6 tablespoons of raw organic cane sugar, a large piece of dried mango, and 2 dried apricots. 4 batches into it and my grains are getting close to being doubled.

j87x- i pulled this from another website.
Only 20% of the sugar remains (converted to fructose) once the kefir has cultured for 48 hours. I would just figure out the calories for the amount of sugar you put in and then remove 80%. For 1/2 cup sugar as the starting point that would be 387 calories to start and 77 after it ferments. Over 8 cups that's less than 10 calories a cup.

angstman wrote:sdguy- I used all of the grains i got from her with about 6 tablespoons of raw organic cane sugar, a large piece of dried mango, and 2 dried apricots. 4 batches into it and my grains are getting close to being doubled.

j87x- i pulled this from another website.
Only 20% of the sugar remains (converted to fructose) once the kefir has cultured for 48 hours. I would just figure out the calories for the amount of sugar you put in and then remove 80%. For 1/2 cup sugar as the starting point that would be 387 calories to start and 77 after it ferments. Over 8 cups that's less than 10 calories a cup.

I don't see how that's possible, sugar can be converted but how are the calories lost? The same matter is still in there.

j87x, the grains eat the sugar, using it to live and reproduce the same way we do with food. I can't say for sure but I don't think the stuff I drop off in the toilet has the same calories as what went in.

Angstman, I emailed Zoe but no response, think I'll shoot her another. Was she flaky or professional with you?

She was very professional and not flaky at all. She made sure I got them in ok and followed up after my first batch to see how things went. I just shot her an email saying a friend is requestiing grains but hasnt heard back from her. Maybe post something in the comments on her blog too. She usually reads those.

Reponse from Zoe-

Hello Billy.

I've gotten many requests over the last week and just got through the emails today. What is your friend's name? Unfortunately, at this time I don't have extra grains to share but hope to be able to soon. I shipped so many already. Didn't expect my blog to become so popular. :-)

How is your kefir-making going?

Kindly,
Zoe

I got a response from her a few days ago and sent in the cash. Unfortunately she's busy right now and won't be able to send me grains until May 1st. Maybe I should have waited until yours reproduced.

Anyway, excited to give it a try, I've been meaning to get a quality probiotic forever and hope this proves to be a good solution. Thanks for the info angstman!

No problem. My batch finally doubled in size and I gave the extra grains to my neighbor. It took about 5 batches for this to happen.

angstman - I believe i was the one that mentioned it Don't give europe all the credit! lol

Here is the link
https://immortalhair.forumotion.com/natural-hair-regrowth-f1/is-diet-coke-bad-for-hair-and-health-t2929.htm

Ahhh it was you. Well thanks for that, Ive got quite a few people surrounding me hooked on the stuff!

How goes it angstman, any increase in energy or other positive effects? (in addition to the regularity thing you mentioned)

Energy has been great. Still staying very regular. My sleep quality is starting to improve a little bit. I hope I can attribute the kefir to that.

Ive got 4-5 tablespoons of extra grains if anyone wants to try this. Just pay for the shipping (probably about $5)

Are you guys still using water kefir? Any updates? I'm interested in giving it a shot.

I stopped about a year ago. It went great but I was going out of town too much and ended up getting too busy to change out the water when I should've.

you can dry your extra grains, or put them in the freezer in case you wanna take a while off then start again. You can put them in the fridge too couple weeks with sugar water in fact it's recommended some places to give them a rest.

I love this kind of stuff. I have a kefir culture I pitch some goat milk into.

The king is ginger beer plant scoby though. Makes the best ginger beer you will ever have.