Water Kefir

I have also added water kefir (WK) to my collection. It uses 'grains' (or crystals) quite different looking than the milk kefir and uses sugar water to produce different bacteria and yeasts. I love to mix my kombucha with WK together. The play nice together! Sometimes I add some flavored stevia, sometimes I just drink it mixed without anything added.

Here  are basic directions for making WK. You can also get the 'grains' or kefir crystals as she calls them from Donna here.

 Down below I have pictures showing how I do it step by step.

The basic recipe is 1 TBSP of grains to 1 TBSP of sugar to 1 cup of water.
I like to add a small amount of molasses to mine as well for the minerals. Sea salt can also be used.
Let sit for 2 days to ferment.

EDIT: If you want to get fancy, I have come across a better recipe:  2TBSP organic sugar, 1TBSP sucanat or demerara sugar, 1/8 tsp molasses, a large pinch of baking soda, small slice of lemon, 4-5 raisins. Add 1/4 cup WK grains or crystals and 3 cups water. This makes them grow like crazy! (until they didn't....see note below) I did this for awhile, but now I just do the above basic recipe with molasses. I like to keep things simple.

Water and sugar: It's best to have well water or filtered spring water rather than distilled water. And definitely no chlorinated water. Sugar can be plain sugar or sucanat, but the grains don't like either too many or too little of minerals. I have tried several combinations and find they like the well water with organic, minimally processed sugar best. Read the directions from the above link for more complete information on water kefir.

Note: One thing that kept plaguing my grains that I finally tracked down was that it was getting too cold at night too often in the RV and they didn't like that. Now that I have them tucked away in a cupboard, the temperature is more stable and they are growing again. Since I started doing this, I simplified my recipe to just 4 TBSP grains, 4 TBSP organic sugar, 1/8 tsp sea salt (similar function to baking soda--minerals) and a small spoon just dipped into molasses, so maybe 1/2 tsp? They are doing well and I'm thankful to be using a simpler recipe.

Another note: I got some grains sent to me by someone who had tossed extras into a freezer, then sent them to me later. I found they did weird things, and after doing many batches and working with it for awhile, I finally mixed my anemic ones in with the news ones and added some I had in the refrigerator in storage and I'm finally happy with the result. Lesson: don't freeze these guys to save them! I have recently tried just dehydrating some and will see how well they reconstitute and post my results.

Here's my starting point. I have my strainer ready, my empty jar ready and the water kefir that has been brewing for 2 days is ready to bottle.

I pour the contents of my jar into this strainer and strain out the grains. Once I strain the grains, I measure out 1/4 cup (which is 2 of these little measures). If I have some left over because they have multiplied, I either start a new batch, save them in the fridge in sugar water (up to 2 weeks), dry them for later or eat them (they're a little like gummies, but not as much flavor)

I pour the WK into the jar and label the lid with the date.  This jar then goes into a cupboard until the next batch and does it's thing. Some directions say one day, but I don't bother until the 2nd day. You can add flavors at this point. This is called the 2nd ferment, or 2F. Some options are adding berries, cucumber slices, lemon slices, ginger slices, etc. I usually don't bother.

Then I'm ready to mix up another batch. I use organic sugar, a little bit of molasses or I alternate it with sea salt, just a sprinkle or pinch. It doesn't need much.

Here my spoon has been dipped into molasses half way and let drip a bit then added to the sugar for the next step.

I add about a 1/2 cup of hot or warm water to the sugar and molasses and stir and stir until it's all dissolved. 

Then I add cold water to bring it up to 3 cups total. It should be cool to the touch. If it's at all warm, you'll need to let it cool off before adding it to your grains or you'll kill them.

The jar is ready for its cloth top to allow it to breathe. Now it sits for 2 days. You can bottle it after only one day, but I usually let it go for 2 days. I set an alarm to remind me because if you let them go for too long, it will harm them, they will starve from eating all the sugar and not having enough to survive.

I found that by putting the jar into an insulated lunch bag, it keeps it warm enough through the night to keep it happy and multiplying. I found that too cold of temperatures is really hard on the grains and they will shrink and stop multiplying.