Note: Do not allow any stainless-steel equipment to contact your kefir. Stainless steel destroys kefir organisms. Only use glass, wood or food grade plastic (not the best option) to make, store, serve or eat with. 

 

 

Raw, unprocessed organic milk

 

Kefir culture (buy on-line as live culture or in sachets. These come with excellent instructions and trouble shooting tips. Do read and refer)

 

Food grade plastic strainer

 

 

Wide mouth glass jars -2

 

Glass tumbler to make pre-mix

 

Wooden or food-grade plastic spoon

 

Clean, disinfected cotton cloth and rubber band

 

 

Pour milk into the glass tumbler upto the middle

 

Add the kefir culture or the sachet contents into the milk in the tumbler and stir gently

 

Add the remaining milk into one of the glass jars and pour the mixture from the glass tumbler into the glass jar. Stir gently

 

Cover the glass jar with the cotton cloth and fasten with the rubber band. 

(Kefir needs oxygen to grow. It is an aerobic process. The cotton cloth allows the kefir culture to breathe. Lacto-fermentation is an anaerobic process. It does not need oxygen and therefore should be tightly shut. Note the difference).

 

Put away for 26-30 hours in warmest place possible in your home. 

 

Once ready, harvest the kefir grains from the jar with a plastic or wooden spoon and set aside in a bowl full of raw milk for your next batch. 

The plastic strainer helps in straining the rest of the kefir into the other glass jar for storage, and will further leave behind kefir grains. Set these grains aside in the same storage bowl. Keep the bowl covered with a cotton cloth to allow the grains to breathe and thrive.

 

The rest of the kefir is to be consumed. (Start very gently. One teaspoon full only. Increase gradually for minimal die-off reactions. If you have been consuming kefir before starting your GAPS Protocol, you may have good enough quantities)