How to Make Kefir (step-by-step)

If you’ve ever wondered how to make kefir, it’s the easiest fermented food you could try! Here’s the full tutorial on how to make kefir with grains, why you want to drink it, and even how to make kefir dairy-free!

Dairy kefir is hands down, no doubt about it, the EASIEST fermented food you could EVER make on the entire planet.

But it’s possible that many of you haven’t ever tried it.

I think there are some (or several) of you who are nervous about milk sitting out on the counter.

I was too – until I actually tried it myself!

Take comfort in knowing that while the milk is sitting, it’s fermenting. Fermenting is not the same as going bad. Fermenting is a very good thing, and milk kefir gets better as it sits and ferments.

WHAT IS KEFIR?

The short answer: kefir is a fermented drink. The end.

The long answer: kefir is a fermented drink that is traditionally made by taking kefir grains and placing them in mammals’ milk (cow, sheep, goat, etc.) for a period of 12 to 24 hours, depending on the environment and the grain to milk ratio.

• The cooler the temperature, the slower the fermentation process is (kefir thrives in temperatures between 68-77 degrees).
• The more kefir grains you have, the quicker the fermentation process (the quantity of kefir grains can range from 2 to 10% of the milk).

The kefir grains themselves are a combination of probiotic (good) bacteria and yeast, as well as various proteins, lipids, and sugars. The grains kind of resemble cauliflower, are yellowish/whiteish in color, can be as small as a pin head, and can grow to be as large as walnuts or even golf balls.

Kefir has a tart, sour-like taste. At first sniff, one would think that it was milk gone bad. But those who are seasoned in the kitchen (or simply know what kefir is) can relate it to yogurt or buttermilk. It’s a clean sour, not a rancid sour. If the kefir tastes rancid, it’s gone bad.

WHY MAKE MILK KEFIR

KEFIR HAS GOOD BACTERIA

If you thought yogurt was health-benefitting, check this out: Yogurt has 1.5 trillion healthy bacteria while dairy kefir has nearly 5 trillion healthy bacteria! That’s over three times as much of the good bacteria that line our guts, helping digest food and keep our systems moving. And making kefir is way less work than making yogurt (although this yogurt-making method is pretty simple too).

WHY FERMENTATION?

Fermentation in milk kefir allows good bacteria to enter your digestive system to help it work better. Our bodies need bacteria to process the food we eat. We do consume bacteria in the foods we eat, but not nearly as much as we should to make our bodies efficient, and if we consume more fake food than real food, our bacteria levels will be even lower.

The good bacteria and enzymes in kefir kick-start your digestive system by helping to break down other foods, stimulating your system to produce its own enzymes better, and can even help those suffering from serious digestive issues. Kefir helps to keep things moving, which is imperative to good intestinal health – clean pipes are happy pipes!

KEFIR HAS VITAMINS AND MINERALS

Kefir is a lot like oatmeal – it’s a powerhouse of a huge variety of vitamins and minerals. Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, folic acid, nicotinic acid, iron, B2, B12, Vitamin K, Vitamin A, and Vitamin D are all in abundance. In addition, kefir also has tryptophan. Yep, the same amino acid that puts us in post-dinner Thanksgiving comas is found plentiful in kefir.

For those who may be wondering, drinking kefir will not put you in that same Turkey Day coma. At least drinking it in ½ – 1 cup servings (each day in my morning smoothie) hasn’t done me in yet.

KEFIR HAS GOOD YEAST

In addition to being good for your gut and good for your nervous system, kefir can also help treat candidiasis (commonly referred to as yeast infections). It may sound strange to treat a yeast infection by consuming more yeast, but kefir is good yeast that helps to bring the bad yeast under control.

HOW TO MAKE KEFIR WITH GRAINS

#1 GET SOME MILK KEFIR GRAINS..

Milk kefir grains are not the same as the powdered starter culture. The kefir starter culture can be reused only a few times and is heavily dependent on the cleanliness and contamination of the culture. You want indestructible, super-resilient grains. (The grains really aren’t invincible, but they are pretty tough.)

Kefir grains can be purchased (I recommend Cultures for Health via Amazon), or a generous friend can pass some on to you.

Purchased kefir grains come in a very tiny package, sealed with organic powdered milk. It will honestly look like nothing of importance, which makes the kefir-making process even more exciting!

#2 CULTURE YOUR KEFIR GRAINS

Place your kefir grains in a glass jar and add approximately one cup of organic whole milk. Cover the jar with a coffee filter and let it sit on your countertop.

The filter is so debris and other food particles don’t interfere with your kefir-making process. The kefir grains need air to breathe, so do not put a lid on your jar. Besides, the fermentation process will create pressure in the jar. If you seal the jar instead of using a filter, your jar may explode when you try to open it. Is anyone volunteering to clean soured milk off your ceiling?

Live kefir grains thrive best in a warm place, between 68 and 77 degrees, so you may have to find a more suitable spot if your kitchen is especially warm or cold. Don’t feel discouraged when nothing magical happens during the first fermentation. It will, just not yet…

#3 STRAIN YOUR HOMEMADE KEFIR

After 24 hours, use a strainer to pour the milk down the drain or into another vessel, but not the kefir.

Note: You may use this milk if you’d like, so long as it doesn’t smell sour. Room-temperature-possibly-soured-milk does not sound appetizing to me, but it may be suitable for pancakes, waffles, or biscuits.

Your strainer should be plastic, if possible, but stainless steel is sufficient. You may use a plastic or wooden spoon if it’s necessary to help drain the milk from the kefir. Moving the kefir and curds from side to side will help the milk drain. This may not be an issue yet, but it will be later.

#4 REPEAT STEPS 2 AND 3 FOR 10 DAYS.

Yes, 10 days. This process is called rehydrating the kefir – you’re essentially bringing the dried kefir grains back to life. Some grains are ready after 7 days, and some take as long as 14 days. Use your best judgment, but I’d personally rehydrate for 10 days.

#5 KEEP MAKING KEFIR

After the kefir grains are “alive,” you’re ready to keep making kefir.

Want to know how? Repeat step 2. No joke. Once your grains are active, you’re making the good stuff!

Depending on the environment and the quantity of grains you have in your milk, the jar may only need to sit for 12 hours, or it may need to sit for 24. After one month of making my own kefir, my grains grew from a teaspoon of powder to one full tablespoon. In one cup of milk, these grains make kefir in about 18 hours.

HOW TO USE HOMEMADE KEFIR

If you aren’t sure if you like drinking kefir straight, you can use it in smoothies, batters, and other baked goods where ingredients like milk, yogurt, or buttermilk is called for. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Replace the yogurt in this Blueberry Cheesecake Smoothie
• Use it as the liquid in this Soaked Whole Wheat Bread
• Make this Overnight Kefir Einkorn Coffee Cake
• Use in place of the yogurt in this Banana Nut Muffins recipe
• Replace some or all of the milk in these Strawberry Pancakes
• Make Easy Dinner Biscuits with kefir instead of milk
• Substitute kefir for buttermilk in Ranch Dressing

Use a clean jar for each new batch of kefir. I like to keep a couple of these jars on hand and just rotate to a new one each time.

You don’t have to make big batches of kefir at one time. You can make as little or as much as you’d like. Making one pint (two cups) at a time works well with the quantity of kefir grains I have.

I make a batch, pour half (one cup) for a smoothie, and refrigerate the other half. The grains are given fresh milk and put into the fridge. They get moved to the counter when the second cup from the first batch is pulled out. They then come to room temperature and ferment overnight, and the kefir milk is ready the following morning.

Kefir should last at least a week or two in the refrigerator. In general, as long as you drink it by the expiration date on the milk that you used, you should have no issues. Use the sniff test if you’re not sure!

If you have other ferments going in your kitchen, like kombucha, be sure to keep them at least a few feet apart. They won’t kill each other, but over time the fermenting cultures can weaken if they’re too close together.

The longer you let kefir grains ferment, the more acidic and sour the kefir tastes. If you are just beginning, you may want to strain the kefir grains after a shorter amount of time than a longer amount of time.

What if you want a break from making kefir? Since low temperatures render the grains dormant, you can store grains in milk safely in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you want to store them longer, it’s recommended that you rinse, dry, and freeze the grains. I haven’t done this personally, but it is an option.

NON-DAIRY KEFIR

You can use milk kefir grains with non-dairy milk, like using coconut milk to make coconut kefir. You can also use another animal’s milk, like goat’s milk, if you like.

Milk kefir grains need healthy bacteria to thrive and grow, and while the grains will ferment almond, soy, or other milk, they will not grow. Rehydrate your grains in mammal’s milk every few batches for maximum long-term potential.

Here’s what you do:

1. With active grains, make a batch of regular kefir. Donate the kefir to your friends or other family members and keep the kefir grains for yourself.
2. Make kefir using your choice of almond milk, hemp milk, cashew milk, coconut milk, peanut milk, or rice milk.
3. Make 1-2 batches of non-dairy milk kefir.
4. Make another batch of regular dairy milk kefir to keep the grains active.
5. Repeat steps 2-4.

CAN YOU RUIN KEFIR GRAINS?

There’s nothing worse than trying something new in the kitchen and failing miserably. Especially when everyone else is saying “Oh, it’s just SO easy!”

As your friend, let me assure you – making kefir IS easy.

Plus, kefir grains are known to be very resilient. I’ve starved them, rinsed them, touched them with metal, frozen them, and neglected them. But so far, they’ve survived just fine.

BUT – you can kill your grains if you go extreme on them.

Here are a few practices that you should avoid, just to be on the safe side.

• Don’t store or keep them in the fridge often. Kefir grains thrive best when they’re fed (i.e. given new milk) every day or two days. While keeping them in the fridge while you’re out of town for a couple of weeks once a year seems fine, you can damage the grains if you keep them in the fridge for 6 out of 7 days every week.
  • Possible solution – blend up some of your grains with your smoothies in order to keep the ratio of grains to milk low or give some grains to your friends and introduce them to real food!
• Don’t cook the grains or allow them to get hotter than 100F. Those in warmer climates (or those in cold climates, using their oven to culture!), beware. Extreme heat will kill your grains.
  • Possible solution – Make a test batch of kefir to see if it cultures. If it does, you’re safe. If it doesn’t, you need new grains.
• Don’t rinse them if you have poor-quality city water. I’ve read multiple bloggers who are against rinsing their grains, but my counterargument is that I’ve been rinsing them nearly every use and they haven’t died yet. And it’s been several years now. The only explanation I can think of is that those who rinsed and killed their grains had bad city water.
  • Possible solution – Either don’t rinse your grains, or only rinse with filtered water.

KEFIR GRAINS FAQS

EASY PEASY, RIGHT? ARE YOU READY TO START MAKING YOUR OWN KEFIR?

Ready to give your gut all the beneficial bacteria it needs to be healthy? Then, try whipping up a batch of this delicious, fermented drink! You’ll be glad you did!