Water Kefir Grains - Not Growing

[Guest guest]

I bought some Water Kefir Grains from the list and have made about 4 batches of

Kefir, but my Grains are not growing and the Kefir seems to taste 'weak' to me,

not as potent as the first batch I made.

When making WK, I use the recipe of: 1 Cup Sugar, 1 Cup Distilled Water, 1 TBSP

Grains and add 10-15 drops Concentrace Trace Minerals (http://bit.ly/9DFSpe) per

3 Cups of Water, Sugar & Grains.

After making the Kefir, I keep the grains for the next batch in a smaller bottle

at room temperature with 2X the water to cover the grains and about 10 mineral

drops. But I'm getting *No Grain Growth* at all. Just stays at about 4 TBSP's

that I started out with.

Am I doing something wrong or should I rinse the grains before making each new

batch? Should I use Egg Shells in the main batch or storage batch to increase

growth? Do I need to rinse grains and how to do it correctly and what type of

water? I can also change water sources from Distilled to bottled Spring Water if

that works better. Thanks for all help and ideas.

Virginia