Thanks Heidi

[Guest guest]

When you say some grains, do you mean about a tablespoon or two to about

2 cups AJ, like when making kefir with whole milk? And about the grains,

do I just rinse them with water to remove any residue of milk?

And you say if I want fizz to cap the mixture with a tight lid, but

toward the end, so I'm guessing you mean somewhere around 20 hours or so?

And once I've used the grains with the juice, can I use them with

another juice if I want to switch flavors? Again I assume the grains

need to be rinsed first, but then maybe not.

It's great to have someone to ask who is so experienced with this.

Janice

>If I were to use organic apple juice to ferment with my kefir grains

>which have been used with raw milk to make kefir, will I get a fermented

>apple drink?

That is the recipe! Plop some grains in some juice. Once I just put the

grains in the gallon jug ... and left the cap a little loose.

The only thing to remember is that apple juice has a LOT

of sugar and will release lots of gas. If you want fizz,

put it in a container with a tight lid, but only toward the

end of the ferment. Actually it will be pretty fizzy no

matter what.

If it goes too long it will be sour. I think it's best after

48 hours, but it's a matter of taste.

After you drink most of it, yeast and other " dregs "

will be at the bottom. This is good starter for the

next batch, which will ferment faster. Use the grains

and the dregs. If you have a wooden barrel with a

spigot, you could just keep pouring cider in the

top and pouring drinks out the bottom ...

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

>When you say some grains, do you mean about a tablespoon or two to about

>2 cups AJ, like when making kefir with whole milk? And about the grains,

>do I just rinse them with water to remove any residue of milk?

I put 2 grains (about 1 T size each) in a quart jar when I started out. They

have shrunk some since. And yeah, I just rinsed them. It really doesn't matter

.... fact is if you leave apple juice out on the counter, uncovered, you get

cider. Once you make your next batch the starter will be in the container.

>And you say if I want fizz to cap the mixture with a tight lid, but

>toward the end, so I'm guessing you mean somewhere around 20 hours or so?

If I was really into fizz I'd use EZCap bottles (or buy some beer in wire cap

bottles and save the bottle). You can buy them at homebrew stores, and they are

incredibly useful, plus they look cool. After most of the sugar is gone (a day

or a little more, depending on how much you used and how hot it is) pour it into

the bottle and seal, put it in the fridge. Then drink it within the next week.

After a week it gets bitter, but it is still drinkable.

Actually in an ideal world you could get one of those " Sun Tea " jars (cheap),

pour in a gallon of apple juice and a couple of kefir grains, then let it

ferment. Taste it now and then (with the handy spigot) until it is just barely

sweet. Then bottle most of it (leave the dregs) and pour in more cider or sugar

water or water and jam mixed or juice or whatever. The bottles will be nice and

fizzy by the next day.

You don't have to be so careful with the EZCap bottles ... they are designed for

pressure and I've never heard of one exploding, but they make quite the mess if

there is too much residual sugar.

>And once I've used the grains with the juice, can I use them with

>another juice if I want to switch flavors? Again I assume the grains

>need to be rinsed first, but then maybe not.

I don't rinse mine. I pour out fermented stuff, pour in sweet stuff. Any sweet

stuff. It all tastes pretty good. If you add a little honey it will stay sweet

(honey takes a long time to ferment) or stevia, but it needs sugar to feed the

yeast. I've kept the same grains for about a year now ... they shrink but seem

to be alive still. You can add new ones or exchange them if you want.

>It's great to have someone to ask who is so experienced with this.

I think I need to do a writup on kefir beer. It really is easy but it is harder

to explain than to do. There really is not much downside risk, only two dangers

I know of;

1. If you use juice with preservatives, you can kill the kefir grains.

2. If you use mason jars and lots of sugar, the jar can explode.

Mine has never gotten moldy or tasted really bad -- some batches got too sour

and I added a little honey before drinking, or too strong and I cut them with

fizz water.

-- Heidi