Water Kefir

My Water Kefir grains finally arrived March 19th. I was very excited, but after reading the instructions, I realized that they needed to rehydrate in sugar water for 3-5 days. Bummer.

Making water kefir soda is about a four day process. The kefir grains need to sit in sugar water for one to two days. Then the kefir grains are strained from the sugar water solution. At this point whatever flavorings you are using (juice, tea, etc) are added to the sugar water solution. This mixture is bottled and left to sit at room temperature for one to two days. After that it is refrigerated and can be drunk at your leisure. The strained kefir grains are put immediately into a new batch of sugar water, so once you get the process started you will have new kefir soda every one to two days.

I have been constantly making kefir since my kefir grains arrived.  I went with the low end of the rehydration range, only waiting three days before I started making water kefir with them.  In retrospect perhaps I should have waited longer.  I was very disappointed with the initial carbonation results in my first four batches, which were basically no carbonation at all.  Finally in the fifth batch I started having nice carbonation, when I opened the flip top bottles there was an audible pop and the kefir soda foamed up and shot out the top.  From what I have read, it appears kefir grains need to "rebalance" sometimes when they are getting used to a new water supply.

Another thing I noticed is that the first few batches of water kefir had a stronger taste and smell than subsequent batches. I experienced the same phenomenon with my Matsoni yogurt; it tasted a little funky until the fourth batch.  I am wondering if this is always a side effect of reviving dehydrated cultures. 

I have experimented with different flavors. So far the best has been adding Concord Grape juice in a ratio of 1 part juice to 2 parts kefir. The grape flavor covers up the weird kefir taste, and diluting the grape juice mellows the intense sweetness of the grape juice.  I also experimented with "kefir lemonade", by adding the juice of one lemon after the first ferment.  I was not a big fan of this concoction, the lemon did not cover up enough of the kefir taste, but this was one of my earlier batches, so I might try it again now that my kefir grains seem to have mellowed. I read somewhere that prune juice makes a Dr. Pepper like concoction. While pleasant tasting enough, the prune juice kefir in no way tasted like Dr. Pepper to me.  I also tried Grapefruit juice kefir, even though I read that citrus juices in kefir tend to produce weird stringy things. My grapefruit juice kefir did indeed have weird stringy things in it, and I also found that the grapefruit juice did not cover up that kefir taste well either.  I am thinking that cherry juice might work out pretty well, and now that I am getting carbonation I will try ginger ale and root beer soon. Currently I have hibiscus kefir going; it will be ready tomorrow. What is your favorite flavor of kefir?