Water Kefir - Great stuff.

Is anyone else making their own? Someone mentioned it in a thread on here a few weeks ago and I cant find that thread anymore. It got me wondering so I spent about $15 and bought some grains online. This stuff is awesome and so easy to make. I got the wife and neighbor hooked on it. The grains multiply really fast too, so you can make bigger batches and give extra grains away.

Here is a little write-up on it http://www.weim.net/homeovet/Docs/water%20kefir.pdf

There are plenty of recipes online to change the flavor of it. Youtube has a lot. I used a cup of pure'ed strawberries and a 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice on my last batch and it turned out tasting like a carbonated rose water kombucha. Good stuff.

I think it was Europe that mentioned it. Thanks!

My wife and I are definitely more regular than we were prior to drinking it. Since its only been about a week, thats all Ive noticed so far. I got my grains from a girl online who has her own video blog on how to make it. http://zoevblog.com/2010/03/17/what-is-water-kefir-and-how-to-make-it/

I already have 3 people in line to get grains from me when I have multiplied enough of them. If I get a bunch going before too long, Ill be able to mail some out to people on here.

Can you substitute the sugar for something else? Will kefir just feed on the fruit, or can you put stevia in there instead?

How many calories does water kefir contain?

sdguy- I used all of the grains i got from her with about 6 tablespoons of raw organic cane sugar, a large piece of dried mango, and 2 dried apricots. 4 batches into it and my grains are getting close to being doubled.

j87x- i pulled this from another website.
Only 20% of the sugar remains (converted to fructose) once the kefir has cultured for 48 hours. I would just figure out the calories for the amount of sugar you put in and then remove 80%. For 1/2 cup sugar as the starting point that would be 387 calories to start and 77 after it ferments. Over 8 cups that's less than 10 calories a cup.

angstman wrote:sdguy- I used all of the grains i got from her with about 6 tablespoons of raw organic cane sugar, a large piece of dried mango, and 2 dried apricots. 4 batches into it and my grains are getting close to being doubled.

j87x- i pulled this from another website.
Only 20% of the sugar remains (converted to fructose) once the kefir has cultured for 48 hours. I would just figure out the calories for the amount of sugar you put in and then remove 80%. For 1/2 cup sugar as the starting point that would be 387 calories to start and 77 after it ferments. Over 8 cups that's less than 10 calories a cup.

I don't see how that's possible, sugar can be converted but how are the calories lost? The same matter is still in there.

She was very professional and not flaky at all. She made sure I got them in ok and followed up after my first batch to see how things went. I just shot her an email saying a friend is requestiing grains but hasnt heard back from her. Maybe post something in the comments on her blog too. She usually reads those.

Reponse from Zoe-

Hello Billy.

I've gotten many requests over the last week and just got through the emails today. What is your friend's name? Unfortunately, at this time I don't have extra grains to share but hope to be able to soon. I shipped so many already. Didn't expect my blog to become so popular. :-)

How is your kefir-making going?

Kindly,
Zoe

No problem. My batch finally doubled in size and I gave the extra grains to my neighbor. It took about 5 batches for this to happen.