Saturday 29 November 2014

My Home Brew...

I've been brewing Water Kefir Grains... My daughter has been brewing
 for some time and gave me some grains to get me started...
Water Kefir is a probiotic beverage made with water kefir grains.
The term 'kefir grains' describes the look of the culture only. Water kefir
grains contain no actual "grains" such as wheat, rye etc.
The grains consist of bacteria and yeast existing in a symbiotic
relationship. Water kefir grains can be used to culture sugar water,
juice or coconut water...

This is what the 'grains' look like...
 If you look after them and provide the right conditions they
multiply then you have some to give away... They eat sugar
either added to water or the sugar in juice or coconut water.
If they don't have enough sugar they will eat each other and not be happy!
They are an organic living organism...

I had enough grains to start two jars... I have added to each jar...
a pinch of baking soda, six raisins, three tablespoons of organic sugar,
the juice and chopped skin of 1/2 lemon and some chopped
fresh ginger... Fill with filtered water... Screw on a plastic lid but not too 
tight as the gases need to escape a little. 
In warm weather leave for 24 hours to culture,
in colder weather it will take longer.
Put somewhere out of the way, not in the fridge, it's fascinating to watch
as it begins to fizz and bubble and the raisins float to the top.



In this  brew I did one jar of coconut water... I didn't like that so much.
The lemon and ginger mix makes a delicious slightly fizzy
drink like mild ginger beer full of probiotics and as with anything
fermented an alcohol content, but very small after only 24 hours...
Very refreshing.
You need a good supply of preferably organic lemons and root ginger.

The 'grains' can be used over and over again... Indefinitely.
In this brew instead of lemon and ginger I put one tablespoon of
 Pomegranate Molasses when I strained off the liquid...
That made a yummy brew.

Here are my two jars that I 'brew' daily... Ready to drink.
To make, use a plastic spoon lift out the lemon and ginger
pieces that will be sitting on the top. Strain the liquid
through a fine sieve into bottles. There won't be any sugar left, the
'grains' will have eaten it all. Tip the 'grains' into a sieve
and gently rinse. Put back into rinsed jar... and start again.
For a comprehensive list of the bacteria and yeasts found in
water kefir click here. It makes very interesting reading.
You can do all sorts of fermenting things with Water Kefir...
Here is a good website to look at for ideas and more details...
Look at the alcohol content and how to brew 'beer' and
alcoholic fruit juice...

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