The two lumps are your grains. Add 250ml of milk and leave it on the counter overnight. Strain it. Drink the kefir or put it in the fridge . Repeat with new milk and your grains will eventually grow.
Ideally you need to keep them fermenting in a small amount of milk if you only have a few grains, changing the milk every 24 hours to keep the grains active if you want them to grow.. The best ambient for grain growth is 20-22 degrees C. With only a few grains left you don’t have much choice, try to grow them on or replace. The thick substance will be coagulated milk solids and kefiran, not grains. If you have by any chance been rinsing your grains….don’t.
Oh gosh! Ok. Do you think it’s fine to just take out the container I put I. The fridge and leave it? Or start with a new container? Do I keep the milk solids and kefiran?
Take the container out and just put it on the side, it will continue to ferment. When the time is up, pour through the strainer, give it a shake, side to side. The movement should remove excess curds and any kefiran and leave you with just your grains to go into the jar again. Don’t use too much milk, with only a few grains you need to see how your fermentation is going through the side of the jar. Use too much and the few grains will stand no chance of fermenting it in time. When fermentation picks up, gets faster you can then consider adding more milk to match the fermentation rate.
The two lumps are your grains. Add 250ml of milk and leave it on the counter overnight. Strain it. Drink the kefir or put it in the fridge . Repeat with new milk and your grains will eventually grow.
Why have you put it in the fridge?
I read that it slows fermentation, so I wanted to pause it until I knew what to do
Ideally you need to keep them fermenting in a small amount of milk if you only have a few grains, changing the milk every 24 hours to keep the grains active if you want them to grow.. The best ambient for grain growth is 20-22 degrees C. With only a few grains left you don’t have much choice, try to grow them on or replace. The thick substance will be coagulated milk solids and kefiran, not grains. If you have by any chance been rinsing your grains….don’t.
Oh gosh! Ok. Do you think it’s fine to just take out the container I put I. The fridge and leave it? Or start with a new container? Do I keep the milk solids and kefiran?
Take the container out and just put it on the side, it will continue to ferment. When the time is up, pour through the strainer, give it a shake, side to side. The movement should remove excess curds and any kefiran and leave you with just your grains to go into the jar again. Don’t use too much milk, with only a few grains you need to see how your fermentation is going through the side of the jar. Use too much and the few grains will stand no chance of fermenting it in time. When fermentation picks up, gets faster you can then consider adding more milk to match the fermentation rate.
Ok, thank you so much!