How to make kefir at home

How to make kefir the traditional way?

Kefir is a traditional fermented beverage with numerous health benefits: but to get the best of it, it has to be fresh – and for this do-it-yourself preparation is the best. Those of you who already know and make kefir, will probably agree that this is a very refreshing, tasty and also healthy beverage.

To prepare best homemade kefir you need to know the process, which is very simple, but still has its tricks. First let’s prepare all we require to make kefir. We’ll need:

Kefir grains – to start the fermentation process in milk
Kefirko kefir fermenter – all-in-one tool for fermenting kefir
and milk (highly recommended is raw milk or at least non-homogenized).

After we have all the supplies we need to know and understand the process. Here is it important to point out that you will need to play around and see what kind of results you get. Taste and structure of your kefir might be influenced by any number of things. All from milk, health of kefir grains, ratio of grains to milk, room temperature, brightness and so on.

Basic steps of preparing kefir

Get Kefir grains
Put kefir grains in Kefirko
Add fresh milk
Leave to ferment for about 24 hours.
Stir or shake once or twice during fermentation.

You will find the same instructions in many other blogs, books or video tutorials. However, what most are overlooking is the fifth step, mixing. Why we recommend mixing?

The traditional, or artisanal method of making kefir is achieved by directly adding kefir grains (2–10%) to milk in a sealed goatskin leather bag, which is traditionally agitated one or more times a day. – Wikipedia

Mixing contents of Kefirko will result in richer bacteria count, smother texture and overall much better kefir. Of course end result will also depend on other factors mentioned before, but this is something you are very much in control off.

With Kefirko you have two options. You can either shake Kefirko with lid tightly closed, or you can stir contents with the swizzle stick you got in the set. Both will produce fantastic results and help you drink better kefir. We mostly stir kefir during fermentation and before straining it. Straining is cleaner and more gentle on kefir grains.

How do you produce your kefir? Do you ever mix it during fermentation?

Get Kefirko kefir fermenter here.