Re: Grains dilemma

[Guest guest]

Hi Lyn,

It sounds like you are not feeding them enough. You should add more milk or

remove some of the grains. Find the right amount of grains for the amount of

milk you want to use. You will always have to add more milk or remove some

grains, finding the right amount will be a trial and error for about a week or

two.

 Bro. Byron Muhammad

Your Brother in the Struggle for Freedom, Justice and Equality

Strive to be a Servant

________________________________

From: Lyn <ly.ninwv@...>

Sent: Wed, February 29, 2012 6:28:45 PM

Subject: Grains dilemma

 

I am just trying to get more ideas to my recent dilemma with my grains. I got

these grains locally just over 2 weeks ago and they have been doing good,

according to my talk with the lady farmer yesterday. I called her just to see

how I was doing with them and she said all sounded good. Today I was totally

surprised by what they turned into. It was separated into curds and whey the

most I have seen yet. Over half the qt mason jar was whey. But when I put my

spatula in to stir, the curds were solid. Completely solid. No amount of

stirring and cutting with the spatula would break that mass up much.

My setup is that I have a mug warmer providing heat under an upturned box a foot

square and my mason jar is in there along with a closed jar of coconut oil that

I want to stay liquid. Dawn is her name and I called her today and she said that

probably my grains just dried out because the temp in the house did not drop

much last night. She just told me to get them back into milk and give them a

frequent stir to get them hydrated again. They also grew overnight and I have

them separated now into two jars of milk cuz I thot maybe the massive growth

that took place fermented the milk too fast and I should have poured it off

before I went to bed.

I have stirred 3 times now since noon, but they still feel the same when I stir.

Does anyone else have any ideas as to anything else I could be doing?

Lyn

[Guest guest]

By what you are describing, it sounds like, to me, that you need to remove some

of the grains for your next fermentation. Since your grains have grown, they are

fermenting the milk too fast, which is causing the total separation. This

happens to me a lot when I don't keep an eye on how much my grains have grown. I

think if you either added more milk or removed some of the grains, it should be

fine.

>

> I am just trying to get more ideas to my recent dilemma with my grains. I got

these grains locally just over 2 weeks ago and they have been doing good,

according to my talk with the lady farmer yesterday. I called her just to see

how I was doing with them and she said all sounded good. Today I was totally

surprised by what they turned into. It was separated into curds and whey the

most I have seen yet. Over half the qt mason jar was whey. But when I put my

spatula in to stir, the curds were solid. Completely solid. No amount of

stirring and cutting with the spatula would break that mass up much.

>

> My setup is that I have a mug warmer providing heat under an upturned box a

foot square and my mason jar is in there along with a closed jar of coconut oil

that I want to stay liquid. Dawn is her name and I called her today and she said

that probably my grains just dried out because the temp in the house did not

drop much last night. She just told me to get them back into milk and give them

a frequent stir to get them hydrated again. They also grew overnight and I have

them separated now into two jars of milk cuz I thot maybe the massive growth

that took place fermented the milk too fast and I should have poured it off

before I went to bed.

>

> I have stirred 3 times now since noon, but they still feel the same when I

stir. Does anyone else have any ideas as to anything else I could be doing?

>

> Lyn

>

[Guest guest]

I think your quantity of grains is too high to your quantity of milk. Either

you increase the size of the jar and add a lot more milk or you need to strain

when you see the whey starting to separate. It's a lot of work to have too many

grains in your jar as you have to strain very often. I prefer to strain every

48 hours. I think you need to do both, decrease the quantity of grains and

increase the jar size and milk quantity.

Al

Grains dilemma

I am just trying to get more ideas to my recent dilemma with my grains. I

got these grains locally just over 2 weeks ago and they have been doing good,

according to my talk with the lady farmer yesterday. I called her just to see

how I was doing with them and she said all sounded good. Today I was totally

surprised by what they turned into. It was separated into curds and whey the

most I have seen yet. Over half the qt mason jar was whey. But when I put my

spatula in to stir, the curds were solid. Completely solid. No amount of

stirring and cutting with the spatula would break that mass up much.

My setup is that I have a mug warmer providing heat under an upturned box a foot

square and my mason jar is in there along with a closed jar of coconut oil that

I want to stay liquid. Dawn is her name and I called her today and she said that

probably my grains just dried out because the temp in the house did not drop

much last night. She just told me to get them back into milk and give them a

frequent stir to get them hydrated again. They also grew overnight and I have

them separated now into two jars of milk cuz I thot maybe the massive growth

that took place fermented the milk too fast and I should have poured it off

before I went to bed.

I have stirred 3 times now since noon, but they still feel the same when I stir.

Does anyone else have any ideas as to anything else I could be doing?

Lyn

[Guest guest]

I did see you had made 2 jars, but it sounds like it is fermenting too fast.

Adding cream won't make a difference. You also may want to remove the heat

source. You may be right that it got too warm. It being too warm can make the

grains more active and ferment even faster. I just set mine into one of my

cabinets on the shelf, even if my apartment is rather cold, and it always

ferments fine. So, unless your house is very, very cold, I would try it without

the heat source and see if that corrects it.

> >

> > I am just trying to get more ideas to my recent dilemma with my grains. I

got these grains locally just over 2 weeks ago and they have been doing good,

according to my talk with the lady farmer yesterday. I called her just to see

how I was doing with them and she said all sounded good. Today I was totally

surprised by what they turned into. It was separated into curds and whey the

most I have seen yet. Over half the qt mason jar was whey. But when I put my

spatula in to stir, the curds were solid. Completely solid. No amount of

stirring and cutting with the spatula would break that mass up much.

> >

> > My setup is that I have a mug warmer providing heat under an upturned box a

foot square and my mason jar is in there along with a closed jar of coconut oil

that I want to stay liquid. Dawn is her name and I called her today and she said

that probably my grains just dried out because the temp in the house did not

drop much last night. She just told me to get them back into milk and give them

a frequent stir to get them hydrated again. They also grew overnight and I have

them separated now into two jars of milk cuz I thot maybe the massive growth

that took place fermented the milk too fast and I should have poured it off

before I went to bed.

> >

> > I have stirred 3 times now since noon, but they still feel the same when I

stir. Does anyone else have any ideas as to anything else I could be doing?

> >

> > Lyn

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I believe it's about a Tablespoon per cup of milk. Although, I do a little

less...I guess my grains are super active.

> > >

> > > I am just trying to get more ideas to my recent dilemma with my grains. I

got these grains locally just over 2 weeks ago and they have been doing good,

according to my talk with the lady farmer yesterday. I called her just to see

how I was doing with them and she said all sounded good. Today I was totally

surprised by what they turned into. It was separated into curds and whey the

most I have seen yet. Over half the qt mason jar was whey. But when I put my

spatula in to stir, the curds were solid. Completely solid. No amount of

stirring and cutting with the spatula would break that mass up much.

> > >

> > > My setup is that I have a mug warmer providing heat under an upturned box

a foot square and my mason jar is in there along with a closed jar of coconut

oil that I want to stay liquid. Dawn is her name and I called her today and she

said that probably my grains just dried out because the temp in the house did

not drop much last night. She just told me to get them back into milk and give

them a frequent stir to get them hydrated again. They also grew overnight and I

have them separated now into two jars of milk cuz I thot maybe the massive

growth that took place fermented the milk too fast and I should have poured it

off before I went to bed.

> > >

> > > I have stirred 3 times now since noon, but they still feel the same when I

stir. Does anyone else have any ideas as to anything else I could be doing?

> > >

> > > Lyn

> > >

> >

> >

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Maybe try setting your grains in the corner of a shelf in a cabinet and have the

heat source just somewhere on the shelf rather than being under it. Maybe the

heat going right up through the box you have over it and into the jar is too

intense and making the temp a little bit too warm. So, maybe if you try just

putting the heat source a little ways away, it will just warm that shelf of your

cabinet overall, which will make it higher than the 50 degrees in your house,

but not so hot that it will ferment too fast.

80-85 degrees is not too hot to make kefir, but it will make kefir ferment

rather fast at that temperature. See if you can get your kefir to stay around 70

degrees or so.

I know it is frustrating, but I'm sure if you keep experimenting, you will find

what works for you and then, kefir making will be smooth sailing from there.

[Guest guest]

I was going to suggest the same thing. Be careful about what you mix with your

kefir. Iodine is a great antiseptic...which is great if you are wanting to kill

bacteria. But, we don't want to kill the good bacteria in our kefir. I would

take that at a separate time than your kefir.

I know...this may seem like it is getting more complicated the more you share. I

do think in time, whatever is happening will get worked out and you will figure

out what works for you. I wish I had more to offer. I do know if you are getting

curds and whey with no mold, your grains are probably working. It is just a

matter of getting them to ferment slower.

>

> Lyn,

> You might not want to mix supplements like that with your kefir as some may

have the opposite effect and cancel each other out. I am currently doing the

silver/aloe protocol and I was consuming a lot of kefir about an hour apart.

Even though the silver is mostly absorbed by that time, I was probably canceling

out some of the Silver because of consuming it too close. Now I am only

drinking kefir at night until my silver /aloe protocol is finished. This will

allow my body to experience the full effects of the Silver.

> Al

>

>

[Guest guest]

Bacteria are not killed by iodine depending on if they are good or bad. It kills

all bacteria in the exact same way. Yes, we use it on our skin when we have a

wound...and yes, it kills the good bacteria on our skin, too. No one is saying

don't mix it with your food. I just would not mix it with kefir.

>

> After the results I have seen just this week since getting back to using

iodine, I hardly believe I am doing anything wrong. Yes, Iodine kills bacteria,

but I would think that is only bad bacteria because we use it on the skin when

we have wounds or rashes. So I will continue to put it into my kefir and

kombucha.

>

> Lyn

>