How to Easily Make Milk Kefir at Home

Are you looking for an easy fermented drink to make at home? Then milk kefir is for you! You just need milk kefir cultures and organic whole milk to start. Homemade milk kefir is an affordable source of probiotics, vitamins, and nutrients, and you can culture it two ways: with milk kefir grains or with store-bought milk kefir!

Prep: 10 minutes
Total Time: 24 hours 10 minutes

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Ingredients

16 Ounces fresh whole milk (about 500 mL)
(Culture option 1) 20 grams of hydrated and active milk kefir grains
(Culture option 2) 2 tablespoons store-bought milk kefir with live active cultures

Instructions

See notes below on raw milk and heating milk.
Add the milk to a glass jar.
Add in the cultures and stir the milk gently.
Place a tight-weave breathable cloth lid on the jar and secure it with a rubber band.
Allow the milk to ferment for 24-48 hours. (Aim for less time (24 hours) if it is warm in your house)
When the kefir is finished, you may need to stir it. It should be thick, pleasantly tart, and you should see “rivers” on the sides of the jar after pouring.
After fermentation, if using kefir grains, strain off the kefir grains and add them to a fresh batch of milk. Store the finished kefir in the fridge in a sealed bottle for up to a month. If you used store-bought kefir to culture, culture your next batch with a tablespoon of the finished milk kefir.

Notes

You can use store-bought milk kefir instead of grains to culture your first batch of milk kefir. Ensure it’s plain and has live active cultures. You can then use your milk kefir to culture the next batch.
You can make kefir with fresh raw milk or pasteurized milk. I highly recommend heating your milk first either way. Heated then cooled milk will give more consistent flavor, while fully raw milk gives variation across batches and changes in your grains over time, possible off flavors.
To heat your milk: Place a thermometer in the jar of milk. Place the jar of milk in a pot of water and allow it to get to room temperature. Slowly, on low heat, bring the pot of water to a light simmer. Bring the temperature of the milk up to 181° F (83° C). Once it reaches this temperature, remove the jar of milk from the hot water bath. Leave the thermometer in the jar, and cover with a clean towel. Allow the milk to cool down to about 110° F (43° C). Cooling can take an hour. Once cooled, remove the thermometer and proceed to step three.
Keep the ratio of grains to milk about the same for consecutive batches (10 grams of active grains per cup). When the grains multiply, you can remove some of them, dehydrate them at a low temp in a dehydrator, and store them in a mason jar at room temp.

Find it online: https://cultured.guru/blog/how-to-make-fermented-milk-kefir-at-home