Freezing versus drying milk kefir grains

[stone]

Hello,

I have been trying to produce a volume of milk
kefir grains so I can preserve them long term.

This is my third go at kefir and I seem to loose
patience and the first two goes became curious
long term experiments after a while.

Anyway, the instructions for freezing are pretty
straight forward.

And so too for drying. With the exception of what to
do with the dried grains after drying.

How do you best store dried kefir grain?
And how long will dried grains keep?

Thanks.

[aehebay]

I have dried milk kefir grains before, and they rehydrated and went back to work beautifully.

I dry mine on a piece of parchment paper, then store them in a Ziploc bag with some powdered milk. They keep very well in the freezer.

It takes me a few cycles to get them back up and working properly. I use one cup of milk for the first few batches, and check it often make sure it does not over-ferment (curdle and such).

Good luck. I hope you will post again letting us know how it works out for you!

[spaceralph]

I have never dried mine, but it is something I am looking to experiment wtih in the future.

I froze some grains and revived them a year later with no problems. I am currently reviving a batch of grains that were frozen for over two years, and they seem to be waking up nicely. So, it looks like frozen grains can remain viable for at least 2 years.

Kefir grains are a lot tougher than many sources make them out to be. They can take some serious abuse.