sterilising when doing milk kefir

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sterilising when doing milk kefir

Postby ralph on Tue Nov 13, 2012 1:58 pm

hi there, is it ok to leave an inch of kefir in the bottom with the grains and pour fresh new milk in and keep brewing perpetually in this way, or should you drain out every brew and clean and sterilise the fido jar?

it might be easier to do this with water kefir but with milk i was wondering what other people think?

the milk kefir is shaken up, turned upside down and mixed a few times during each brew.

what are your thoughts?
ralph
 
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Re: sterilising when doing milk kefir

Postby spaceralph on Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:48 pm

That is sort of how I cultivate my milk kefir. I don't let my kefir brew in the same unwashed container perpetually but I do find it a bit redundant to clean out the brewing vessel every time. I tend to wash out my vessel every week or two with warm soapy water, but that's about it.

I think you would be fine making it as you proposed. Just use common sense, if your jar is starting to get gunky or crusty with kefir build up give it a wash.
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Re: sterilising when doing milk kefir

Postby ralph on Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:18 pm

thanks ralph that's interesting, do you also leave it out of the fridge if you are drinking from the same batch of milk and topping up all the time?
ralph
 
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Re: sterilising when doing milk kefir

Postby spaceralph on Wed Nov 14, 2012 3:18 pm

I only refrigerate my culture when I have a surplus of finished kefir that needs to be used up, so yeah my kefir grains spend most of their time in a jar of milk on my counter top.
I have a two jar jar system that has been working well for me for over a year now. I am clean, but by no means sterile, about the process.
I culture the milk in one mason jar that pretty much lives on my counter and when the kefir is done I strain it into another jar that lives in my fridge. I always leave enough finished kefir in the jar on the counter to cover my grains, and I immediately top that jar off with milk to start the next batch.
I don't wash out either jar between batches unless they start to get a lot of gunky kefir build-up around the lid and/or rim of the jar.
The longest I have been able to go without washing the jars is about two weeks. I haven't had any problems with spoilage or mold, but in my situation after about two weeks of using the same containers the kefir tends to start developing a really cheesy flavor that I don't particularly care for. To me a drinkable yogurt type drink is good-- a drinkable cheese drink isn't so much.
Your environment is probably different than mine, so you may have to experiment a bit to see what works best for you.
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