somethin funny is growin in my water kefir

[Aliyanna]

I have been making kefir for quite some time and have wonderful happy and fruitful grains...but the last while...I have been getting an odd thing growing in my grains.

I sometimes find like a white mother(ya know like a kombachu mother...all round and white and solid) in my kefir grains. I have heard that there can be like a slime...a polysaccaride that can develop...but this is a solid mother like thing. Any ideas as to what it is. The kefir tastes the same and looks and smells the same...so we're drinking it.

I use apple juice...but sometimes I toss some of them in my Jamacian lemonade...then toss em back. They love the lemonade and ususally double really fast afterwards.
Just not seen this thing before....am I growin a new life form!!! lol
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[Tim Hall]

It sounds to me that you have one or more specific types of bacteria that are starting to dominate, and they're forming a cellulose pellicle (just like a kombucha mother).

If I had this happening, and didn't want the mother to form, I'd probably remove it right away, make sure my grains were well rinsed between batches, and use a basic sugar+water recipe for a while. The apple juice may be allowing certain bacteria to do better than others, throwing things a little off balance.

But if you're happy drinking what you've got, probably no harm in letting it go.

[Aliyanna]

Thanks for posting for me.

Would this new "mother" be beneficial? Could I do juice just using it?

I mean is this a good thing?

This happened before and I tossed em in the fridge in sugar water...they grew gangbusters and were fine...and as soon as I put em in juice they grew this.

This is something different than the slime...the dextrose thing???

[Tim Hall]

I don't know exactly why you've got what you got, but obviously apple juice is much different than sugar water. Maybe there's some nutrient in it that allows the pellicle-forming bacteria to thrive(?) Maybe there's something in it that suppresses the growth of other microbes(?) Maybe there's something in it that switches on a cue to make a pellicle(?)

Would this new "mother" be beneficial?

Dunno, but I strongly doubt it's harmful...unless you're binging on gallons of the stuff. My feeling is anything fermented, in moderation, is probably good for you.

Could I do juice just using it?

Try it and let us know. These are the kinds of things that aren't in the textbook.