by Algoldor on Tue May 12, 2015 1:47 am
Hi to all,
what you are describing by muddy water kefir grains are, at least I assume “very small grains” like size of grains of sand, millimeter dimensions, correct? If it is so then you should use a straining bag from some fine mesh material (like nylon), which however I'm not sure where to get in USA (or Europe wherever you are based). Other way would be to use something like nylon stocking or another fine mesh (in the worst cheesecloth but takes longer to let the liquid through) which will allow you to strain the grains, take them out from the straining material and clean the material later on in order to be able to reuse it. If your grains are small don’t worry they may get better but often that is not the case. Focus rather on the fact if they are growing in quantity (measure the weight) and if they ferment well - reasonable speed and nice flavour profile. I remember my friends in Holland having jars and jars of sand like water kefir grains years ago which fermented wonderfully. Bigger grains are more easy to handle but to my experience it can be really hard to make small grains grow bigger. There are recommendations for using supplements to the sugar based growing medium like fresh or dried figs, which are suppose to have some growing factor in them to support the development of the water kefir grain polysaccharide or coconut is recommended as an option. However I have tried many things and all seems to be highly limited solving the growth issues case from case. There are people growing water kefir grains successfully for many years just from light brown sugar and water, having great ferment, their grains big and increasing in numbers. Best of luck, Frantisek