I have just started cultivating kefir. I used to take L. Reuteri supplements and after some research I saw that kefir is a good source of these bacterias. My mom had a batch and she gave me some. She's been making water kefir for maybe a year. She told me she got that kefir with a friend here in Japan.
I started making water kefir and taking care of it and after some research I noticed that the kefir my mom and I have look really different from what I saw online. They are not like hard crystals, they are very soft, brown and light.
I would like to know if this is normal, or if they are a different kind of Kefir. I want to make sure that is also safe to drink, both for me and for my mother.
I would also like to state that it does carbonate the water in one day and it has a fairly strong smell. Drinking just the water with no fruits or anything it tastes and smells somehow like a beer that was sitting on the counter for some time.
Here is what it looks like:
Can anyone tell me if this is normal?
Is it safe to drink?
And why does it look different from anything I saw online?