Hello anyone viewing this post. I'm pretty new to growing water kefir(been like 1 month) and I faced this problem recently. I don't know what's wrong, I hope you could help me.
I'll put some detail, sorry if it's unnecessarily long.
I got my grains from ebay, and started growing in my room. I used glass jar, plastic strainer, plastic spoon, organic cane sugar, blackstrap molasses(doesn't say it's organic), poland spring water, and a coffee filter to cover the top.
I kept ratio of 1/4 cup sugar and grain per 1 cup water, and fermentation time of 48 hour.
First few batches worked very well. Grain kept increasing, someday even doubled, and almost no sugar taste.
I added tea spoon of molasses and half piece of organic lemon, but I started to hate the taste of molasses and lemon, so I did not add them from around 4th batches.
To make taste better, I tried adding oranges, and banana directly to first fermentation and second fermentation. I didn't like the taste again, and I've noticed some fruit piece like thingy floating around the bottom, so I stopped.
Even after this, I didn't have any problem. Grain kept increasing until the last few week from now.
Grain doesn't increase, and even decrease if I use molasses. There's strong sugar taste after 48 hour of fermentaion. Only problem that is visible is that the grains have brown spots.
To fix this, I tried adding lemons again, and tried adding pinch of natural salt.
Nothing seems to work. Grain remains the same amount, and sugar taste after brewing is awful.
I have no idea why is this happening. Please help me solve this issue.
[Sorry for blurry picture. I'm trying to brew new batches and it's really difficult to take picture from bottom]