Water Kefir

What

• 1000-1200g filtered water
• 75g cane sugar
• water kefir grains
• 2-3 slices of lemon, preferably bio
• 2-3 slices of ginger

A vessel of arbitrary size. An IKEA Korken 1.8l jar is a good choice. It releases excess pressure, and won’t need any attention. Ideally, have twice as many jars and bottles as needed, to minimize maintenance time.

A fine mesh strainer and funnel made of plastic/wood. Never looked into why, just blindly accepted that metal is bad.

A kitchen scale.

How

Consistent water-sugar ratio and filtration periods are the key to reach equilibrium. Having a cool room is an advantage. Otherwise, it will suffer a bit in summer, but winter will be fine.

1. In a clean jar fully dissolve the sugar in the water. Room temp is enough, might need some agitation
2. Filter the previous batch into clean bottles. The grains go into the new jar directly
3. Peel the ginger, and also the lemon if the skin is inedible. Put a few slices into the jar
4. Seal and store
5. Clean up the mess
6. Wait for 2-3 days
7. goto 1

Keep around the previous batch for additional carbonation until the next scheduled chore. It also eats up the rest of the sugar.

Refs

Mom