shifting direction here...

My kefir rarely comes out to be effervescent - once in a while. Even if I do a second fermentation without the grains, the effervescence is an iffy thing. It still tastes good, but I would like to increase the fizziness, if possible.

Does anyone know what factors might influence that?

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

As I understand it, the effervescense is a bi-product of the yeast strains in the culture. JSince grains vary and also take on local peculiarities, it could be that your grains don't have a lot of those particular strains, perhaps. I think you could encourage them by providing more of the conditions which favor yeast growth, such as by sealing the brewing and storage containers (stories aside, I've never known a jar to explode). That seems to increase my effervescense. Now I haven't checked Dom's site, but I'm wondering if a little additional natural sweetening agent would help the yeast population? Maggie, what do you think?

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

My kefir has always smelled quite yeasty, although the effervescence varries. For that matter, there's quite a variance in fermentation rate, thickness, and curd-size, although the curds are always on the small side. It seems to have more bubbles just in the last 2 days than previously. The fermenting bowls I use don't make an air tight seal - they have fitted lids, but no seal. So, maybe I should try containers with a pressure seal.

I'm starting to think of kefir making as being more like gardening than cooking.

Meaning that a given procedure and ingredients don't yield nearly identical results. It seems more like growing tomatoes - the size, taste, and texture of the produce grown will vary from week to week depending on a wide range of environmental factors, weather, and how early or late in the season it may be.. etc.

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

I think that's an apt analogy. The grains are living beings; they may even have a sense of humor :o

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BC
LC Since 1998
Highest Weight 172
Current 104-108

My fizziness waxes and wanes, too, Teel. So does the thickness of the final product. Sometimes it's almost as thick as yogurt. Your "gardening" analogy is apt. I've tended to think of them as "pets" - or livestock. @ Brenda. You may be RIGHT!

I can increase (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot) the fizziness of a particular batch by "ripening" it in a tightly closed container (after straining) for a day or so, right in the fridge. I wouldn't "brew" in a tightly closed container, though. I keep the brewing environment aerobic (loose lid) - keep out dust and flies, but not air.

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Sorry to jump in here. I grew up drinking kefir as a kid and have had a few strains going here and there in my adult life too. I never knew you could freeze them and so when I went on vacations etc I usually composted them. But, I never figured it to be a low carb food....and I cant seem to find a carb count for it anywhere? Does anyone know?

Thanks

Tanya

Well, Tanya. That's a sort of interesting question. There are some who feel (but I haven't seen any convincing research on it) that any fermented milk product (yogurt, kefir) is low carb because the lactose is converted to lactic acid by the fermentation process. I'm sure SOME of it is.

However, I test my BGL's and yogurt tests out the same as whole milk for me. Kefir is a bit more BGL friendly, so I "discount" the carb counts on the whole milk I make it from a little bit. For me, I "call" it about 9 carbs per 8 oz. cup. I can't drink a whole cup at once with my metabolism, so I tend to have between 2 - 4 oz at a time, once or twice a day. The more I strain it, the bettter it is on my BGL's, so I make a lot of cheese with it.

HTH!

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Thanks...Yeah, in one of the books I have the author talks about the tranfer of lactose to lactic acid...Interesting...well, a few more punds and then I think I will start adding kefir back in my diet

Thanks for the answer

Tanya

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Tanya

(155-142-130)

I suspect the actual carb count of kefir varies from batch to batch when made directly from kefir grains. There is a scientific discussion about the nutritional composition of kefir at the following URL.

Kefir - nutritional composition The table here shows lactose (carbohydrate) as 3.5 g/100 gm of kefir (100 gr = 3.5 oz, or slightly less than a half cup). However, those figures are for store-bought kefir, not home made kefir made from grains.

ed: my emphasis on the last sentence

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~~~Teelbee
Back to GOAL!!!
start weight: 176/goal range: 137-134/now: 138
Reached goal in Aug. 2003 - 4rd year of maintenance.

wow, thanks...and 3,5 per nearly a cup seems very low.

I have another questions. I always made kefir from the grains ( the cauliflower looking thingies) but I jsut recently picked up a package of kefir starter at the hfs. It tastes and smells different, less sour, no fizz.. ( I can actually get the kids to drink this Is this the same thing?

Thanks again

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Tanya

(155-142-130)

That's 3.5 gms for 3.5 oz, Tanya. A gram per ounce. So it's more like 8gms for a cup. ... which kind of supports my "discount" that I based only on my BGL reaction, since I hadn't seen this research when I made my best guess.

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harp glissando and the screen goes all blurry and wiggly
I wish I knew a food scientist or someone with a lab I could play in. I'd love to really, truly answer these questions, and find out for sure about the Yogurt Exception, yocheese, kefir cheese, yogurt made with half-and-half, yocheese made from THAT, etc. etc. I'd get real true verifiable numbers for all of these things and post them far and wide! I'd get in touch with Fitday and the USDA and we'd all know for sure!
harp plays again, screen wiggles and then goes clear

I've recently gone back to Induction so I'm only allowing myself a little bit of kefir each day. I've moved the fermenting bottle to the fridge so it takes days instead of hours to make a quart. It comes out wonderfully thick and creamy that way!

Cavegrrl, I think it's NOT the same thing, but I'm not the expert. If you need some grains, look in the Caveman forum- there's a whole thread of people with grains to share, and one of them might be near you. (Or, if not, there's always Priority Mail!)

Maggie,,,ofcourse! I grew up in europe and after 11 years in the states I still have hard time with this system....thanks

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Tanya

(155-142-130)

I understand completely, Tanya. We've got members from various parts of the world and I go bonkers (with frequent trips to converter sites) trying to figure out the various systems of weights and measures.

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OK, I made my first batch of kefir, thanks to some grains from Maggie, and the jury is still out as far as the taste of it. Of course, it was the first batch...it was ok, but just a little more sour than I expected. The first time I tried plain yogurt, I hated it, but I kept eating it and learned to love it plain. So I assume that if I keep drinking a little of this every day, I'll eventually learn to love it, too. I'm going to keep it up, anyway, just because I know it's so good for me. And I'm going to try some smoothies, too. I did put a little sf DaVinci's vanilla syrup in it, and it made it quite good, and it was very smooth and creamy without having to get out the blender. Hmmmm, might be a way to use up some of the syrups I have that haven't been getting used....

I love buttermilk, I love plain yogurt, so I guess I just need to get used to this, too. And perhaps subsequent batches will be different, just like yogurt can be different from one batch to the next.

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Nita