Talk about your city - where to eat, what to see, who to date, the newest vegan options. This is also a great place to talk about travel! And last but not least, plan meet-ups with other weird internet people and discuss upcoming events. Subforums: NYC Forum, PDX Forum, Seattle Forum, SF/Bay Area Forum, Southern Cali Forum, Philly Phorum, Chicago Forum, New England Forum, Midwest Forum, Dirty South Forum, The Wild Wild West, UK & Ireland Forum, Europe Forum, Vancouver Forum, Toronto Forum, Canada Forum, Australia & New Zealand Forum, Asia ForumWhat is Kefir:Kefir is not so familiar to folks in America but in many traditional cultures fermented milk products such as Kefir and Yogurt have been prepared at home for centuries. Culturing fresh milk into Kefir makes the nutritional factors in the milk, such as vitamins and minerals, extremely bio-available so your body can easily absorb and digest them.Kefir contains a complex culture of many healthy, hearty bacterial strains, passed down from family to family for centuries.

Kefir can be made as a mild and thick textured milk for drinking or making into "Smoothies" or other delicious beverages as well as a more tangy thicker version that can be drained as a cheese wonderful treat similar to "Greek style" drained yogurt or even molded into a cheese and ripened further for several days or weeks. Some folks have even used the Kefir culture with rennet in making a Kefir cheese, which will use not only the lactose working bacteria but also the yeast and other Kefir components. hy Make Kefir:So often we get comments from folks who would like to make yogurt from raw milk but do not want to increase the temperature high enough to damage the natural milk bacteria and enzymes following the directions on our Yogurt page. Kefir is the solution! Make Kefir from this milk instead of Yogurt.In making Kefir nothing really gets heated higher than the temperature of mama cow. This means that all of the bacteria and enzymes you have spent so much time to get in your raw milk will not be destroyed in the final Kefir product.

Comparing Kefir to Yogurt:In addition to lactic fermentation Kefir also undergoes alcoholic fermentation caused by the presence of yeast, which yields this sourish, yeasty, sparkling, refreshing end product. Also as mentioned above Yogurt production involves temperatures that destroy the natural enzymes and bacteria of raw milk whereas Kefir temperatures are low enough to preserve these. Kefir from grains or "Direct Set" culture:In making Kefir you have 2 options to consider for your first batch of Kefir. Traditionally people would save the granular bits that formed at the bottom of the Kefir jar to begin a new batch with fresh milk. Todays option is to use special culture powders that will always guarantee the same degree of activity. Since we are most interested in our customers having consistent results from batch to batch we have chosen to provide this "Direct Set". How to make Kefir:Making Kefir is actually easier than making yogurt. In making traditional yogurt a step is needed to release the whey proteins for a thick textured Yogurt by increasing temperature to 185F and holding it there for 10 to 20 minutes (from our Yogurt page).

This will destroy all of the natural enzymes and bacteria found in raw milk since this is in excess of even normal pasteurization temperature. Kefir as you like it:The final Kefir can be more or less acidic as you might prefer it by simply increasing or decreasing the time you allow it to ripen. 8 hours will produce a mild acid flavor and a smooth milky consistency where a 12 hour or longer ripening period will produce a thicker and tangier flavor.fish tank heater diedIn making test batches of Kefir here I have allowed the milk to ripen for different time periods ranging from 6 to 48 hours with the results shown below.fish tank heater 50 gallon Kefir Cheese:This cheese follows in the path of Lebnah, a drained yogurt cheese. fish tank heater what size

With the longer ripened, more acidic kefir above, the curd becomes firm enough to drain through a double layer of butter muslin. This will allow about 1/3 of the volume to drain off as whey and the curd now becomes a very thick curd which can be used with fruit similar to the greek styled drained yogurt. I like this drained Kefir better because of its more complex flavor.Another approach is to drain the Kefir to the point that the thick curds can be rolled into small balls and allowed to air dry a bit and form a dry rind (usually requiring air movement such as a small fan). When dry enough these can even be mixed with olive oil and herbs for a real treat. Trouble-Shooting:If the milk does not thicken into kefir or the kefir turns out too thin here are a few point to consider to find out why:1) the milk may have gotten too cool during the ripening period,2) the milk may have cooled down too much before you added the culture,3) you may have not put enough starter from the previous kefir batch in the milk (usually 1 to 2 tablespoons of the previous culture per quart

of milk will be adequate),4) your starter may have been too old and no longer active (the kefir culture is usually good for 7 to 10 days, sometimes longer),5) you may have accidentally overheated the milk together with the culture, which kills the culture, or6) everything may be fine except that you may need to let the milk culture longer to be a firmer texture (12 to 24 hours).Fermenting milk into yogurt and cultured milk products is an age-old tradition that was once a simple process. Today’s commercial processes, however, are much more complex and challenging. With consumer demand high, batch sizes as well as the variety and flavours of products have increased considerably. To ensure plant productivity, there are various aspects to take into consideration – from gentle handling of ingredients to enhance taste, texture, aroma, appearance and shelf life to hygiene, energy efficiency and plant optimization. Alfa Laval has broad knowledge and expertise as well as a wide range of hygienic, easy-to-clean equipment for yogurt and cultured milk processing.