water kefir recipes

Pineapple-Flavored Water Kefir

water kefir

½ cup

pineapple juice

A simple guide to making Water Kefir-a refreshing probiotic fruit-infused drink made with water kefir grains (cactus grains) that is bubbly, effervescent and so healthy!

How to make Water Kefir

alive water kefir grains

sugar

lemon wedges (optional)

prunes

——-

2-3 2-quart mason jars

strainer

kitchen towel

cane sugar

coconut sugar

sea salt

Fill two, half-gallon mason jars with 4 cups cool tap water in each.

Add ¼ cup sugar in each, stirring to mostly dissolve. ( Feel free to make sugar mixture first)

Add ¼ kefir water to each jar (optional&#8211;you can obviously only do this after your first batch of kefir, so just leave it out for the first batch.)

Cover both jars with a thin kitchen cloth and leave on the counter for 2-4 days. 2 days if warm out, 3-4 days if cold. This 2-4 day time period allows the grains &#8220;to eat&#8221; the sugar, so most of the sugar will actually be metabolized, and not end up in the drink itself. You want the water to get the point where it is  just slightly sweet, and nicely tangy. So taste it before moving to the next step. If it tastes very sweet, it&#8217;s not ready. When it&#8217;s cold this takes longer.

After 2-3 days the kefir will have fermented slightly, taste tangy or lightly sour, but there is one more step which gives it flavor and makes it effervescent and bubbly.

FLAVOR

Get your third jar ready and place 1- 1 1/2 cups fresh, ripe fruit in it&#8211; like fresh berries, peaches, mango, pineapple, plums, concord grapes, apples, pears &#8211; I muddle them up a bit to release their juices. Add a few thin slices of ginger, or whole spices if you wish. Or add 1 cup fruit juice &#8211; especially nice in winter when fresh fruit is limited.

Strain both jars of the fermenting kefir water into the third clean jar with the fresh fruit in it, straining out the kefir grains ( set them aside), tossing the lemon and prunes, filling the clean jar (with the fruit in it) to a 1/2 inch from the top. Then cover tightly with a  lid, and leave this on the counter another 24 hours, allowing pressure to build up yet, burping the lids (releasing the pressure), every 8-12 hours or so, more often especially if warm. Keep in mind, not burping may cause the jar to explode. If you must leave them for longer, either loosen the lid and place jar in a bowl to collect runoff, or place the jar in the fridge, to slow the fermentation down, and continue fermenting on the counter when you have more time.

WARNING:  

These metal lids like in the photos above, have pros and cons. They allow pressure to build up, with their tight seal, creating bubbly effervescent kefir, but they can explode if the pressure is not released occasionally. Plastic lids are &#8220;self-burping&#8221;, which if you are away from home for over 8 hours, I would recommend using. The downside is the plastic lids do not let the pressure build quite enough in my opinion so kefir is not quite as bubbly. Sometimes I switch between both, depending on if I am planning to be gone.

To reiterate- During the 2nd fermentation phase, the water kefir is creating gas and building pressure, which you want it to do &#8211; this makes it nice and bubbly, but with the metal lids, you must let out some of the pressure, &#8220;burping it&#8221; every 6-12 hours or so, so the lid doesn&#8217;t bend or blast open (yes this happened to me). With a plastic lid, it stays on fine, it self burps, but it&#8217;s less bubbly.

After 24 hours, the fruit will float to the surface and it&#8217;s time to refrigerate it. Burp it, place it in the fridge, lid tight. Once it&#8217;s chilled, give it a try. You can strain this and put it in a different pourable container, or just strain as you pour, leaving the fruit in for maximum infusion. Up to you.

The kefir grains that you strained out earlier should be stored in a smaller jar, in the extra kefir water you will have after you merge the two jars into one. You can refrigerate them and feed with a tablespoon of sugar, every week &#8211;or if trying to grow more grains to give away, store the jar on the counter, feeding every couple of days. They grow faster at room temp, and grow slower in the fridge. They are happiest when they are actually making water kefir, so I usually make a jar a week. See notes.

I wish to start making kefir water. However, I want to try making it with the bottom portion of Kevita Sparkling kefir water. If I add your recipe to the last carefully poured portion with the cloudy sediment from the bottom of the bottle, will that give me enough to get started on creating my own kefir grains so that I can go forward with making kefir water in the future?

Lovely clear instructions thank you.  My friend shared his grains with me and gave me the exact same instructions including lemon juice (rather than a wedge of 🍋) but I will tell him about the prune!

I strain my fruit liquid into a bottle with a sprung stopper for second ferment. You can buy ‘posh’ pink lemonade from Waitrose with this type of bottle.  Burping must be done with caution but that’s part of the fun. Then it is straight in the fridge to drink when it tastes good.  I have 2 bottles so I drink one while the other is ‘on second ferment’.  I am new to this and I will try raspberry next.  
So far I have enjoyed pear, red grape, black currant, fennel and lemon and ginger.

I think I mean third ferment! 
Once with grains sugar and lemon in big jar.
Second with fruit and strained kefir water in a killer jar with sealed lid.
Third the strained fruit liquid goes in sprung stoppered bottle - just for 2 days. Burp to see if it’s fizzy. 
Then straight into the fridge.

Hi, 
      
       I was interested in making the water kefir  and I went to check out your source and I cannot get that information on Amazon.  have tried Cultures for Health kefir and was unable to make the grains work. Would you mind sharing with me the company you buy your water kefir grains? Thanks Teri

Great recipes for an amazing ingredient! I was really into kefir brewing a few years ago and I am now coming back into it, your post gave me several ideas to try out! Have you ever experimented with fruit syrups (passion fruit, strawberry, etc.)? I use it all the time to make homemade sodas and I think they would be a great way to feed kefir water.

Be aware that chlorinated tap water can kill the cultures. If you try and it seems to fail all the time, try with non sparkling bottled water or deionized water+sea salt.

I never heard that kefir grains originated from cacti in Mexico... the story I've read so far is that kefir came from the caucasus and that it's a symbiosis of fungi and bacterial colony's.
I wonder where the Mexican cactus story comes from, do you have any sources?

I have been using Kefir grains in milk.....can I use these same grains in water once I have washed them under cold running water?

I would prefer to use water then milk as we do not like the texture of the milky drink.

Please advise or must I buy new water grains of Kefir?
Many thanks    Wendy McKean

Excellent - The best description that I have found

Hi, could you share some of your recipes above?

Apakah sama grain water kefir dengan teratai salju?

Do you put a lid on the jar when the grains are being fed in the fridge?

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/QvPPxFEC.mp4

How to make WATER KEFIR! A happy bubbly, fruit-infused sparkling water, that is packed full of healthy probiotics that will energize the body and help heal the gut. 

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Top 2 water kefir recipes recipes from across the web

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Pineapple-Flavored Water Kefir

How to make Water Kefir

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