Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Add the whole milk and active milk kefir grains to a clean glass jar larger than the milk volume. Leave space above the milk for expansion. No heating step is needed.
- Cover loosely with a clean cloth secured with a jar ring or band. Set at room temperature out of direct sunlight and note the starting time.
- Ferment for at least twenty-four hours. Periodically stir gently with a clean wooden spoon to circulate the milk around the grains, then replace the cloth. Allow longer in a cool room or until the milk has visibly thickened.
- Look for a thickened, pourable texture and sour, fermented aroma. Small whey pockets or more distinct curd-and-whey separation can appear with continued fermentation. Do not strain before the GAPS twenty-four-hour minimum merely because it thickens early.
- Stir gently once more. Set clean cheesecloth over a glass collecting bowl or jug and pour the kefir through, retaining the grains. A wooden spoon can help the kefir pass through without crushing the grains.
- Transfer the strained drinking kefir to a clean glass jar, cover, refrigerate and label the date. Stir separated kefir before portioning. Chilling time is additional to the minimum culturing plan.
- Retain the grains for the next batch, covering them with fresh milk to repeat the same method. For a refrigerated pause, cover the grains with fresh milk and refrigerate; Katz advises feeding after about a week. Measure the grains as they grow rather than continually increasing their proportion in the same milk volume.
Notes
Minimum timing: About five minutes of daily hands-on work, based on the GAPS book’s three-to-five-minute routine, plus at least twenty-four hours culturing. The card’s twenty-four-hours-five-minutes is a minimum plan; cool-room fermentation, longer culturing and chilling add time.
Method: This milk-grain method follows Sandor Ellix Katz’s The Art of Fermentation: use a heaping tablespoon of grains per quart, leave room in the jar, cover loosely and stir periodically. For GAPS, ferment at least twenty-four hours and follow the dairy-introduction sequence.
GAPS: Full GAPS after kefir is introduced. Stage 1 Intro can include kefir after yogurt has been introduced and tolerated; new introductions start gradually. Already-tolerated fermented dairy can continue in its usual amounts when starting Intro. In the separate Dairy Introduction Structure, yogurt and sour cream are tolerated before kefir. See the dairy introduction guide and homemade twenty-four-hour yogurt.
Longer fermentation: The official GAPS FAQ gives thirty-six hours or longer for especially sensitive people and explains that small residual lactose amounts vary. The amount of lactose remaining varies from batch to batch. Longer fermentation tastes more sour and can separate curd and whey.
Equipment: Glass, wood and cheesecloth are used here. The GAPS book also permits a polypropylene sieve specifically for separating milk-kefir grains. Keep grains out of cream; use finished strained kefir if a separate sour-cream recipe calls for it.
Amount and scaling: One batch starts with one quart of whole milk. At 2× use two quarts of milk and two heaping tablespoons of grains, sufficient jar capacity and the same minimum time and thickening cue. Finished yield is approximate; the grains are removed and reused.
Storage: Cover and refrigerate strained kefir; date the jar and stir if separated. Keep retained grains in fresh milk, starting another batch or holding refrigerated with ongoing feeding. The kefir can continue becoming more sour in the refrigerator.