Re: Congestion caused by Kefir?

There is not much I can tell you about why you are congested. For a lot of people, yes, milk does clog them up with mucous. I can give you a little advice on making the kefir. I'm still kinda new at this. I was quite fortunate that during the recent holiday a raw dairy operator I know gave me my first batch of milk kefir grains that they got from some customers over in Europe. I'm still new at this but I have been reading a lot of the helpful info from Dom's kefir site... you know about that site, right?

http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~dna/kefirpage.html#more_uses_for_kefir


If your kefir grains are in good shape, 24 hours is the amount of time to have the grains in the milk, but there are some variables that may require you to adjust this time a little bit one way or the other. What quantity of grains are you using - a table spoon, two, more, or less ? How much milk are you putting these grains into for 24 hours? A cup, two cups, more? Generally speaking, yes, after 24 hours you remove the grains from the current batch of milk and you put them into fresh milk to start a new batch. Meanwhile, you can let the strained batch " ripen" for another 24 hours. You can do this outside the refrigerator. You can sorta tell if this ripening is working if you see a semi-clear ( light yellow ) liquid form at the bottom; this is Whey and it indicates fermentation is happening. So, the first 24 hours is with the grains in the milk, then the second 24 hours is with the grains removed. After this time if you still have not drunk all of this kefir you can put it in the frig, this will slow down the ripening process so it won't get too sour before you can finish drinking it.

The thing I've learned quickly is that kefir is basically and every day thing and there are some days when I don't drink all of the previous batch. This is one reason why I put it in the frig after 48 hours, this will help to keep it a few days more, but even with this I'm starting to accumulate more kefir than I drink.

I like to add some blueberries and then run through the blender and maybe add a little cinnamon and honey. Also, I've found my dog really likes a bit of kefir. I don't give him much, maybe an ounce or two, but I can already tell the improvements to his digestion and bowell habits have gotten better. Tweet