I have been making my own milk kefir for sometime as well as being grain free and have found wonderful health benefits. Like others i thought i would add water kefir to reduce the amount of dairy - soon after drinking my first dose (4 - 6 ozs) of water kefir (which i loved) i developed a UTI. Dr. confirmed small amount of blood in pee sample. I don't want to give up on the water kefir but right now i think I'll stick to milk kefir! I read that cross contamination can affect the balance of both types of kefirs.