Hi there,
My name is Mary-Thea and I'm from a small town called Castleisland in County Kerry, Ireland.
I am looking for some help, please!! I googled "homebrewers forum" and Homebrew Talk was the first on the list. I hope you don't mind me bursting in here with a slightly different angle, but I thought who better to ask to help me solve my problem than homebrewers!
I have a small local business making milk kefir, which is a fermented probiotic beverage. I make it the traditional way by using live kefir grains. When making it this way you can only use glass appliances, plastic strainers, and plastic/wooden spoon. The grains are added to milk, left for 24 hours to ferment, the grains are then strained out, the resulting milk is the kefir, and the grains are re-used again (as they are living organisms, they feed off lactose in the milk as their energy source). Commercially made kefir is made using powdered cultures, and so stainless steel can be used.
I'm currently trying to make my process more efficient. I have a large 50 litre glass jar with a 15cm opening on top, and a small 3cm jowl on the bottom. I'm trying to figure out a way to remove the grains from the jar without them having to be constrained. Below are the methods I've tried so far:
So yes, if anybody has any suggestions or opinions or anything at all I would greatly appreciate your help!
My name is Mary-Thea and I'm from a small town called Castleisland in County Kerry, Ireland.
I am looking for some help, please!! I googled "homebrewers forum" and Homebrew Talk was the first on the list. I hope you don't mind me bursting in here with a slightly different angle, but I thought who better to ask to help me solve my problem than homebrewers!
I have a small local business making milk kefir, which is a fermented probiotic beverage. I make it the traditional way by using live kefir grains. When making it this way you can only use glass appliances, plastic strainers, and plastic/wooden spoon. The grains are added to milk, left for 24 hours to ferment, the grains are then strained out, the resulting milk is the kefir, and the grains are re-used again (as they are living organisms, they feed off lactose in the milk as their energy source). Commercially made kefir is made using powdered cultures, and so stainless steel can be used.
I'm currently trying to make my process more efficient. I have a large 50 litre glass jar with a 15cm opening on top, and a small 3cm jowl on the bottom. I'm trying to figure out a way to remove the grains from the jar without them having to be constrained. Below are the methods I've tried so far:
- I've tried leaving them loose in the jar and draining them through the bottom jowl, but they get stuck and block the exit.
- I've tried fishing them out from the top but because its narrower than the body of the jar it's a difficult task.
- I've tried putting them in a muslin bag, but when the milk enters the bag and interacts with the grains the milk thickens (expected), and so then it doesn't leave the bag. What ends up happening is the milk inside the bag turns to cheese over the course of the fermentation, and the milk outside the bag doesn't ferment!
- I've tried the backslop method but the ratio required would be 3:1 which slightly defeats the purpose of trying to be more efficient.
- I've tried a glass infuser on a smaller scale but the same issue as the muslin bag arises.
- My most recent feat was to make a self supporting muslin bag that would expand in the jar and allow all the milk and grains to interact. But I cannot find any suitable material for the supporting bit- it needs to hold its own shape but also be flexible. I ordered a polyester fibreglass rod, which is PERFECT, but it's not foodsafe!!
So yes, if anybody has any suggestions or opinions or anything at all I would greatly appreciate your help!
