HOW TO MAKE WATER KEFIR | Fermented Drink Recipes

Learn how to make water kefir, a probiotic rich superfood, with this simple tutorial.
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Learning how to make water kefir may sound intimidating, but it is actually a very simple process, and the reward is growing healthy bacteria right in your own kitchen.
But what the heck is water kefir and why should you care?
Probiotics have been all the buzz for several years now.
These things may just seem like a trendy fad, but there is actually some serious science backing up the hype.
For the very abridged version of the story:
There are good guys in your gut and there are bad guys. God put the bad guys in there, so they could break down your body at death (not the happiest topic, but it's true). They were meant to be there in small quantities and the good guys were supposed to proliferate and make a healthy body.
Well, in our modern world of stress, sugar and processed foods those bad guys get out of balance and all kinds of bad things begin to happen. "Leaky Gut Syndrome" happens when there are literally holes in the gut lining. Food leaks into the blood stream, where it does not belong, and you experience minor symptoms like bloating and gas, major symptoms like depression and cancer and everything in between.
Probiotic supplements are excellent and everyone should be on a good one (not just any old probiotic you find at Walmart), BUT it isn't the entire answer to the problem. To create a diverse inner ecosystem you'll want to introduce many different strains of good bacteria.
Enter fermented foods.
Sauerkraut. Milk Kefir. Homemade Yogurt. Sourdough. Kombucha.
So, why take the extra effort to make your own fermented foods at home?
Yogurt and kefir from the store just don't cut it. They are fermented for a very short amount of time and by the time you get it from the store it was probably already made weeks ago. The good bacteria are most certainly dying off by this point. Plus, they are almost always filled with sugar and made with non-organic milk.
When you make fermented foods at home they are teeming with good bacteria and can help repopulate your gut with the good guys. You have likely fermented them for days, or even weeks for some ferments, so they are going to help your body significantly more than that store bought yogurt.
One of my most favorite fermented drinks is water kefir.
I love to do a second fermentation with grape juice that makes it bubbly and delicious.
Let's get into the process:
Step 1:
Acquire water kefir grains.
(Oh I forgot to mention they multiply rapidly when you make kefir constantly. The extras can be fed to your chickens, thrown in the compost pile, blended into your smoothies for added probiotics, or sold on the internet ;))
Step 2:
Bring one cup of water to a boil.
Add 1/4 cup organic brown sugar and stir until dissolved.
Step 3:
Add 1/4 cup water kefir grains to a quart size jar.
Fill the jar almost to the top with filtered water.
Step 4:
After the sugar water has dissolved and COOLED completely, add into the jar with the rest of the water and the water kefir grains. If the sugar water is still hot it can kill the "good guys" in the water kefir grains, so make sure it cools off first.
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Now, go forth and fill your gut with good bacteria! ;)
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[@MyTube4Utoo]

In case anyone cares; kefir "grains" are still a 'SCOBY' (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast), they're only called

[@oglothenerd]

Important Note: Do not ferment Kefir next to Kombucha, the SCOBY will literally take over the Kefir.

[@AuLily1]

I knew there was a reason I saved those Trader Joe's Ginger Beer bottles with the stopper and wire closures they have at Christmas time!

[@studentdeljuego]

To prevent bottle bombs. Just fill a a plastic soda bottle with it once its hard you know the bottles are carbonated.

[@RamonaQ]

You can do this in the plastic juice jug, too. I am "accident prone", and have no business attempting glass swing bottles, so I tried it with plastic. Works. Just in case someone wanted to try it, but is too scared of exploding glass containers. Plastic bottles stretch. A lot. Apparently. Haha

[@BrokennessAndBeauty]

good video but it would have been nice too show the beginning of fermenting the grains in the water... how much sugar? How much water? Etc

[@a.a.dehulster7567]

Can you solve this mystery? I make waterkefir and use always the same classical method. 100 gram of kefir on 1 liter of water, 40 gram of sugar and 2 figs and then 2 days of fermentation. Then I transfer it to bottles and keep them in the fridge. What puzzles me is that now and then some bottles of kefir are like champagne. The kefir pours out the bottle under enormous pressure when I open them. Lot of bubbles, and that’s what we want! But usually the kefir is not very sparkling. I have asked my kefir shop what the cause of this bubbling is, but they don’t know for sure. Maybe the amount of sugar, the temperature they said. I have tried with no reliable results. Does anyone know the secret how to make the all the kefir bubble always like champagne? Thanks.

[@katrinagrammer2014]

I unfortunately found out the dairy farmer family I found will not sell kefir grains but is only willing to sell their raw milk for me to try to make my own grains which they said people do not usually succeed at doing when they try to make their own kefir from theirs, so it is best to just buy their kefir. The problem is the farmers market they attend is so far away to drive for me each week.. plus I was looking forward to making my own..so I guess I might need to try to find another farmer that sells kefir grains or try to make my own kefir grains from their milk anyway and hope for the best.

[@hippymamabrae6400]

We did this last year and my favorite was just adding organic strawberries to the 2nd ferment. So amazingly delicious. After our move I've got to get back into it!

[@akbananachucker2441]

Not sure that 4 days is long enough for it to consume the all the sugar. Kombucha take about a month. I'm pre diabetic so I check myself after dinking it and if my blood sugar goes up at all then it's not done. You may still be doing damage to your liver with all the sugar. Be careful guys.

[@jjwideawake.9397]

Been making all the different kefirs for yrs. Love them all. I use fresh fruit in the second fermentation. Have a gal going all the time. Two qts with ginger one without. I don’t drink pop at all but love carbonated drinks, healthy and fun to drink.

[@msales1226]

Thank you so much for being straight to the point while keeping the most important info in :)

[@HealedandThriving]

Oh thank you!!! Newly dairy free here! Thanks for all your hard work and sharing!

[@clilbear11]

We are very happy with the directions you gave for water kefir! It has so many bubbles once we second ferment it with grape juice!

[@rasulhafeez5575]

That's awesome. I enjoy natural food. I think everyone should do this, especially for kids.

[@Maremoooo]

Great video! I am just starting to do the fermenting world. Your video's are really helping on what choices I would like to try. Thank you and have a great day!

[@oscar-cesiafalcon1408]

Love fermented recipes 👍

[@donna8212]

Very interesting Lisa! Hope you’re having a good night! 😊

[@rkatika9]

Sounds great! I will try it with passionfruit tea as I use that to mix it with my kombucha and love the flavor.

[@leftywashere5525]

This was helpful! I was making kombucha for my family but it was too time consuming. This is great and a fraction of the time. Thanks for sharing!