We love kefir! Not only is it delicious, but it is also a very health-giving beverage. It populates your gut with the necessary flora to fight off disease and to keep our digestion in check! I add it to smoothies most mornings and my kids just love it! We get raw milk every week so I just had to put up a post all about how to make raw milk kefir!
Raw Milk Kefir
We love kefir! Not only is it delicious, but it is also a very health-giving beverage. It populates your gut with the necessary flora to fight off disease and to keep our digestion in check!
Ingredients
- 1 quart raw milk
- 1 packet Kefir culture powder
Instructions
- First, make sure that all of your kitchen tools are VERY clean. Any unwanted bacteria will proliferate and ruin your Kefir.
- Pour the milk into a clean container that will hold a quart of milk.
- Add in the powder Kefir culture and stir until dissolved.
- Place lid on the jar, but do not tighten. You want to keep critters out but also allow for fermentation gas to escape.
- Cover the container with a cloth, sunlight can destroy the beneficial bacteria.
- Let sit in a low traffic area that won’t be exposed to a lot of heat or temperature fluctuations.
- Allow to ferment for 12-36 hours depending on the level of sour you like. I find mine is perfect at around 24 hours.
- Once the raw milk kefir ready, move it to the fridge.
- Now that you have made your initial batch, you can keep making it every week using a small amount of your Kefir. Simply save one cup of the Kefir and add it to another quart of milk. Repeat the fermentation process. So easy to make Raw Milk Kefir!
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16 Replies to “How to Make Raw Milk Kefir”
I prefer live kefir grains vs. a starter culture. It is cheaper that way, nothing to buy. I have been fermenting mine for 48 hours lately, just because I have been lazy… I add vanilla and stevia to my kefir and drink it each morning, about 12 oz. I also feed to my pets.
Hey I’m curious as I bought kefir grains and they said the only way to activate them is with pasteurized milk and I can’t consume pasteurized milk and don’t even want near it as it makes my stomach hurt so bad I don’t want to experience it. Do you use kefir grains with raw milk?
I do use them with raw milk, but I activate them with pasteurized milk.
Rebecca – I like that idea of adding vanilla. I’ll have to try that.
You should get kefir grains! They will live as ling as you keep culturing them and they are even easier than powdered culture (and cheaper!). 🙂
I had some in the past that did not work! I need to get more because I have heard great things and they look so cool. The grain I had were super small and crumbled apart. I want those big beautiful tapioca looking ones!
can you give a definiton of kefir? and what is your experience with using un-pasturised sheeps milk? if any?
Kefir: fermented milk. No experience with sheeps milk, sorry. I’m sure it would do just fine.
Where can I buy kefir grains?
Right here: https://amzn.to/1jGNuxZ
Where do you find raw milk? Everything I find is pasteurized and homogenized.
We get it from a local dairy farm. We pick it up every week. Good stuff! You can find local farms in your area using this site: https://www.realmilk.com/real-milk-finder/
I Googled raw milk to find my nearest farm