This fruity, fizzy drink is so refreshing anytime of the year and only takes a few ingredients to make. I discovered this probiotic drink from Lisa’s YouTube Channel – Farmhouse on Boone. She makes it look so simple in the video. I will link it at the bottom. If you are a visual person like I am, it is very helpful to watch her walk you through the steps. The first thing you will need to do is buy the kefir grains and some brown sugar with molasses. But from a fermentation standpoint, Water Kefir is much simpler than Kombucha. I will link where I purchased the Kefir grains below.
Supplies Needed
- Water Kefir Grains (above)
- 32oz mason jar or quart jar
- Filtered Water
- Tea Kettle (makes the water heating easier)
- A flip top glass bottle for the final fermentation (above)
- Brown sugar
- Molasses
- Juice (I use the juice in Lisa’s video – link above. Note – this is much cheaper from a store like Lidl)
- Funnel
- Hand-held strainer (above)
First Fermentation
Take your tea kettle and heat up about a cup of filtered water. Take the quart mason jar and put 1/4 cup of brown sugar and the amount of molasses the kefir grains list in the directions (first ferment only). Pour the hot water over the sugar and molasses and mix thoroughly.
Place a few ice cubes in the jar and mix around until they dissolve. Fill the rest of the jar up (almost) to the top with cold filtered water. I use the water out of my fridge. After cooling down the water substantially, add in the Kefir grains. Set the jar on the counter away from any other ferments. Check back in a few days.
Depending on the temperature of your house, the first ferment should take anywhere between 1 and 3 days. My house stays around 68 degrees and I have mine on a rotating fermentation schedule of around 3 days. For example, the first ferment will start on Sunday and finish on Wednesday and the process repeats. On this schedule I have roughly 2 bottles of Kefir produced a week.
Second Fermentation
When you check the quart mason jar it should smell a little Easter egg-ish. You will know it is ready for its second fermentation by the smell. Take your glass flip top bottle or equivalent vessel and put about a cup of juice in the bottom. I eye-ball this but if you have a 32oz bottle a cup should be about right. Place the funnel in the top of the bottle, place the strainer over the funnel, and gently pour the first fermentation through the strainer and into the bottle. All you want to transfer is the liquid. I keep the kefir grains in the strainer and set it on the counter until the mason jar is ready for another ferment. After the bottle lid is sealed, I place it on the counter for the second fermentation. This is usually Wednesday through Sunday for me.
Fizz – Monitor the Second Fermentation
The second fermentation is where the carbonation comes into play so you should monitor the bottle and pop the top a few times until you are confident pressure isn’t building up too much in the bottle. It will explode if left too long! This hasn’t ever happened to me, but Lisa mentioned this happening in her video.
After the second fermentation is complete I will put the bottle in the fridge so it is good and cold to drink. The whole process should repeat. The kefir grains need to stay in a mason jar with brown sugar water at all times or they will die. This may seem like a lot of work but it really isn’t very involved once you get it going. It’s Just part of my normal routine now. Every Sunday and Wednesday I repeat the process and we always have delicious Water Kefir to enjoy!
