You’ve received your package of kefir grains and you are excited to get started but what is the best way to transfer them into the jar?
When your grains arrive, they have been in the package in dormancy and are hungry, so start the fermentation process right away to help the grains recover from their journey.
They will be various sizes. Some larger, some sand size and some microscopic. If you put the package up to the light, you will see all of the tiny babies. They are basically like gardening seeds and need to be planted so that they can grow.
Once you open your package, strain the grains through your nylon strainer and drop them into your sterile fermenting jar.
Don’t rinse them. There are microscopic babies and if you rinse them, they will go down the drain.
They will also be a bit smelly because the yeast and bacteria have been sitting in a bit of water waiting to be fed sugar and get activated. The acclimatization round may be a bit smelly, but should go away.
You want to ensure that you don’t cross contaminate the grains with other bacteria. That is why I strongly suggest that you purchase the Happy Gut kit, so that you are starting with a sterile environment and you solely use it for water kefir only.