I have a large number of fermented beverages in my fridge, so for a long time, I haven’t been particularly interested in trying to make coconut water kefir. I have plenty of probiotics in my life and the aforementioned drinks got so onerous that they actually bent the hinge on my refrigerator door (the hidden costs of fermentation addiction, amirite?). Without a catalyst it may have been years before I got around to making it, so I have to thank a private fermentation client for the push because coconut water kefir is amazing! Unlike regular water kefir, it isn’t too sweet for my tastes. It is also incredibly simple to make and requires only two ingredients, including the culture.
But before we get to the how-to part of this, I have to share a little love. I have previously written about water kefir, and the experience I had making it. A few months after I got them, my grains died from over-acidification, and I didn’t replace them. When I decided to order new ones, I chose to get them from a new-to-me culture source, Yemoos. and it’s a whole new ball game.
These things came out of the package super plump and glistening like wet opals. During their first two days of fermentation, they doubled in volume. During their second go, they doubled in volume. At that point, I realized I had some gems on my hands, and I threw half of the newly doubled batch into a vat o’ coconut water. It’s a keeper. Whether you have digestive issues or not, I can’t imagine many more desirable drinks than this savory/sweet, two-ingredient, organic gatorade.
Coconut Water Kefir Tips
- You can use any type of coconut water (not milk!) but raw is better. I’ve tried:
-Zico, the pasteurized, shelf-stable version.
-Harmless Harvest, which is certified organic and totally raw.
-Exotic Superfoods Coconut Water, which is also certified organic and is frozen upon harvest in Thailand before being shipped to a Whole Foods Market near you.
The tastiness of these products is directly correlated to the price. Exotic Superfoods Coconut Water was CRAZY expensive, but tasted like sweet, sweet clouds slinking down my throat. Harmless Harvest was also extremely satisfying; a little umami, a lot decadent (though not quite as transporting or silky as ESCW). Zico tasted nothing like the raw versions, but it still fermented and didn’t taste bad. Plus, it was less than a third of the price of ESCW, so it makes a reasonable option for the cost-conscious. The choice is up to you. I’m sure the living enzymes in the raw coconut water provide additional health benefits, but I can tell you that all three worked quite well as kefir since I ended up with slush-colored, barely bubbly, fermented liquid after 48 hours of culturing in each case.
- Grow your grains in sugar water instead. Coconut water kefir is not going to make your grains grow as quickly as they will in a nice bath of nutrient-rich sugars and fruits. In fact, in my week-long observations, my grains in sugar water doubled (or more) every two days, while the grains in coconut water barely grew. Therefore, I would recommend that if you’re going to culture in coconut water, maybe give them a break every week or so by culturing them in sugar water instead.
- It’s lightly fizzy. Coconut water kefir doesn’t get as fizzy as regular water kefir, so if you’re a bubble-junkie, you might want to stick to the old way. You can get a good bubble through bottling, though it won’t be as intense as sugar kefir.
- Add nothing. Coconut water kefir requires no added sugar!
- Timing is everything. Do not let your coconut water kefir ferment for more than 48 hours. Water kefir grains aren’t that acid tolerant and over time, longer fermentation periods will make them unhappy and eventually underproductive. Want it more acidic? Let it ferment for another day AFTER you’ve strained out the grains. It’s a great way to get a less sweet product without damaging your grains.
- Secondary Fermentation. Adding a bit of juice or a few slices of fruit is a great way to make your coconut water kefir taste fantastic! This is best done after you’ve strained out the grains.
- To rinse or not to rinse. Rinsing grains is controversial. I haven’t been able to discern a difference between doing it and not doing it, but I haven’t done a scientific, long-term study. I will update here if I come to any conclusions of my own. If you do rinse your grains between each batch as some recommend, use filtered water that doesn’t smell overly chlorinated.
- EXPLOSION RISK. Every case of explosion I’ve heard about (other than my own beet kvass mishap) has been with water kefir. Do not let it ferment too long, and when you bottle it, use one plastic bottle (at least). When that bottle is firm, stick it in the fridge!! If bottling in glass, be VERY attentive. Exploding glass is basically a bomb. I will often do secondary fermentation in glass Ball jars and burp them every 1-2 hours or even more frequently.
COCONUT WATER KEFIR
Ingredients
1/2 cup water kefir grains
3 cups coconut water
How-to
- Place your kefir grains in a quart jar or similarly sized container.
- Pour the coconut water into the jar.
- Cover loosely and let it sit for 48 hours (not longer).
- Using a non-metallic, fine mesh strainer, pour the culture liquid into a storage container or clean jar.
- Rinse the grains in filtered water and put them in a clean jar. Repeat the process.
- You have the option of doing a secondary fermentation on the finished coconut kefir. It is recommended by Dom, the Kefir King, for increasing nutritional content and it’s a great way to incorporate bubbles and other flavors. If you want to do that, just keep the vessel you strained your kefir into at room temperature for another 24 hours. You can add a variety of fruits or juices (a few slices of apple or pear, 3-5 pieces of dried fruit, or a half cup of the fruit juice of your choice are all great options).
NOTE: If you’re looking for bubbles, you’ll need a bottle with a seal. Bottles that are intended to keep bubbles in are the best option. Commercial kombucha bottles work great, as do some gasket sealed swing top bottles. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS GETS EXTREMELY FIZZY AND CAN EXPLODE. Do not store water kefir in a sealed bottle for longer than 24 hours at room temperature (12 usually does the trick) and do not store it at very warm room temperatures. The safest bet here is always to do secondary fermentation in plastic bottles, like recycled soda containers. That way, when the bottle gets hard you know it’s time to immediately stick it in the refrigerator. This can be dangerous.
Like cultured vegan- and paleo-friendly things? How about cultured cashew cheese?
James says
Can you ferment with the lid on?
Does the ferment need to breath – if so why?
I’m not actually using Kefir culture – instead I have used some wholefood probiotic powder blend mixed with coconut water in a jar with lid screwed on.
I hope someone can clarify my questions. Many Thanks
Amanda says
Hi James,
Unfortunately I have never mixed a probiotic powder into coconut milk, so I don’t know how that will work. I’m actually not sure if it will ferment the coconut water. It might, I just have no experience with that.
If you were fermenting with water kefir grains, you would actually be able to ferment with a cloth cover or a lid, because although kefir grains like anaerobic fermentation, they are generally submerged in the liquid, which does a good enough job. Even thought a few float to the surface, they’re there for such a short time, it’s nothing to worry about. Leaving the lid loosely attached is important, since CO2 will build up and could explode your container. Again, though, none of this applies to what you’re doing.
Matt J. says
I poured two small cartons of coconut water into non-transparent bottle meant for drinking water. After I drank out of the bottle, I left it in the car for about a day, including a time period when it was quite warm.
So now when I drank from the bottle again, it definitely tasted fermented, though it still has some sweetness.
So my question is: is it safe to drink, or do I have the wrong bacteria in the culture because, for example, I drank from the bottle exposing it to my mouth flora? What bacteria are naturally present in the coconut water that could be in the culture? Will they wipe out the mouth flora I exposed it to?
Amanda says
Hi Matt,
I can’t answer your question completely, but I would not recommend drinking that. There are so many factors here: was it unpasteurized coconut water or pasteurized? What was the temperature in the car? Was the water bottle you used spotlessly clean when you poured the coconut water in? There are others, too. I personally would not risk it. Fermentation is a simple and safe product, but there’s no way to know if what happened in your car is even fermentation.
Thanks for writing!
Amanda
Jolie says
Hi Amanda,
Do you have any extra water kefir grains to sell?
Yours look big and healthy, I have some, but they are smaller than I would like.
Thanks, Jolie
Amanda says
Hi Jolie,
Are you in Philly? I periodically do culture giveaway days when I work from a cafe and bring all of my spare cultures for anyone who wants them. My time is a little limited and I get a lot of requests these days, so I no longer ship cultures or set up times to give away individual cultures.
I post these days on Craigslist, PUFN, the Indy Hall group boards and my social media accounts.
Hope to see you soon!
Dan says
I want to ferment watermelon juice made fresh from a juice extractor. Do you think using your coconut water kefir process with the water kefir grains will work for this?
Thanks
Amanda says
Hi Dan,
I would actually not recommend this method for fermenting watermelon juice, although I would never discourage anyone from experimenting! The reason coconut water works so well for water kefir is that the balance of sugars and nutrients is a very good one for the particular SCOBYs that are water kefir grains.
Fermenting any juice is very simple though. Just add a bit of fermented liquid (finished water kefir, milk kefir whey, sauerkraut juice, rejuvelac, etc) and you’ll end up with a nice, bubbly and tasty liquid. If you skip down to the recipe part in this soda post, you’ll find my recommendations for a few other starters that work really well! You can add 1/2 cup finished water kefir to that list.
The reason I don’t recommend adding your water kefir grains directly is that they are not, unfortunately, the most hardy culture. They tend to like what they like and die if you mess with their conditions to much. Most of the other cultures I’ve worked with and ALL of the other SCOBYs I’ve worked with have been way more tolerant. Having said that, water kefir grains reproduce like mad, so if you you want to throw some in there and see how it goes, just don’t use your primary or last set of grains. They will definitely ferment the juice. Probably very quickly and vigorously, so be prepared and take anti-explosion precautions.
Fermented watermelon juice (I called it watermelon soda :-)) is extremely tasty, however you ferment it. Add some herbs like mint, basil or lemongrass for a wonderful experience!
Maya says
My grains were growing well and getting plump in the coco water, then I put them in sugary water and they deflated and became powdery and just sat there looking unhappy. Know what I might have done wrong?
Amanda says
Hi Maya,
What kind of sugar did you use? Were you adding any other nutrient sources? How many batches did you make in coconut water vs. sugar? Did the temperature change a lot during this time? Is your home particularly cool or hot right now?
Sorry, but there are lots of variables. Actually not that many. 🙂 The question is mainly whether or not they were getting sufficient nutrients or even too many for your climate.
Pia Lykke says
Hi Amanda
I have just made a batch of coconut water kefir and want to do a 2.F. I have made some with elderflower I make my self – we love this taste in regular water kefir. It is my first time doing coconut water kefir and I am curios if you have a favorite taste to go with this for a 2.F
Amanda says
Hi Pia,
I think elderflower sounds AMAZING! It would probably be fantastic with coconut water kefir. My weird rule of thumb for pairing flavors with cocowater kefir for secondary is to pick things that would taste good in a kind of salty dessert. So decadent flavors like chocolate (using cocoa nibs) and cinnamon work really well. I tend to do those darker, warmer flavors in the winter and in the summer, I do a lot of stone fruit. Peaches, really good apricots and plums all tend to add nice acidity and not suffer from the saltier taste of the coconut water kefir. If you end up with a favorite blend, I would LOVE to hear about it here.
Thanks for reading!
Justine says
Hi Pau, how did the elderberry turn out?
sheetal says
Hey,
M on no starch diet.any substitute for grains..can we use bit curd (yogurt) to femanted??
Amanda says
Hi Sheetal,
Grains is just the word that is used to describe the kefir culture. They are actually not grains at all but Symbiotic Communities of Bacteria and Yeast! No grain is in the grains, oddly enough. So feel free to get your hands on some and use them at will.
Frances says
Hi Amanda
I have been making milk based kefir very successfully for the past two years. Will I be able to make coconut kefir by adding some of the normal (rinsed) milk based kefir culture to coconut water? I hope so, water kefir grains are difficult to find in South Africa!
Thanks for a great post.
Amanda says
Hi Frances,
The answer is kind of. Sorry to be cryptic. So the trick here is that milk kefir grains prefer to brunch on lactose and there is no lactose in coconut water or coconut milk. Having said that, even milk kefir grains don’t get destroyed by the occasional meal of sucrose or fructose, so you can feed them coconut water or coconut milk on occasion without any lasting damage. Just pop them back into milk to culture afterwards.
Still, I would use extra kefir grains to test this out. I damaged some grains early on doing the conversion thing and they never really returned to normal (they were spares so it was alright).
I hope that helps!
Amanda
Rose says
I had my kefir grains in organic milk for 6 months, I heard I can use COCONUT BEVERAGE, not to be confused with COCONUT MILK, I don’t want dairy in my diet, I transfered the milk kefir three days ago into the coconut Beverage I bought at Trader Joes, it does not have sugar, I heard SUGAR IS NOT GOOD FOR THE KEFIR, lots of confusion. Now my batches are smaller and the grains are getting smaller and I have NO idea whether I messed it up or not could you help tell me the process for COCONUT beverage and kefir seeds and do you put a coffee filter on top as if you were withe the milk?
Thanks
Amanda says
Hi Rose,
Are you talking about milk kefir grains or water kefir grains? If you’re not sure, check out the photos on these posts. Milk Kefir & Water Kefir
Milk kefir grains really like dairy beverages and tend to get unhappy very quickly in non-dairy. At worst, they’ll discolor, shrink and die quickly. At best, they’ll stop reproducing and then VERY slowly start to shrink over months and months. You can feed them non-milk for a batch or two and then culture them again in milk so they get back to greater health, though.
With water kefir grains, I can tell you from experience that they do like sugar quite a bit. It’s their natural food. They do just fine in coconut water (I’m not familiar with the TJ’s coconut beverage) but they still prefer to have a drink of sugar water every 2-3 batches in order to keep growing and living the healthy life.
Sugar is the food of fermentation. Adding sugar might potentially cause a problem in some ferments (like pickles), but most ferments need something sugary to eat. With milk kefir grains, it’s lactose, with water kefir grains, it’s sucrose.
I hope that helps!
Justine says
Very helpful. Thank you 🙂
Rebecca says
Hi-
I just found your instructions after searching how to make coconut water kefir.
I have a question with the instructions-
when you say to repeat the process, what do you mean? After 48 hours when you strain the culture, is not ready to drink and considered the final coconut water kefir? Im confused about the process of when to drink
Amanda says
Hi Rebecca,
It’s ready to drink at 48 hours. By repeat the process, I mean repeat the whole process. Place the grains in to fresh coconut water and start again.
I hope that helps!
Gabriellr says
I put my first batch of coconut water kefir up earlier today and noticed the grains look like powder at the bottom. Did i kill them? Rinsed 1/4 cup grains in Britta filtered water, put 4 cups raw coconut water (straight from frig – could that be the problem?) on top and screwed on the lid loosely. The coconut water was pink – got it from whole foods. Should i toss the batch?
Amanda says
Hi Gabrielle,
I’m not sure what you mean by “put up?” If you mean you drained it, and the grains looked small and powdered, that could be a problem. Try fermenting them in filtered water and a mix of a mineral rich sugar (like coconut sugar, molasses or succanat) and plain cane sugar with a slice of lemon and a date. Do 2-3 24 hour ferments like that and they should bounce back.
I love that coconut water and when I feel like splurging, I do use it for this, so with my grains, it’s fine. Different cultures do have different bacterial make-up though, so maybe your culture was overwhelmed by the native cultures in the coconut water. I have had this problem with dairy kefir. My grains do not stand up to raw milk, but I know others who have great success fermenting theirs in raw milk.
If your grains bounce back and start rapidly reproducing in the sugar blend, try using only excess grains for the coconut water version and maybe just adding them to the compost pile after the batch. WKG generally reproduce so quickly in sugar water that the problem is more figuring out what to do with the extras. I hope that helps
Lea Huskisson says
Hi Amanda – my daughter in law was given a kefir plant a few months ago – she has been making milk kefir. I am lactose intolerant and would therefore like to make coconut water kefir. Questions – what happens to the lactose when making milk kefir and can I use a piece of her kefir plant to make coconut water kefir? Many thanks lea
Amanda says
Hi Lea,
Some of the lactose is broken down during fermentation, which is one reason that some people who are lactose intolerant are able to eat certain forms of fermented dairy (kefir, yogurt and hard cheese, for instance).
For all of the lactose to be broken down, you’d have to let it ferment for a very long time. The flavor might not be very nice at that point and the grains could be damaged by the high acidity. One option is to let it go through secondary fermentation. That means that you would strain the kefir out, and let the kefir (with no grains) sit a t room temperature for several days. It will get very acidic and be lower in lactose. Whether or not you like the taste is another story.
Just to be clear, the grains that I used for the coconut water kefir are water kefir grains, sometimes called tibicos and they are a totally different organism from the grains used to make milk kefir.
I hope that helps!
Happy Fermenting!
Wendy says
Hi
I’m allergic to milk protein but have been using coconut milk kefir for about 8 months now.
Blend 1 medjool date into a can of organic coconut milk. Try to get milk without guar gum or you’ll need a really big jar because it “grows” a lot if guar gum is in it and will overflow your jar.
Add milk kefir grains. Change daily. After about 15 batches, the dairy is sufficiently gone that I don’t react. (I am pretty sensitive to trace amounts of casein or whey. However, you should not take my word for how many batches are needed to get the dairy out. I’m only sharing my personal experience here.)
I have experienced substantial GI improvements from consuming this daily for many months.
The milk kefir grains do get smaller and less clumpy, but I’ve used the same grains for these 8 months and they’re still kefirring fine. I recently started a new conversion with a larger volume to replace them, but it doesn’t seem absolutely necessary yet.
Hope this helps
Mindi says
Can you tell me what the quality of the water kefir is if you rotate the coconut kefir with water to keep the grains viable. Can you successfully rotate one coconut then one water? Thanks. Mindi
Amanda says
Hi Mindi,
Yes, that’s what I recommend if you’re making coconut water kefir. It’s better for the grains if you give them a regular sugar feeding in between coconut batches.
Webb Christel says
Hi Amanda
I have followed your blog with great interest. I admire your patients, some of the questions are just …… I am a lover of coconut in all its forms and add coconut water from our supermarket to the second fermentation. I am also a friend of experimenting. Before I ask I try, because water kefir grains multiply so generousli that one can really experiment with the without loosing much. But I think I have bekome cocky as we say here:) I have often put fruit tea bags into the second fermentation as well and for some unknown reason lately I put the fruit tea bags into the prime fermentation. After a short while I noticed that my grains weren’t plump anymore and then they started to produce less grains. They used to tripple every 36 hours, then I had barely double and thought something is wrong here. Today I had just 50 gram surprlus which means that the grains aren’t dead yet (I hope) but they must be in serious trouble. Then I came to your site and read that you lost your through over acidity. I think that might be the problem of my grains. For about 3 or 4 years I have fermented over 36 hours, always used the same recipe and if I didn’t need any drink I put the whole lot in the fridge until I needed more drink.. Sometimes for a few weeks especially when we went on holiday. Today I put the poorly grains into 2 litres of coconut water and hope they will come back to life.
Have you ever dried your surplus grains? If yes what is your experience? I have air dried a lot of my grains successfully, and I am pleased I did. I once had to throw a whole batch away as they went mouldy on experimenting how long they could stay in their solution outside with no refridgeration. It took several weeks, so they really are pretty hardy, at least here in New Zealand. So if my grains don’t come back to health I can always use my dried ones.
Thanks for your site and sharing why your grains died. If you ever need any, just give me a shout, I have sent my grains all over the world. I would send you dried once but they work great.
Keep up your good work and advice
Thanks
Christel
Amanda says
Dear Christel,
Thanks so much for your message! I have no idea how it slipped my notice, but it did. So sorry!
I have air dried my grains successfully, but I have a dog and I’m never totally crazy about letting stuff sit out in the open where bits of hair or whatever can get on it, so it’s not something I do often.
I greatly appreciate your kind words and your very sweet offer! Again, I’m so sorry I missed your message when you originally wrote it!
Amanda
Mia says
Hello Christel…i have just read your post and am in New Zealand…just moved to Whangarei from Auckland. I am wondering if I would be able to get some coconut water grains from you if you are still fermenting. Also would love to get together if you are in the same area (its often a small world..so perhaps we could be).
Mia
Lyn Bebb says
Hi Cristal,
I live in Palmerston North and would love some of your grains. I have been making milk kefir, but need to exclude casein from my diet.
Kind regards
Lyn
Bre says
If I wanted to flavor/steep my coconut water with herbs or tea packet (like sarsaparilla for a root beer coconut kefir) would I do that during the second process? Where is the best place to buy non dairy kefir grains online? Thanks for a very easy and informative post!
Bre says
Also, do you need to culture the grains before making coconut water kefir? Not sure I follow because you talked about that at the beginning of your post but its not in the steps process at the bottom.
Thank you!
Amanda says
I’m not sure I understand the question. Happy to help if you can clarify. The grains are the culture and do the culturing, so that’s why I’m confused.
Amanda says
Yes, add other seasonings during secondary fermentation. You want to interfere with your culture (grains) as little as possible, so avoiding additional flavors/additives during primary fermentation is a good rule of thumb.
McAnulty says
Hey,
I’m hoping to make kefir using coconut water. Unsure what to do though as they’ve previously been used in cows milk but my lo who will be consuming the kefir has a dairy allergy (cows milk protein). Any idea on how many batches to make and discard before the cows milk protein would be eliminated? Also, any good brands of coconut water you know of that are available in Ireland (North)? Many thanks.
Amanda says
Hi!
So I think the first thing is that you may be confusing water kefir with milk kefir. Generally water kefir grains (pictured) are used for sugary liquids, like coconut water, fruit juice and water that’s had sugar added. Milk kefir grains look like little, white cauliflower florets and only achieve their full potential in dairy milk. You can sometimes culture non-dairy liquids with milk kefir grains and dairy with water kefir grains, but neither culture is likely to survive long in the wrong medium. I wrote a bit about this on the Milk Kefir page that I linked to.
Assuming this is the case, I wouldn’t recommend using milk kefir grains for a dairy-free. I can’t say how many times you’d have to culture it in another, non-dairy liquid before all traces of the milk protein would be eliminated, but I will generally not culture milk kefir grains in anything but dairy milk more than twice in a row before moving them back to dairy so they can “eat” a proper meal.
If you want to try water kefir, in which case you’ll never need to worry about the milk situation, you can definitely find cultures on line. And I’m so sorry to say that I don’t specifically know of any coconut water brands in Ireland. I go by taste. I tried the three or four that looked the best to me at the store and used their unfermented taste as my guide.
Best of luck!
Suzanne says
Thanks for the great info. I’m excited to start drinking coconut water kefir as I have been making water kefir for a while but feel it is too sugary for my candida cleanse. Have you ever made the coconut water yourself? I made it using 1/4 unsweetened shredded coconut mixed with 1 cup water in my Vitamix and then strained. I then added the kefir grains to ferment and after 48 hours it was separated in the jar with what I guess was the fat of the the coconut resting on top. I mixed it up again before I poured it all through a strainer to get the grains out and I was left with a bunch of coconuty grains. So much coconut fat was mixed in the grains that it was impossible to even rinse them off completely. I’m now making a batch of water kefir with them because I want to alternate between the two to keep the grains alive but it has a lot of coconut fat floating in it. Any suggestions? Maybe I can scoop off the fat from the top before straining next time?
Amanda says
Hi Suzanne,
I don’t make my own coconut water, unfortunately, but yes, I would scoop off the fat rather than stirring it back in. I hope your grains continue to be healthy and that you enjoy your delightful, homemade brew!
Thanks for reading!
Laura says
Hello,
I’ve recently started drinking Kefir water and am concerned by my sugar intake. I understand that the scobi have to have sugar to eat, live and grow, however when i drink the kefir water it tastes very sweet and I am concerned that I am introducing a lot of sugar into my system. Is this correct or are the grains breaking down the sugar so what I’m ingesting is actually ok / healthy? I don’t drink soft drink or juice so that sugar isn’t really part of my usual diet.
Many thanks 🙂
Amanda says
Hi Laura,
Yes, water kefir contains sugar. Just about all of the scientific literature I’ve read says that all of the sucrose is converted within 24 hours at room temperature. However, part of what this is converted into, is fructose. So if you drink juice (looks like you don’t), you’ll be getting the same stuff from water kefir. If you don’t drink juice because of the sugar, then water kefir is probably not your best choice of ferment.
You can put the water kefir through a secondary fermentation to further reduce sugar. After you remove the grains to fresh sugar water, place the liquid in a jar on the counter and cover. Let it sit for another 1 to 3 days. You’ll notice that it has gotten much more yeasty (aka alcoholic). You can then flavor it as you normally would or refrigerate it before drinking. It is a trade-off, though. You’ll get less (not no) sugar and more alcohol. It’s not going to be loads of alcohol, but based on taste alone, I would put it at about light beer levels.
The coconut water kefir recipe here will be a bit lower in sugar than the version with added sugar, and you can also play around with your grains to find the lowest possible sugar added that keeps them healthy. If you drink water kefir for the health benefits, though, you could just find a better-for-you ferment. I would recommend cultured vegetables if you want to get your probiotics without the sugar.
Marc says
Wow best ferment site I’v found.
Have you tried coconut cream as a second ferment with water keifer? My first batch exploded 🙂 but the second after 4 hours with about 1/8 of lemon water keifer tasted like ice cream soda
adeline says
help! I think I killed my water kefir grains. I left them in the coconut water for over a week thinking they’d be ok. I decided to put more time into them and strained the liquid off (which by the way is super vinegary but still smells good so I’m soaking raw beet slices in it… not sure if that’s ok?!). I rinsed the grains in filtered water and added fresh filtered water and sugar. I tested 2 days later and nothing. these grains were awesome too by the way and they still look very strong but no change in liquid. I’ve added some more sugar last night and awaiting a miracle. do you think they are beyond repair? help I love them!!!! ✌
Amanda says
Hi Adeline,
Yes, I would guess that your grains are no longer viable. You can try one more fresh feeding and see if you have activity, but a week in coconut water is a very long time for water kefir grains. They don’t tolerate acid very well, weird, I know, since they create it. Even though my current grains are much more acid-tolerant than those I’ve had in the past, I never ferment them from longer than 48 hours at room time. I’ve had (lesser) grains die in 4 days of winter home temp fermentation.
Susan Floyd says
Hi, Is it necessary to sterilize the jars and bottles and lids in boiling water before using?
Thanks so much for your help!
Amanda says
Hi Susan,
No. I have never sterilized any equipment before fermenting anything. This practice comes from canning and is totally unnecessary for fermentation (which is basically the opposite of canning :-).
Valentina says
Hi Amanda!
I love this article and the other day it inspired me to try my water kefir grains in some coconut water. I used pasteurized coconut water with nothing else added and let it ferment for 36 hours in a cabinet (mostly because I forgot to check them at the 24 hour mark). I noticed that the coconut water thickened a bit. I noticed when pouring that it has a very mild slimy quality to it. I haven’t tried it yet and haven’t been able to find any info about the safety of it on the web. Do you know why it would have thickened and if its still safe to consume?
Thanks for your help!!
Debbie says
Hello
This is my first attempt at coconut water kefir. I bought 1/4 cup of water kefir grains so I am assuming I would only use 1 1/2 cups of coconut water, which of course will only net me 1 1/2 cups of coconut water kefir. Unless I buy more kefir grains, I will only be able to make batches of 1 1/2 cups at a time? And if so, can I add each batch to the last? Is there a limit to how much of this you should drink a day? Sorry for all the questions but like I said I’m a newbie at this so I’m a little confused … a little more than normal. lol Thank you!
Amanda says
Hi Debbie,
You can make a pint with 1/4 cup of grains, but healthy grains will double every couple days, so you’ll be able to make a quart batch next time. The problem with water kefir grains is usually the speed at which they grow, so just be prepared!
I wouldn’t add your last batch to the next. It can get slimy, and it’s not good for your grains to be kept in an acidic medium.
The limit depends on you. Remember that you’ll need to periodically feed your grains actual sugar water (their preferred beverage) to keep them healthy, and that even coconut water will retain some sugar after the recommended fermentation, so if sugar is something you pay attention to, definitely keep that in mind. Ferments are powerful foods, so I recommend starting slow if you don’t already have a probiotic-rich diet. A popular (but arbitrary, as far as I can tell) number is 2 oz a day for the first week, 4 ounces a day the second week and then go nuts. But it’s better to see how you feel. If you notice very active (noisy) digestion, go easy on your body and give it some time to adjust to the goodness.
Laura Marino says
I’m wondering if instead of sugar I can use fresh stevia leaves. I’m diabetic and the sugar water has affected my blood glucose in the past.
Amanda says
Hi Laura,
No, unfortunately stevia will not work. The grains actually feed on sucrose, and there isn’t any in stevia so they won’t eat or survive long this way. This isn’t a ferment that I would recommend for diabetic folks, because although the sucrose is converted, part of it is converted into fructose and most diabetics I know wouldn’t down a big ol’ glass of juice anymore than they would down a soda. There are so many great ways to get a nice dose of probiotics that I would personally recommend skipping this one and heading over to the fermented vegetables recipes instead.
Best of luck!
Orlahn Quiterio says
i have so many questions, I’m trying to naturally heal my ulcerative colitis and I’m about to start using kefir
Elle says
Hello,
How many times can you reuse the grains?
Amanda says
Indefinitely. As long as they are cared for (fed often, not over fermented) they will last forever.
PATRICIA ERICKSON says
Hello,
Did you purchase the live water kefir grains or the dried from Yemmos? Thank you!
Amanda says
Hi Patricia,
I use their live grains. In general, when budget and availability permits, I use live cultures.
Enjoy your kefir!
kim says
HI!
thanks for the recipe. Im wondering about the “non-metal” strainer part…. why do i need to use a non metal strainer. And how bad is it if I accidentally used tap water for my sugar water?
yikes!
thanks!
kim
Amanda says
Hi Kim,
You can ignore that. In the old days, I believed that a quick reaction could occur between metal and grains. I’ve since experimented and found that it really only matters if you ferment or store in a metallic vessel, not if you spend a moment straining the grains through metal.
Sorry for the confusion and I hope that helps to clarify!
Naomi Garcia says
Hi….. Today I accidentally added the fruit and juice to the cocowater and kifer grains to start a batch. Will it work or do I need to throw it out and start over again? Please reply today. Thanks!
Amanda says
It should be fine. 🙂
Sita Hood says
Good morning and thank you for all the work that has gone into this site and all the work it takes to maintain it!
You bless us all!
I have incredibly hard well water that is softened with potassium chloride and wonder if that would be safe to use with water kefir grains.
Since I consider the grains to be a living thing, I hate to experiment at the risk of harming them.
Thank you for your time.
Boundless blessings to you and yours!
Amanda says
Hi Sita,
Thank you so much for the kind words!
Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with hard/softened water and kefir grains. I would definitely recommend experimenting, though. I don’t think the water is likely to kill them (although I could be wrong), especially if you filter it through a normal charcoal filter before using it.
If you have healthy grains, you will rapidly have way too many to use or even share with friends and family. They double roughly every two days (every batch) and unless you’re feeding an army of thirsty people, you will probably not be able to keep up with them. I put them in my compost, where I think they contribute to healthy soil as part of the circle of life and death.
Best of luck! Please let us know how it goes with the water. It could definitely be helpful to others in the future.
Jeff fisher says
Hi! Your replies are wonderful, thank you. I was wondering how to get my once fermented coconut kefir to fizz. Now I shall try adding fruit and ginger and leave it for 36 hrs. That should work shouldn’t it?
Amanda says
Should work! Depending on your temperature, that might be a tad too long (could start getting a little boozy) but give it a shot and see!
Mukti says
Hi Amanda
I’ve never tried kefir or in fact heard about it until last week. So I’ve no idea how kefir science works.
Can I use vita coco coconut water instead of zico?
I’m not sure what do you mean by “bomb” for a glass jar with 2nd fermentation.
I live in Canada and the weather is not really conducive for fermentation. Do I still keep the mixture for 48 hours or longer? Please advise
Amanda says
Hi! You’ll want to find a warmer spot in your home if your home is really cold. Colder temps will require longer fermentation, but too cold (below 50 degrees in your home) you might not get things to start.
You can use any coconut water you like, just keep in mind what I wrote in the post about getting it back where it needs to be periodically!
Don’t seal your jar or it could explode as the CO2 naturally created in fermentation grows (that’s what I mean by bomb).
Good luck!
Ash says
I used the pink harmless harvest organic coconut water. After 48 hours, there was a bad smell and taste. Since this coconut water is supposed to be kept in the fridge, is it not a problem to let it sit out at room temp for 2 days?
Amanda says
Hi Ash,
I don’t think the refrigerated nature of the Harmless Harvest (I have a secret obsession with the stuff; it’s SO good!) is any issue at all (after all, we make yogurt and milk kefir with milk, and plenty of ferments are made with ingredients that normally need the fridge). I have used it a couple times, but it tastes so good on its own (and is so expensive) I don’t regularly ferment it.
Having said that, always trust your nose! I would never drink or eat a ferment (or any food) that didn’t meet smell and appearance expectations. Fermentation isn’t done in lab conditions, so it’s possible something went wrong, that your grains didn’t like that particular coconut water, that your grains aren’t in working order, that they HH went through something weird, etc. I wish I could tell you what the specific issue is, but I do not know.
Best of luck moving forward!
Colleen says
I use the harmless harvest coconut water for kefir but find 24 hrs is plenty of time….I live in Hawaii, so the temp in the house is about 80 most of the time. If I let it go 48 hours, not so good. At 24, it’s fizzy on it’s own and my grains are still hopping. At 48, my grains are tired looking and the kefir is not as alive.
That’s my experience, I’m still learning.
Amanda says
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Mei Highfill says
I live in Hawaii and have about 10 coconut trees. The coconut water varies in sweetness depending on the age of the nut. How can a company that sells coconut water know how sweet it is? It also varies from tree to tree. Can you tell me how sweet the coconut water is?
Amanda says
Hi Mei,
If you’re lucky enough to have the fresh stuff in abundance, I would give it a shot with the grains you have.
Measuring sweetness is definitely possible and common practice for large beverage companies (brix). I would assume that they blend different “waters” to achieve a consistent result, although I can’t say for sure since I don’t work in that industry.
I hope that helps!