The Carrefour ones are just one-use packets, as mentioned by somebody else. Not really what I want.
Does anyone living in Taipei have any kefir grains they’d like to share? I’d pay you a few bucks for them. If so, please PM me. Getting some shipped from overseas is going to be a pain for sure.
Carousell. I mentioned it above. Here is a link for the lazy
I prefer not to register with websites where I need to “verify” (almost guaranteed to be a pain) where possible. This is not because of laziness, rather it’s experience. Guess what, I just tried to register with Carousell and sure enough couldn’t get through the process for some technical reason. I’ve contacted the website.
In the meantime, if anyone can help me out please PM me. Thanks.
I went a few weeks ago to Carrefour and bought the cheapest package they had. It was more expensive per gram or dose than the Carrefour branded but my rationale was that if I were going to reuse the shit and keep the critter alive, it didn’t really matter how many satchels came in the box. However, the annoyingly caring clerk did tell me that I shouldn’t reuse that shit or it would become stinky. TBH I don’t even know how I understood that woman because she didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Chinese, but I swear she came to say that… but that didn’t make sense to me. The bacteria and fungi should be alive, so what exactly makes not possible to reuse the bug?
Exactly. I believe the packet stuff is dehydrated and small grains. In theory, once they are hydrated they are alive and should grow…But I’m looking to buy some active grains off someone.
IF I’m successful in this new biotechnological experiment I wouldn’t mind to give you a starter, if you are in Taipei area.
Good luck and thanks for the offer. It will be interesting to see if you can “grow” the grains from a sachet. In theory, it should be possible…
Milk Kefir? Kefir can be used in most liquids that contain ‘sugars’.
Well yeah nah. The kefir that grows in milk is likely to need the things found in it. However there’s a water kefir that it’s probably very similar, if sharing name means something:
(not sure if that’s exactly I knew from when I first read about this shit a couple of years ago).
What I mean is if I can keep the culture in the fridge, and it doesn’t go bad as suggested here and by the clerk at Carrefour, then I’m more than happy to share the bug.
Lactose (milk sugar).
If you don’t add sugar to your water your kefir is just going dormant.
You can add kefir to sugared water, or fresh juices.
Probably that’s not the only thing that happens. Probably the colony deteriorates a lot. Yeasts might die, or eat each other, or undergo some unwanted mutations. Same with the bacteria. I have a container at home with kombucha. I have restarted it several times after long periods of neglecting caring it. The PH changes, and the scoby is not balanced anymore. It looks 
ed up. Indeed, I think I want to start that kombucha brew from scratch… need another, healthier scoby.
You don’t keep them in water, unless it’s sugar added, but for a few days it’s OK. They do dry them and freeze to reuse later, but you will lose some
All these critters feast on sugars, but like in bread, add too much and they’ll die due to osmosis reaction.
Alright, I officially started my kefir experiment this very morning. Results will be made public in 2 or 3 days. I left a jar with a mix of milk and the thing outside the fridge because that would make it work faster than otherwise.
So 35 hours after the start of the experiment it seems that the curd has reached some consistency!
Don’t expect it to be like Greek yoghurt, more like a yoghurt drink texture/consistency.
So maybe I should start to use this “mother” culture for making other smaller yogurts and… maybe try it 
Ate a bit this morning. It is good, similar to yogurt but less acidic and more earthy so to say.
I wonder how temperature affects thickness and texture.
Bacteria develop different acids at different temperatures. Lactic acid, acetic acid each reacting specifically to temperature.
I don’t know about that but what happens in the case of yogurt is not about what acid is more produced at this or that temperature, it’s more about what bacteria will thrive better and faster at a given temperature and what this bacteria’s role in the yogurt making process is.
In the process of yogurt making it’s not unusual to vary the temperature for achieving yoghurt with specific qualities.