Close-up of kefir grains in a glass jar with a jar of kombucha in the background.

Activating The Culture:

Water Kefir

This recipe is for approximately 2 TABLESPOONS of water kefir grains. You can scale up or down, as you prefer.

Here’s What You Will Need:

  • Glass jar (big enough to hold at least 5 cups of liquid with extra space)

  • Mesh nylon strainer

  • 4 cups unchlorinated water

  • 1/4 pure cane sugar, piloncillo sugar, OR turbinado sugar

  • 1 cup pure coconut water (optional)

  • 2 TBSP water kefir grains

Let’s Begin

  1. Pour 4 cups of unchlorinated water into your jar.

  2. Add 1/4 cup of sugar and stir to dissolve completely.

  3. Add 2 TBSP of water kefir grains

  4. Cover and let ferment for 24 hours. Now, this is where some fermenters differ. You can use a cloth to cover secured with a rubber band. We like to use the Fido jars to keep extra oxygen out. It’s technically an anaerobic process, so the ferment does not need oxygen like kombucha does. We find that doing this carbonates the first ferment quite a bit, and using the Fido jars helps with accidental explosions by off-gassing. “Off-gassing” means the vessel is designed to mitigate the pressure of the ferment, preventing it from exploding.

  5. Strain the water from the water kefir grains and use the above steps to make your second batch, and so on.

After the first few ferments, you can start giving the kefir extra nutrients like dried fruit.

Second Ferment

How you flavor your water kefir is up to you. You can certainly drink as is, but most people will put their first ferment water kefir through a secondary fermentation process. A second ferment is quite easy.

We like to use 16 ounce bottles with about 1/4 cup fruit, juice, or puree.

Pour water kefir into thick glass bottles and add juice, fruit, purees, or even vegan smoothies. Cover with a tight fitting lid and let ferment for an additional 12 -24 hours. Once complete, place in the refrigerator to halt the fermentation process. Once chilled, carefully open (it’s aliiiiiive! No, but seriously, it’s dormant, not dead, so you want to carefully open just in case it’s pressurized), and enjoy!

Now, a word to the wise. This process can end up with explosions if you’re not using the correct equipment. We like to use thick glass bottles like the ones below. They have a swing top cap and are very airtight. If you feel uneasy, you can place the bottles to second ferment into a cooler to contain any messes that may occur. So far, most of us have been lucky. Although we did open a bottle and the water kefir shot out like champagne! It was quite exciting to watch but a pain to clean up the kitchen floor.