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 tablespoons water kefir grains

  1. Start with a glass jar of your choosing. We like the Bormioli Rocco fido jars. You can also use Mason jars, old spaghetti sauce or salsa jars, massive beer mugs, or basically any glass that’s large enough to hold it all.

  2. Heat 1 cup of unchlorinated water and add 1/4 cup of sugar of your choice, then stir to dissolve and let cool. (Turbinado works best. You can also use piloncillo sugar or pure cane sugar. Make sure its PURE cane sugar, because some companies also use beet sugar in it as well.)

  3. Add your sugar and water mixture to an additional 3 cups of unchlorinated water.

  4. COMPLETELY OPTIONAL: These grains love when you add coconut water to the first ferment. If you do then add one cup of pure coconut water then proceed to the next step.

  5. The last thing to do is add 2 tablespoons of water kefir grains.

  6. 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.

  7. 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 experiment by adding other ingredients like dried fruit or adding a raisin or two.

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 juice or puree. Juice or fruit will give a lightly flavored beverage. Puree or smoothies will give a more robust flavor.

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. You can buy these at any homebrew supply store, online, or can probably talk your homebrew friends out of a couple. If you feel uneasy, you can place the bottles to second ferment into an ice 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.

The easiest way to mitigate explosions when you open the swing top is to hold one hand firmly on the lid while you open the bailing wire with the other. If you see mass carbonation happening, close the wire again and refrigerate 15-30 minutes. Keep doing this until you can open it without the kefired water shooting all over the place.