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Let's talk about yogurt (and kefir, kumis and kombucha)

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So three years ago I tried kefir for the first time and I loved it. The combination of sourness, CO2 bubbles and yogurt-like texture was amazing. I had considered making my own but just until this week I decided to buy the grains and test it at home. I am also making some bifidus yogurt.

Do you have any experience with home-made fermented milk beverages? Too much work for something that is (kind-of) staple food?

What is your experience with them? Would you try them? For example, I would never trhy kombucha. That slimy thing floating on top looks top disgusting.
 
It's not hard, just takes planning. The girlfriend makes kambucha, other than sanitizing the jars there's not much work, it just takes practice to get the sugar levels right so it grows and doesn't taste like drinking straight vinegar. You also need to find a starter (Scobi). Yogurt is very easy with the right hardware, you just mix milk with a small sample of yogurt and the whole thing becomes yogurt over night. If you eat it a lot it's worth the price of the yogurt maker or instant pot.
 
Yogurt and kefir are fine by me. Kombucha seems disgusting because I have seen those disgusting bacteria pucks you use to make it and I do not truck with bacteria pucks
 
It's not hard, just takes planning. The girlfriend makes kambucha, other than sanitizing the jars there's not much work, it just takes practice to get the sugar levels right so it grows and doesn't taste like drinking straight vinegar. You also need to find a starter (Scobi). Yogurt is very easy with the right hardware, you just mix milk with a small sample of yogurt and the whole thing becomes yogurt over night. If you eat it a lot it's worth the price of the yogurt maker or instant pot.

Well, today I started my yogurt test. I had some bifidus yogurt, let's see how it goes. I tried to keep everything relatively clean (boiled the glass flasks for 5 minutes).

Yogurt and kefir are fine by me. Kombucha seems disgusting because I have seen those disgusting bacteria pucks you use to make it and I do not truck with bacteria pucks

Well, in a yuck scale for the different starter cultures I think kombucha takes the crown, followed by kefir (funny white mini coliflowers). For yogurt either you buy liophilized bacteria or just use some from the grocery store.
 
Just finished 3 batches of Kefir today! I love the stuff, it makes me feel like a million bucks and it's super easy, anyone can do it.

I recommend people start with the freeze-dried version to get an idea of how the process works and then move on to live grains (way more potent)

Just ordered some water Kefir grains yesterday too, which use water and sugar instead of milk and creates a fizzy probiotic drink.

I'm excited! lol
 
So three years ago I tried kefir for the first time and I loved it. The combination of sourness, CO2 bubbles and yogurt-like texture was amazing. I had considered making my own but just until this week I decided to buy the grains and test it at home. I am also making some bifidus yogurt.

Do you have any experience with home-made fermented milk beverages? Too much work for something that is (kind-of) staple food?

What is your experience with them? Would you try them? For example, I would never trhy kombucha. That slimy thing floating on top looks top disgusting.

You should try Kombucha! I agree there is a weird texture at times you need to deal with, but it's really tasty. I would start with a flavored one like GT's Trilogy to ease into it.

For someone that likes the taste of craft beer, but is trying to drink less alcohol as I get older, something about the taste of Kombucha scratches a similar itch and makes you feel much better after drinking it.

EDIT: Re-reading the OP, it sounds like you mean making your own Kombucha rather then just trying it, so please disregard this if so!
 
I recommend people start with the freeze-dried version to get an idea of how the process works and then move on to live grains (way more potent)

Well, I started with the grains today, but I am awakening them. I guess I will have fully working grains this weekend. What do you mean by "more potent"? The fermentation time is lower?

EDIT: Re-reading the OP, it sounds like you mean making your own Kombucha rather then just trying it, so please disregard this if so!

I have never tried kombucha so I will definitely try the one you recommend. I also read that ginger beer is a fermented drink and I find it amazing. If kombucha is something like that, I imagine myselft making it at home in 1 month or less lol
 
I was making water kefir with ginger slices until I accidentally poured the grains out trying to strain it. I am ordering another pack of grains though because it tasted great.
 
Well, I started with the grains today, but I am awakening them. I guess I will have fully working grains this weekend. What do you mean by "more potent"? The fermentation time is lower?

More potent in its probiotic effect, live grains contain like 50 types of bacteria while freeze dried grains contain only like 5 types. Fermentation time is about the same from what I've seen for both.
 
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