I am new to making Kefir Water. Need Help!

Hello,

I ordered some Water kefir grains online. They sell activated kefir grains which come in liquid solution. The grains took 6 days to finally reach at my place and I though they might be dead but the lady who sent them said they are alive.

Well,
the kefir when arrived were smelling very bad like rotten fruits. I put them in water solution and left for 48 hours. I couldn't see any difference and there was the rotten smell so i threw the water.

I put the kefir again in sugar solution and this time there was no smell in the water. I changed the water again after 48 hours and there is no smell at all. It smells like water and nothing else.

I want to know if they are working or not.

The quantity of Kefir is 1 Tbsp approx. I am using 500ml of water and 2 tbsp of white sugar. Am I doing it right?

How can I tell if they are actually working or not? The liquid tastes sugary even after 48 hours.

Please help me. Am I wasting time or what?

Half a liter of water seems too much for a tablespoon of grains. I would considerably lower the amount of water.

And I always added half a lemon (organic) and some dried fruits (figs, cranberries, raisins) because they provide additional food for the kefir grains.
Good luck!

The quality of your tap water might affect them too. It’s why I haven’t bought water keffir, because I refuse to pay for bottled water or a water filter.

Why did you choose kefir in a liquid? The dried one seems easy to activate.

Be sure to use distilled water. May cities use ammoniamate or chloromate in the tap water which kills kefir.
Also what temperature are you storing the kefir at? My water kefir likes 60F to 90F. It grows fastest at 70F.
I also grow my water kefir in coconut milk and occasionally dairy milk. When I tried growing my kefir in a solution of water & sugar, they were very weak.

kefir grains does not mind how much water or sugar proportion you put in. They will consume the sugar regardless. Its your preference. It needs to be anaerobic to prevent other bacteria from colonizing. That's the part that gives bad smell. I put  mine in a big mouthed bottle and close it just enough so CO2 can escape.

Thank you everyone for your suggestion and replies.

Actually I am noticing some activity in the Kefir water. Today I put a date in it and after some hours it started to float on top of the water. Also, there were a lot of bubbles, which never appeared before.

The problem is, the water still tastes very sweet, as I told I use 2 Tbsp Sugar in 500ml of water with a pinch of baking soda in it. Only Today I experimented with a Date.

One more thing, I water I got from a previous fermentation, I put that in an airtight glass bottle for 2nd fermentation and put ginger in it. After 12 hours when I opened the cap, there was a very slight burp. There were tiny bubbles in the water too. I left the water for another 12 hours and when I checked again.. there was a small burp...
What is the reason?

as I've seen in videos the bottle seems bursting with the gas in it. Is my fermentation not enough? or sugar content is not enough, still, the water tasted sweet, or what?

Please guide.

Dont put anything in your kefir other than sugar and water until you are sure they are healthy. By that time you can start experimenting with additives.  a small burp after 12 hours is a sign of weakness. Though it also depends on how many grains are there eating that sugar.

Can I mix brown sugar in water then boil it and after cooling down, use it for Kefir fermentation?

I mean will cooking change its properties or not?

I just dump spoonfuls of sugar in there. The rising bubbles is sign of liquid movement. It mix by itself to dissolve the sugar. But you can also boil it if you wish. I dont think it will change sugar properties. I use the browniest I can find My first time with kefir I also dissolve sugar in warm water, until I got lazy and found out that it works just fine:)

Milk kefir grows in size and strength with each batch. Soon you end up with way too many kefir grains and try find ways to get rid of them because they work too fast. Does the same happen with water kefir?

The weird smell is fine just keep on changing out the water every 2 days.
The warmer you keep the room temp water the faster it works

Does anyone have any favorite water kefir recipes or links to recipes that might help answer the question too?
 

boiled moringa leaves. I like it sweet and fizzy.

Thank you everyone for your replies and suggestions.

I started making kefir with Brown sugar and I think its working fine.

But the kefir grains are not growing, or maybe they are but at a slow pace.

I had only a Tablespoon of activated grains and after 10 days the quantity seems the same.