Water kefir wonderings

I’ve kept water kefir before, but it’s been a number of years. Decided to start it up again, so I bought some live (not dried) grains from a well-known source of fermentation starters. The jar arrived and had leaked in transit, so the grains were damp but definitely not in solution, and the package was delayed in the mail to boot.  I figured I’d give them a try anyway.

Gave them 3 fermentation cycles where I just discarded the results so that they had some time to recover. Now the results of the first fermentation are so-so; the kefir smells mostly right, and it’s quite a bit less sweet than the starting liquid, though not as dry as I’d like it to be. (It’s also still recovering, I think, so maybe it just needs more of that?) So far, so good. However…. There’s a weird scoby-like jelly floating in the jar. It’s completely clear. Never saw anything like this in my previous water kefir experience. Is my balance of organisms too far off to be saved?

Also, second fermentation is a complete bust. No change whatsoever once fruit juice is added and it’s set for ferment for 48 hours. I’ve never had this problem before. What could be contributing here?

I’m using well water that’s fairly hard, so plenty of minerals and no chlorine. Organic sugar, so also some minerals there. Maybe I pop in a touch of molasses? Some lemon? Or is it more likely that those grains just got too disrupted in their miserable shipping experience?

I add either a pinch of sea salt, or a couple tablespoons of blackstrap molasses, 1/4 cup of demerara or other organic, raw sugar to 1/4 cup of grains, per quart. As long as I don't forget to cycle it (I like a 48 hr ferment, for both 1st & second ferments), it does great. My 2nd ferment is usually just with a handful of berries, but a tablespoon of honey is really yummy, too. Mint isn't nearly as lovely as I'd expected, cucumbers are pretty good... I've tried a little of a LOT of different things, mostly with good results, but some things were a little... explosive. Ahem.😳

But, that floaty... That concerns me, somewhat. When did it develop? Also, if the jar was leaking liquid out, I can't help wondering if some type of contaminant snuck in. I'll admit I'd be even more concerned, if the floaty was cloudy, but I think I'd still get in touch with the seller, and let them know what's going on. They may send you a new batch. When I've gone away from it, then go back, I get mine from poseymom.com, and they've sent me replacements, in the past, even though I was pretty convinced the problem was me. I forgot about mine, about 2weeks ago (for a couple weeks), when life got in the way, and killed off my active grains, but thankfully, I'd dehydrated some, so I'll be rehydrating some in the next day or two.  I really miss it, when I'm out, and my gut is MUCH happier, when I'm drinking it, regularly!

Carla Burke wrote:

But, that floaty... That concerns me, somewhat. When did it develop? Also, if the jar was leaking liquid out, I can't help wondering if some type of contaminant snuck in. I'll admit I'd be even more concerned, if the floaty was cloudy, but I think I'd still get in touch with the seller, and let them know what's going on. They may send you a new batch.  

Thanks, Carla. This corroborates what I was thinking. Something just seems a bit off here. Since it’s been such a long t8me since I’ve done kefir, I wanted a gut check to see if I was thinking in the right direction.