Beyla Wayne

So there I was, happily playing with all my new SCOBYs; in addition to the kefir that had been in limbo in the back of my fridge for a year (for anyone interested in that story, please see the thread "Making milk kefir from OLD grains" posted about a month ago) I had purchased some tibicos that multiplied so quickly that I was able to trade some of them for fresh milk kefir grains which I kept and fed separately from the original ones so I could do some comparison. I was drinking the kefir, making cheese, drinking and otherwise using the whey, supplying 5-7 people per day with carbonated fruit-flavored beverages from the tibicos...
And then. About 4 weeks ago, Tues, May 10th to be exact, at about 7 in the evening, I noticed a niggling little pain below my right breastbone. Within a half hour, I was feeling as if someone had blown up a beachball in the middle of my chest. I was sure I was having a heart attack. My husband rushed me to the ER where it turned out that my heart was fine, but that I had acute pancreatitis. I spent 2 weeks in the hospital, most of the time in the kind of pain I did not know could exist, and I am a lady who delivered 4 children au naturel. I was sort of the hospital mystery, because A) I am not an alcoholic, B) I do not have gallstones, C) I did not recall any recent trauma to my abdomen, and D) I had not recently traveled to a part of the world where I might have been stung by a scorpion. Apparently these cover most of the known possible causes of pancreatitis. But wait! I was culturing and drinking my own probiotics? Aha! That must be it! At least, that is what some of the docs decided. My husband, on the other hand, did some research on the good ol' interwebs, and found some study where probiotics were actually used as treatment for pancreatitis.

Even though I was discharged 2 weeks ago, I am still not more than barely functional. I am as weak and wobbly as a half-drowned kitten, and still in almost constant pain. I'm told that recovery from acute pancreatitis can take up to 6 months, and that relapses are not that uncommon. Frankly, I'm desperate and terrified, and don't know what to do. Any of you out there ever heard of anything like this? Any words of advice? Encouragement? Please don't stint if you do, I really am in desperate need of it.

Oh, and by the way, about three days after I had been admitted, my husband wanted to know if he should be doing anything about all those bottles of culture that were sitting on the kitchen counter. I told him to just put them all in the fridge. And that's where they've been since. Not sure what I should be doing about them, I'm not physically capable of doing anything about them anyway. I actually am really missing being able to drink my tibicos soda, but I'm also really afraid that maybe that did have something to do with all this.

people who respond to this, I really appreciate it. If I don't answer you right away, it's because sitting up to use my laptop is still a very limited-time activity.
Thank you all so much,
Beyla

Huh! Let me know.

"There are thousands of 'correct' ways to do this. " That's what I love about this! That there are so many ways to be right. That there's not just one perfect way, and everything else is a failure. Experimentation is good! In the meantime, I'm glad you confirmed that the product I'm getting now is safe to drink (it'd be a bit late now to find out that it wasn't, since I've been drinking it for over a week now.) As I've said, I find it delicious, and as a matter of fact, I'm finding it hard to resist the temptation to guzzle it every time I uncover it to stir it. Waiting two days will be hard!

R Ranson, Thank you so much for getting back to me (especially since you sound like you have a super-busy life!). I am actually reading "The Art of Fermentation" now, and will definitely check out the cheesemaking book. It sounds like I am doing sort of what you say to be doing. I never even thought of having to know how much grains I'm working with. It's kind of hard to figure, because they are in 3-4 largish clumps, but I guesstimate about a tablespoon. I've been pouring 1-2 cups of milk on that -- so you say it should be closer to about 6 cups? Also, I've been changing it more like every half day instead of every 2 days, maybe that's why it hasn't thickened; I just haven't been giving it long enough. I will try that. And the stirring, which it never occurred to me to do. I think the grains might actually be growing, they certainly aren't getting smaller. One thing that's changing, when I first took them out of the jar a week ago they looked yellow and rubbery, then as I kept changing the milk I noticed that they started looking like they were getting coated with white softish curdy looking stuff.. I'm hoping that means that they are getting healthier? that they are getting what they need from the milk to make themselves less naked? maybe? What is certain, though, is that there is no sign of mold at all, and it continues to smell good and to taste delicious. I will definitely continue working with it. Just one question: when you say "toss the liquid" do you just mean don't use it again in the kefir, or do you mean it is actually not safe for consumption? Again, thank you so much for taking the time to help me out!

Brad -- Be brave!

Cheers,
Beyla

Hi everyone, I am new to Permies, and pretty new at fermentation. So, about a year ago I was given some kefir grains in a small jar of milk. It happened to be a very complicated time in my life, and they got put into the fridge where they migrated to the back and got forgotten about. Every so often I would spot them, think "I should do something with those", and then forget about them again. Well, about a week ago they surfaced again and I was just going to chuck them into the compost. When I opened the jar, I was expecting a really putrid rotten milk odor, but to my surprise there wasn't much odor at all. It smelled a little tangy, maybe a little yeasty, and not unpleasant at all. So I decided, what the heck, I would put it into some fresh milk, leave it on the counter, and see what happened.
Well, what's been happening is that the milk is definitely turning into something else, but I'm not sure what. There is absolutely no smell or taste of what I would call "sour milk", that is, milk that's gone bad (yes I did, after sniffing it, cautiously taste it); it smells and tastes tangy and "yogurty". I actually find it quite delicious. Every 8-12 hours I give it new milk, and I've been happily drinking the "old" milk, which is tangy but not too tart, and mildly fizzy. It does remain quite liquid, though; it hasn't ever really thickened into what I understand kefir texture is supposed to be.
So, any thoughts about what might be going on with my Lazarus grains here? Any advice about how to continue? Any help for this newbie would be much appreciated!
Thanks,
Beyla