Using Kefir grains as culture

[HOPOIL]

Anyone used Kefir Grains as the culture for making a soft or hard cheese?
Your methodology is what I'd like to hear about.
Is it practical to salvage the grains from the milk before adding rennet?
I expect it takes several hours for Kefir to culture a gallon of milk?

thanks, hoppy

[linuxboy]

Please see Boofer's discussions here

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2172.msg16483.html#msg16483
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2514.msg17349.html#msg17349

[HOPOIL]

Thanks
I thought probably there had already been some discussion about this.
I hope to visit the Fingerlakes Dexter Creamery someday soon and see how they keep some level of standardization to the culture process.

Maybe that's part of the attraction to a hard or soft kefir cheese; each batch is subtly different from the last.

I have a friend who is giving me some grains.

[linuxboy]

You can standardize same way as you do with sourdough and clabber: create a stable culture, and then replicate it using the exact same techniques, and make your cheeses the exact same way WRT pH, starter inoculation, heat, stir, curd size, brine, etc.

[mtncheesemaker]

I usually let my kefir culture work in a quart of milk for 36-48 hours on the counter.
Pam

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Hi Hopoil,

Kefir grains are gems and don't waste them using as a culture. The kefir drink (what ever is left when you drain kefir grains) however can be used as a starter culture.

Each kefir strain is different and may have lots of lactic acid, vinegar acid and yeast bacteria living in harmony (symbiotically). It will be your timing, pH and temperature control that will decide which one will dominate your cheese.

You can use only kefir drink to make cheese to. At http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/%7Edna/kefirpage.html you can find lots of information.