Making my own kefir w/ goat milk - very very easy!
I started making kefir about 2 months ago I think, using live kefir grains. I had tried get some grains from one of those websites where members are supposed to send them to you, but no one responded to my e-mails.
So I went to kefirlady.com, and for $20 she sent me some very good grains via priority mail.
I'm allergic to cow's milk, so am using powdered goat milk I get from Vitacost.
At first it did do a number on my digestive tract (diarrhea), I drank too much (2 cups a day) at first. Now I just make and drink one cup a day and do fine. When the weather was warmer some weeks ago, they grains grew a lot faster, but they're still doing fine. They are chewy and look little cauliflowers but I don't mind and eat the extra! If you get too many and don't feed them, the kefir gets too sour, so you either have to feed them more (add more milk), which gives me too much kefir, or eat them or give them away. I actually gave away grains to 2 people, and both of them let the grains die within a week or so ....
Anyways, it's really easy to do, and kefir lady gives very good instructions, and also if you have to go away for a week or so, you can refrigerate the grains in milk, I think they sort of hibernate, she explains it all.
I'm hoping it will help my immune system, time will tell - but I really encourage anyone interested to give it a try, it is amazingly easy to do. And I have read that the live grains are much better than the dead ones. They do keep multiplying, and the dead ones only work for 5 or 6 times and then you have to get new ones.
Mary