No, kefir grains need lactose as a food source in order to ferment and reproduce properly. While lactose-free milk is suitable for people who are lactose intolerant, it lacks the necessary sugars for the kefir grains to thrive. This can lead to incomplete fermentation, weakening of the grains, or even their eventual failure.

If you really need to use a low-lactose alternative, you can occasionally use lactose-free milk, but it’s recommended to regularly “feed” the grains with milk that contains lactose to keep them active and healthy.

Beige or light yellow kefir is normal. This is because kefir contains yeast that yogurt does not have, so it has a little yellow color.

NO!!! Kefir needs to stay in room temperature. Grains will be damaged over 35 °C. So please keep your grains away from yogurt maker, oven and steamer.

Here are common reasons why grains sometimes don’t reproduce:

1. Milk quality and type
Ultra-high temperature sterilized milk (UHT), milk powder and long-lasting milk. These milks contain lower nutrients, making it difficult for the bacteria to obtain adequate nutrients. If you use plant milk for a long time, its composition may not meet the nutrients required by the grains, so you need to use fresh milk regularly to supplement its nutrition.

2. Temperature factor
Grains usually ferment best at temperatures between 20–30 degrees Celsius. If the temperature is too low, the metabolic rate of the grains will slow down; if the temperature is too high, the stress on the grains may be too great, affecting growth.

3. Fermentation time
If the fermentation time is insufficient, the grains will not obtain enough nutrients and will not be able to proliferate. On the contrary, if the fermentation time is too long and excessive acidity is produced, the grains may be stressed due to an overly acidic environment.

4. Feeding frequency
The grains need to be fed with fresh milk regularly to maintain their vitality. If new “food” is not provided for a long time, their ability to reproduce will decrease.

5. Hygiene and pollution
If unclean utensils are used or bad bacteria are introduced, the bacterial balance of the grains may be destroyed and their normal growth inhibited.

6. Chemical Exposure
Washing the garins with chlorine-containing tap water or coming into contact with detergents may damage the grains and cause growth to stop.

7. The grains are stressed or damaged
Rough handling or exposure to extreme temperature changes may kill some of the bacterial flora, causing the grains to be unable to reproduce normally.

In summary, if you want to keep the grains healthy and continue to proliferate, you need to ensure the use of appropriate milk, control the temperature, master the fermentation time, pay attention to the hygienic environment, and avoid interference from chemicals and foreign bacteria.

The short answer is yes, they prefer what milk they are used to, but they will gradually and happily adapt to new milks.

If they are produced in goat milk, their preference will be whole goat milk, if cow milk, they will prefer whole cow milk. Kefir grains do best when the full range of nutrients they require are available to them.

This includes the milk sugars, proteins and fats. Many people notice that their grains take off and thrive when given full-fat milk.

Please find picture below for more milk brands in Taiwan and what’s special about them

In fact, the size of cauliflower kefir grains is a myth. The size of the same cauliflower grains will also change with the  temperature, milk brand, and growth stage, so the size and appearance are not really important. 

The grains can be as small as a grain of rice or as large as 15 centimeters. Moreover, such larger strains are not considered better. Because the small grains have a larger contact surface, hence, the fermentation speed is faster, and the kefir produced will be richer and more delicious. Please let go of the idea that big is good!