What is water kefir?
A fizzy, lightly tangy, almost alcohol-free drink, made by letting kefir grains (a consortium of yeasts and bacteria) work in sugared water. 48 hours of patience, a few fruits, and you're done.
The gear (minimalist)
- A 1-2 litre jar (avoid prolonged contact with metal)
- A clean cloth + a rubber band
- Swing-top bottles (lemonade style) for the F2
- Kefir grains — gifted, bought, or rescued from a friend
F1: the first fermentation (48 h)
In the jar: about 50 g of sugar per litre of water, the grains, half a dried fig and a slice of lemon. Cover with a cloth (the grains breathe) and leave 24 to 48 h at room temperature.
The signal: when the fig floats up, F1 is almost done. Taste it: the sugar should be clearly reduced, without turning vinegary yet.
F2: the second fermentation, where the magic happens
Strain (the grains go straight into the next batch), bottle with the flavouring of your choice — lemon-ginger, blackberries, seasonal fruit — and seal tightly. 24 to 48 h at room temperature to build the fizz, then into the fridge.
The 3 classic mistakes
- Forgetting the F2 on the counter. Three days too long = geyser bottle (or worse, in glass). Taste at 24 h, refrigerate as soon as it tingles pleasantly.
- Starving the grains. They eat sugar: below 40 g/L they wear out.
- Losing track of your experiments. What was the dosage that one perfect time? Without a log, impossible to reproduce.
Timing, without sticky notes
That's exactly why FermPal exists: every batch moves phase by phase (F1 → F2 → fridge), your grains are managed as reusable starters (never destocked by mistake), and every recipe keeps its version history. The account is free, no credit card.