On hotter days or to delay the fermentation process you can store the kefir in the refrigerator, but if you want to go more days without using the kefir for fermentation, the grains should be stored in a container with a lid and frozen.
Little by little, the kefir grows with the fermentations and creates a kind of rubber or thicker liquid, being necessary to wash the grains in water at least once a week.
It is possible to keep part of the grains in the freezer to always have a reserve and what is left over can be donated so that other people can produce their kefir at home, remembering that the grains of milk kefir must be separated from the grains of water kefir .
Is it possible to use milk kefir to prepare water kefir?
If possible, however, the process is not so easy and may not be successful, so the ideal is not to use all the grains of milk kefir but only a part of them.
First of all, it is necessary that the milk kefir is active, and must be rehydrated before converting it into water kefir.
Next, you need to follow the steps mentioned below:
Dissolve ¼ cup of raw sugar in 1 liter of water and add ⅛ teaspoon of unrefined sea salt
Add the active milk kefir grains to the water and sugar solution, leaving them to ferment for 5 days at room temperature.
Remove the kefir grains, prepare sugar water again and place them in this new solution, leaving them to ferment at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours less than the previous batch
The previous step must be repeated and the preparation time decreases by 12 to 24 hours between each batch, until the culture period is 48 hours or less.
At this point, the grains have become water kefir grains, and must continue to grow for 24 to 48 hours per batch.