Hello Ali,
Sure thing, placing kefir grains in the fridge with some milk may be regarded
as a back up of sorts. As long as the milk is changed periodically, then the
grains should be fine for some months.
Kefir grains may be dehydrated and retain viability for at least one year.
After this time, certain grains from the same batch loose their growth
factor. The ratio of non propagable grains will increase as the storage time
increases.
This may have a positive effect. A batch of "stronger grains" [if I may use
this term] may result. In other words, specific grains in any particular
batch, which are able to withstand the adverse conditions over other grains
from the same batch, should carry their positive traits in ongoing batches.
Do you think that this may be a fair assumption to make?
BTW if a printed date of dehydration is included with each dehydrated batch,
then one may check-up on any forgotten backup ay once a year. If the use-by
date has expired, then it's a simple matter of drying more grains to replace
the previous batch.
I perform this task every 6 months or so.
It's your pitch to choose so if you so desire...of course.
Cheers dears,
Dom
kefir_mama wrote:
> Hmm. I hope you consider extra batches sitting in the fridge as back-
> up. =D I make sure to have a few batches going, and if ever I try
> something weird, I either eat the grains I used to do it, or I keep
> them separated from the regular animal milk kefir.
>
> I've never thought I could successfully dehydrate grains or freeze
> them. Knowing myself, I would let them sit dormant for too long a
> period and they would lose their vitality. So, hopefully in the
> fridge is good enough.
>
> >snippers<
> A good idea (a must really) to initially culture enough kefir grains
> in milk and to then store some as a backup (dehydrate a portion).
> This way if something ever goes wrong due to experimentation, one can
> resort to the backup source.
> >
> > I can not stipulate enough about the importance of creating a
> backup of kefir grains. This case, like the hundreds of similar cases
> I've learned about over the years, brings the importance of backing
> up right back to home-base.
>
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