Hi Bruce,
You could try looking for a strainer with a good sized meshing. A meshing
size of Approx. 1/8" (2 mm) works very well for me.
I can strain 2 liters (.5 gallon) of kefir within seconds (yes in seconds...
voosh!... straight through it goes). Any small curds left in this strainer
are simply forced through by gently tapping the strainers on to the mouth of
the catching container (I use a large bowl to catch the kefir in).
I am curently using the strainer in this picture (the large white
colander-type to the far top right):
http://www.chariot.net.au/~dna/strainers.jpg
Here is a close up of the actual meshing of this strainer:
http://www.chariot.net.au/~dna/kef/mesh-size.jpg
This is a metal colander-shaped strainer, which is enameled (plastic
coated).
The first picture with all the strainers, does not do any real justice to
the actual appearance of most of these strainers i.e. the actual meshing is
not shown properly due to the moiré effect from scanning the original photo
(hence the close up shot in the latter picture).
The other white strainer just bellow the large colander-like strainer, has
a meshing size of 1 mm. This is the smallest sized meshing recommended for
straining a kefir. I have a little problem straining small amounts of kefir
with this. To rememdy this, I run a spoon under the strainer in a back and
forth motion, which speeds up the process during straining. I also find that
tapping the strainer as mentioned above greatly helps. I can strain 500 ml
of kefir within 15 seconds with this smaller strainer, by doing the above.
Otherwise it would take minutes if left just up to gravity.
Be well
Dominic
----- Original Message -----
From: <mexopals@...>
To: <Kefir_making@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 6:25 AM
Subject: [Kefir_making] Problem separting the culture from the grains
> Hi - Bruce here from Portugal again - have had my first glass of
> great Kefir thanks to Maria Fremlin in England´s help ! I am having a
> problem separting the grains from the culture after 24 hours as I
> have a rather thick yoghurt like curd which does not go through a
> strainer easily - so I have had to do this by hand which is really
> slow and some of the grains go missing ! Any ideas on this and how to
> improve this . ( I am using a pretty large non-metal sieve and it
> still does not get through).
>
> Regards
>
> Bruce
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