FATTEN YOUR GRAINS UP:

• If this is your first time making kefir, you may need to make a few test batches up before you get something of quality you can drink. First of all – if you’ve bought them online or from a store, and only have a small quantity, you’ll have to feed them and let them grow to the point where you have a good half a cup’s worth – this is the quantity you’ll need to make a one litre batch of kefir. Secondly, as these guys are living microorganisms, they may have been starved a little in transit, so they’ll now need a little love before they get their probiotic mojo back.
• Sterilise a glass jar, pour a small amount of boiling water in the bottom (an inch or so), add a few tablespoons of sugar, top with 500ml cold, filtered water, and add the kefir grains. Cover the mouth of the jar with a paper towel fastened with a rubber band, and let to culture somewhere warm (not in direct sun) for 48 hours (note – the culture time for kefir is far quicker than with kombucha). At this point, you may have noticed the grains have doubled their weight – this is good – repeat the process again, doubling the amount of sugar AND water, and hopefully you’ll notice the water eventually loses its sweet taste and becomes a bit carbonated. The kefir grains apparently do well when fed something with a high mineral content, some suggest adding a few eggshells to the mix, but I prefer to add an organic date – it seems to do the trick nicely.
  

Tip - don’t let the kefir grains touch anything metal – they don’t like it! Use wooden utensils and plastic sieves.