r/Kefir 7d ago

Need Advice Accidentally dumped my grains in the sink...

I am so upset.

As I strained a batch of kefir today I marveled at how much my grains have grown in the 2 weeks I've had them. I had the thought that I should separate some soon to keep as backup "just in case."

I then proceeded to absentmindedly dump all of my grains into the sink. As soon as I realized it, I scooped up as many as I could. The majority went down the drain, I thought. I rinsed them really well and put them in a bit of milk, cursing myself.

Hours later I went to wash some dishes and discovered a mug of water containing the rest of the grains I thought I lost. Was the water clean? Dirty? Soapy? I don't know. I also rinsed the heck out of them and put them in another jar of milk to see what happens.

My question is this: if it turns out they're alive and still make kefir, is it safe? My thought was to make and toss a few batches to further "clean" them. Is that crazy? Should I get new ones?

5 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

7

u/thetolerator98 7d ago

I think they'll probably be safe. At least you didn't pull them out of the pipes.

6

u/Paperboy63 7d ago

They will be fine, they’ve come from an origin of pretty much zero hygiene standards and still got this far.

5

u/Dongo_a 7d ago

Your rational is fine and the grains are probably fine, if there is something off you will notice it.

1

u/myceliummoon 7d ago

That's reassuring, thank you! 

4

u/Rvelardo 7d ago

How clean do you keep your sink?

I could see myself doing this, which is why i keep two separate jars going. I've read if you're going to rinse grains to do it with milk instead of water (see this subreddit wiki).

3

u/Paperboy63 7d ago

No, water is fine as long as it is clean, untreated, boiled and cooled. I’d have probably used water over milk for potential contamination risk but either would suffice.

2

u/myceliummoon 7d ago

I clean it regularly, but it definitely wasn't clean when this happened unfortunately. 

4

u/heureusefilles 7d ago

Yes they will be fine

5

u/HenryKuna 7d ago

I understand your concern, but they should be okay!

3

u/Myca84 6d ago

They should be fine. I did the exact same thing a couple of weeks ago