Kefir Fermenter 0.8L/27oz with Fresh Kefir Grains

This is a huge disappointment. The silicon lid emits such a strong odor that permeates everything, including the fermenting milk. It would certainly put people off from ever trying kefir! The grains are located in the basket between two sponges, but the package never tells you that. They are so tiny that I only assume I've found them after digging through curds of milk with my fingers. It took three days to revive them and the milk has begun to thicken but never develops the kefir taste. Not that anyone would know with that silicon odor/taste overwhelming everything! Do yourself a favor and buy grains elsewhere and use your own jar!So it only sort of worked twice and then stopped working entirely. I did remove the stupid lid, but that shouldn't have changed anything. Finally I opened the basket to check on the grains and couldn't find them at all! Were they ever really there to begin with??So this product is a total failure. The silicon parts are disgusting, the straw is useless and impossible to clean out, and there may or may not be disappearing kefir grains included. I suppose the jar itself can be used with some new grains.UPDATE: I emailed the company about all these problems and they determined the grains must have been dead. They sent me replacement grains that were fresh and they have been producing kefir daily. In fact they sent so much that I had to divide them into multiple jars! I just make it the old fashion way with the grains in jars of milk. I don't use the basket, straw or lid.So nice honest company, but the fermenter kit is still an unnecessary complication to a fairly simple process.

I've enjoyed store bought kefir for years, recently I decided to try and make my own to save money. I looked around and found this fermenter (with kefir grains) from Microbiota. I've been making delicious kefir ever since... It arrived quickly, well packed, and ready to use! I love it! I've since purchased glass milk bottles to keep flavored kefir milk in.

Just as described lid does have a bit of chemical smell. But after 3 days it has started churning out plenty of kefir, one of the most interesting mini hobbies i've got going right now. Now I have to try the water kefir.

So far I will be dumping my second batch of very expensive goats milk, tastes like plastic, yuck.