Too sweet kefir

[Guy.C.]

I keep reading kefir should have a tartness but mine is sweet even after a week at room temp.I use 1/4 cup organic sugar and 1 tsp molasses per batch.Each batch has been a quart.I don't mind it sweet and the grains are growing like crazy should I be worried or just keep on keeping on?
Guy

[Lara]

Is this milk or water kefir?

If it is milk, then I think the sweetness is due to the added sugar. Usually the kefir is tart due to the sugars in the milk being used up, and lactic acid being produced, but since you're adding more sugar to the mixture, it might be masking the tartness of the brew.

I'm not extremely knowledgable about water kefir, but it sounds normal to me that the resultant brew is sweet rather than tart. You might just have a high kefir to liquid ratio, which is alright, but it's usually better to clean and change the milk/water of the brew every day or so, rather than make large batches. After long periods of being exposed to acidic environments the grains of the kefir tend to build up walls and go yellow, meaning they're slowly dying off, so watch out for this!

But it's usually a very good sign if the grains are growing like crazy.

[Polo]

I agree with the above;). I believe that milk-kefir becomes sour but water-kefir doesn't.

The waterkefir-grains converts 20 % of the sugar to fructose, and followingly the end-result is a bit sweet as it contains 1-2 % of fructose. Not nearly as sweet as the plain sugar water prior to the fermentation though.

In the beginning it can be a bit difficult to figure out weather or not the batch has fermented successfully. It is a good idea to taste it all a long the process to get familiar with the changes. Also, it is a good sign if bubbles can be detected.

It dose sound like it is working properly if the grains are growing, and to me it doesn't sound like you have anything to worry about.