Butter fingers!

I was talking to my hubs and I had noted that the milk kefir did better with the Ronnybrook creamline milk that was only pasteurized, than with the regular store bought milk that was homogenized and pasteurized, so he brought me a present.  My darling husband came home with a gallon of local Jersey cow RAW milk.  Unfortunately, I also had just made my kefir, so I had to wait 48 hours (more on THAT knowledge later!) before I could mess with it.

I went to make my kefir up today, pouring all the cream off since it makes it a little harder for the kefir to process.  I was staring at my counter and thought "honestly, what can I do with that cream?  I don't have a churn or anything and I don't put milk in my tea most of the time, never mind cream."  A quick search yielded an answer:  Butta baby!  Shake shake shake.  Shake shake shake, shake your butter!  For at least 15 minutes. I used a smaller bottle so I didn't kill my arms but that meant I was at it for over an hour.  My result?
2ish quarts of skimmed off milk, 2 ish quarts of buttermilk (husband makes some freaking KILLER buttermilk pancakes.) and a container of butter.  This might be repeated weekly, or even biweekly if it makes superior kefir.

Now, the TIME your kefir ferments for apparently has a huge impact on your gut happiness.  If you ferment for only 24 hours, it has a milk laxative effect.  48 and it balances, and 72 and it will help bind you up.  Keep this in mind when you ferment!