Fermentation Support Forum

Ok. So I've got my kefir grains 2 weeks ago now and I've been feeding them with organic full fat milk. It took them a while to get going but I finally managed to ferment some decent-ish kefir.
So I moved on to Coconut Milk which is how I really want to drink my kefir.
I've tried it twice now and both times the result was just the milk separating into white and transparent liquid. No fermentation whatsoever. I tried fermenting 24 hours and even 48hrs but both experiments resulted in a liquid very sour non-kefir-tasting like liquid that went down the drain.
Any ideas??? I used coconut milk from a carton. I saw some youtube videos where they used carton milk (though not the same brand as they were from other countries).
I can try doing it with tin milk but I am worried that will be a really fattening option for every day drinking.
Not sure what is going wrong!

Also, how often do I need to go back to cow's milk fermenting?

thanks for your help!

I haven't tried coconut milk yet, but I hear you have to go back to dairy pretty quickly, like after a few times.

It clearly fermented, that is why it separated. But coconut milk is quite different from cow's milk. It is particle suspension in water and is very very sensitive to the ph change which is why it goes from almost normal coconut milk to separated fermented coconut paste and water. It won't get thick like milk kefir. It will thicken a bit but you have to very careful about when. I found it works easier in the fridge as the chagne is slower.

After a while I gave up on fermenting coconut milk, and now just ferment ground/powder coconut and a bit of water so it already is much thicker.