u/BrewingHeavyWeather

I got some dehydrated Yemoos water kefir grains. After about a week and a half, they finally plumped all up, and got all bubbly. With any sugar, it will start bubbling within 2-3 hours. As long as I use some molasses or dark brown sugar, the primary ferment will get all tangy, lightly yeasty, and if left for a couple days, kind of vinegary (3+ days risks nasty stuff coming in, with a cloth lid, and undoing that took about a whole week, ugh!). If closed with a tight lid, it will get a little fizzy.

However, I can't seem to get any of that with secondary ferments. I've tried smashed up ginger, smashed up pineapple, smashed up pears, ginger juice, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, and a carrot ginger turmeric lemon juice (all fresh, up to this point), along with the frozen paper tubes of orange and pineapple juice concentrates. If I add more sugar, I'll get some cloudiness, and white stuff in the bottom of the jar or bottle. The sweetness is all gone by two days, even I use a lot of sugar, like 1/4 cup to a quart. But, it's like it outcompetes anything bad, and preserves it, but then no more. Aside from the diluted flavors imparted by the primary ferment liquid, nothing else seems to change, and even in bail-top jars and bottles, no fizziness, or additional tanginess or vinegary stuff happens.

What do?

I've got some starter cultures, and am waiting on grains, for water and milk kefir. I'm not new to fermenting in general, but am to kefir. I'd prefer not to keep my Instant Pot occupied too much, over time, too.

If room temps go above recommended temps (seems to be either ~70F or ~80F), which is certain to start happening in just a few weeks, is that going to do anything more than make it ferment faster? If so, like becoming yeast-dominant, once it's gone a many cycles, is there any harm, or will it just lower the speed, in storing it at a nominal 55F (beer fridge for drinks and ferments, about 50-65F actual) or 50F (haven't tracked actual temps in that one), to try to keep it more LAB-dominant?

Among the things I'd like to try are a modern kefir-based oat kissel drink, juice kefirs, and to see if I can make fermented pea or bean kissels (sour/savory pudding type) without a high natto-ization risk (I've had so-so results with store-bought yogurt, and water kimchi brine, but they impart a lot of their own flavors). Assuming I have some success, would the water kefir grains used differently than with sugar water need to be kept split up, or can they all be mixed back together alright?