• Add one cup of organic, unrefined sugar to a half-gallon jar. In a saucepan, bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Slowly add the hot water to the jar of sugar and stir until dissolved.
• Add the remaining cold water, stir well, and ensure the solution is cool or room temperature, but not hot. Add 1/4 cup of kefir grains to the half-gallon jar.
• First fermentation. Place a loose lid on top, or cover with a towel or coffee filter secured with a rubber band so the kefir can breathe. Allow to ferment for 24 to 48 hours at room temperature.
• After the first fermentation, use a small, fine-mesh strainer to strain the kefir grains from the fermented liquid. Place the kefir grains in a new batch of sugar water to start the next batch of kefir, or refrigerate them in sugar water to pause the process (instructions above, included in Water Kefir Grains Care). After this first fermentation, you have created plain water kefir. Store in the refrigerator with an airtight lid.

Second Fermentation (Optional)

• Second fermentation. Acquire some flip-top bottles with a 14 to 16-ounce capacity. Your bottles do not have to be flip-top, but should have secure, tight-fitting lids.
• Add 1/4 cup of fruit juice or mashed/chopped fresh or dried fruit to each bottle.
• Distribute the strained water kefir evenly into each bottle using a metal or plastic funnel. Close the flip-top lids and leave them at room temperature out of direct sunlight for 24-48 hours.
• Open the bottles slowly to listen for hissing or a "pop" which indicates building pressure. Water kefir can sometimes be quite explosive. If there is hardly a “pop” sound at all when opening the lid, your soda probably isn’t fermented enough. When this happens to me, I simply close the cap and set it back out on the counter for another day. I like mine to be really bubbly!