What causes grains to change appearance or shape?
A change in temperature, season, water, or space/water quantity, type of dried fruit and type of sugar can all affect grain appearance and shape. Pressing or squishing them (or blending them) can also change their appearance for awhile. Because of the different minerals available in different waters, fruits and sugars, grains can change appearance or shape. Changing temperatures can also dramatically change the shape of kefir grains. Also, the amount of nutrients available will have an affect (more alkaline being desirable- which means heavier minerals) on the grains. Milk kefir is more systematic it seems, while water kefir takes more intuition and observation since they always seem to be in a state of flux.
