If you’re not familiar with Masontops, you should check them out.  The company makes — as the name might suggest — a variety of tops and other accessories for mason jars.  These range from rust-proof plastic lids and rings to gorgeous bamboo lids to lids with “specialty” functions, like sprouting lids…and the set of tops you see here as part of the complete water kefir brew starter kit.

What is Water Kefir?

Before I dive into telling you all about the kit, I should probably give you a quick explanation of water kefir, in case that’s new to you.  Kefir and water kefir are both fermented beverages.  They’re given similar names because the starters (called “grains,” although they’re grains in the same sense in which grains of sand are grains, not in the sense in which wheat and rice are grains) resemble each other.  But “regular” kefir is a milk-based ferment (sometimes actually called “milk kefir,” for clarity), while “water kefir” is made from some variation of sugar water .

The Masontops Water Kefir Kit

This kit, as you can probably imagine, is designed to make the process of fermenting water kefir easier.  It contains all the ingredients you need to get started (except water), and it includes the specially-designed lid set created by Masontops.

Now, you can make water kefir — or any ferment, really — without any special equipment.  But if you’re going to be making a particular type of ferment regularly, it can be really helpful to have a few things tailored specifically to that purpose.  It’s just easier to weigh down kraut with weights made for that purpose than to hack it together with random items from your kitchen, to strain sprouts with lids made especially for straining, etc.  And it’s simpler to make kefir or other ferments that require “loose” covering when you have a lid that lets air flow without letting bugs in.  (Trust me; I’ve tried the hack-it method, and this is much easier.)

The Lid

The lid is the really special part of this kit (and you can buy it on its own if you prefer).  It comes in two parts — there’s a strainer lid, and then there’s a “cap” that goes over that.  (And there’s a gasket to make sure you get a good tight seal on your jar.)

The strainer portion (“brew lid”) screws down onto a standard wide mouth canning jar, just like you’d  screw on any other lid.  (You provide the jar.)

The cap then “locks” onto the lid.  It has a “closed” position and an “open” position, so you can either seal it airtight, or allow it to “vent” (allow air to flow).  I found it just slightly awkward to close the lid because it’s a little counter-intuitive — it’s “lefty tighty,” if you know what I mean.  I’m pretty sure this is intentional, so you don’t accidentally unscrew the main lid by putting this on; it just takes a little getting used to.

To adjust it one way or the other, you squeeze the cap a little to “pop” it out of the notches, and then twist.

When the cap is off, it also contains a handy 1/4-cup measuring cup, so you can measure your ingredients without having to get extra “stuff” out.

The Water Kefir-Making Part of the Kit

The kit also contains the ingredients you need to get started with your first batch of water kefir.  It contains dehydrated water kefir grains (in the little foil packet) and rapadura sugar.  Water kefir can be made with any type of sugar, but it requires minerals to stay healthy.  Unrefined sugars like rapadura already contain minerals, so that keeps things simple.  (If you’re using something like white sugar, you usually need to “feed” it a little with raisins or something to supply the missing minerals.)

This is what the dehydrated grains look like.  The instructions supplied by Masontops via an internet link guide  you through rehydrating the grains and mixing them with the supplied sugar dissolved in water.

As you can see, the unrefined sugar makes a pretty dark sugar water.  This first go-through will help the dormant grains “wake up,” and then you can use them to ferment drinkable water kefir.

I accidentally let mine go too long and it molded, so unfortunately I don’t have any pretty pictures for you of the finished kefir because I have to start over.   Even the best supplies don’t fix user error!

Masontops Bean Screen Plastic Sprouting Lids for Wide Mouth Mason Jars – 2 PackMasontops Pickle Pebble Glass Infinity Weights for Fermenting – Wide Mouth Mason JarMasontops Kefir Caps – Wide Mouth Mason Jar Lids – Live Culture Grains Strainer – 2 PackMasontops Tough Band – Plastic Wide Mouth Mason Jar Screw BandsMasontops Trap Caps – Reusable Indoor/Outdoor Fruit Fly Trap Catching Lids – 4 PackChalk Tops – Reusable Chalkboard Lids for Mason Jars – 8 Pack – Wide Mouth

Gift Giving

Almost all of Masontops’ products make excellent stocking stuffers.  The Pickle Pusher kit is probably a bit overly large for that, but the kits and, especially, all the various lids, rings, etc. are great sizes for stockings.  They’re a nice change from the “expected” stocking stuffers, and useful.

If your recipient is health-oriented, the lids (and weights) dedicated to fermentation and sprouting — like the water kefir brew lid & cap here —  would likely be appreciated.  But even if that isn’t the case, there are less specialized storage options like bamboo lids, chalkboard lid inserts, rust-proof rings, etc.  (And coffee storage lids.  You don’t have to be health-conscious to drink coffee. 😉 )