I am VERY new to all of this, so I cannot offer an experienced opinion, but I can help troubleshoot, perhaps.

 

How long are you letting it sit?

 

The lady who introduced us to kefir used a spatula and a collander to very gently "unearth" the kefir when she showed us how it's done - they show up as a little more yellow, and slightly larger, than the rest of the milk bits. She said normally it's not that thick, but the batch she was showing us had not been taken out the previous day (Sabbath), so it was a two-day old batch.

 

Perhaps either doing the gentle excavating would help? Or, remove the grains more frequently (daily?) before the milk curdles so much?

 

HTH,

Dy