House got a lot cooler over the last few days - so the batch before this one never fermented (enough). Ended up throwing it out (after saving some chia and coffee and cocoa powder crust skimmed off the top). I didn't wait long enough and jumped the gun. I should have left it longer until I saw the clear whey forming on the bottom.

But the last batch - which I left out around 48 hours, came out great! The one prior to this, my fermentation time was down to 9-10.5 hours - and those times were over / re: too long as the whey was too much and the kefir turned out watery.

^ This 48 hour batch didn't show the clear whey on the bottom, but there were small bubbles - so I took a chance, ran it through the strainer and immediately knew that I struck gold! No curds, nice - thick kefir that is firm and tasty ( tried my first cup this morning after a fast ). Best batch I've made to date.