Ask Allie!
Ask Allie is our advice column, where you can ask all your food-related questions to get digestible answers! No question is off limits!
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After our initial activation cycle we set aside a small amount of our Mesophilic Yogurt Culture to be use as a starter and it has been in the fridge for 3 weeks. Did we kill it? How can we go about making another batch with refrigerated 3 week old starter?
— Tim
If you only made one batch, it likely wasn’t done activating. Yogurts often need about 3 batches to hit their stride and normalize. So, although I really doubt it’s dead, I am sure it’s mad at you. Pretend that instead of receiving the dried culture, you received fresh, and start the activation process again for 3 full batches. I would not do more than half a cup of milk, which you can use for 1 tablespoon of for the first batch but drop it down to ½ tablespoon for the second and third, as using too much culture, ironically, can weaken or kill the culture over time. Once that third batch is done, freeze some of it (at least 2 tablespoons so you have more than one backup). I like breast milk bags for this, but ice cube trays work fine (transfer to a freezer bag or container once they’re frozen).
After that, you ideally will reculture or freeze your yogurt weekly. They really CAN go 3 weeks without being touched (I do this all the time), but they don’t like it and it is possible to kill your culture, especially if you did this before it was fully activated (it’s basically the equivalent of not feeding a baby for a few days, and it’s gonna depend on the baby if it can survive that). If it isn’t making yogurt for you by the third small batch, then yes it died.
I’m keeping my fingers hard crossed, because my instinct is that it can be saved (because I’ve saved far bigger problems than this one), but just know it really might not make it. Please let me know how this goes for you, Tim.
So--I have the sourdough starter--it's been about 3 weeks since i activated it--it does bubble, but sort of pathetically. Smells very sour. 30 gm-30 gm 30 gm by weight, stir, spring water 82 degrees. I've seen other peoples' starters that look way healthier. What to do?
— Allan
Okay, so the first thing I would do is use room temp water for your starter. This is a bit warmer than they really like. But beyond that, start baking with it. There’s this idea floating around that starters have to do x things before they’re ready, but in reality that’s not true. I generally bake with my starters before they’re even fully activated, and while those loaves don’t rise quite as well as when fully activated, they definitely still rise. If it’s helpful/relaxing to keep this in mind, the rules we use didn’t exist until pretty recently (last 20-30 years at most as “hard and fast rules”), but some starters don’t feel like being really bubbly, others don’t feel like floating, and in general they all have their own unique little personalities.
Let me know how the loaf is, please!
Is Amasi culture a grain culture like kefir grains? And, you mentioned different kefir grains can give a different taste, so how are the grains you offer? Are they sour?
— Lena
No, it’s a mesophilic yogurt, so it comes the in the same flakes or powdered form as our other yogurts.
I haven’t tried our new combined grains yet, but generally speaking a milk kefir will not be particularly sour IF you strain it after you see the first whey bubble or two. It needs to be more fully fermented for most strains of kefir to really get that crazy tart flavor. I actually haven’t had time to deal with yogurt making lately, so I have been feeding Child Tester LOTS of kefir. She’s pretty into it, but she is NOT into really sour kefir. In fact, I badly over-fermented my last (really big) batch, so it all went to baking, mashed turnips, mashed potatoes and whatnot. Kefir she will drink plain if the grains are strained right after it’s gelled, but she likes it the best in fruit smoothies.
