Fool-Proof Yogurt Activation: Mead Method!
Tara S., from Australia, let me in on a method she recently developed for fool-proof yogurt activation! I admit, I had my doubts, so I still waited until winter was over to check it out. Because I did wait until spring, I chose to do this with dahi and malai, two cultures I’d originally activated when it wasn’t winter and had had some trouble with. Well, Child Tester said I had some trouble with them, because she had a lot of reasons why she didn’t feel like Child Testing yogurts that week. As a result, those batches went straight to mashed potatoes (of course) and I tucked them in the freezer to try again later in hopes of a Child Rating that was offered during a time she wasn’t resistant to dairy.
We agreed I wouldn’t ask her to taste more than 2 different dairy cultures, now that we’re back on dairy, so some of our Child Ratings may change as I cycle her back through some of the ones she previously didn’t want to try. In situations where the rating changed, it shows an updated rating on top of the original rather than a new rating as though there’d never been one before.
Either way, Tara developed this method, and while it has exactly one large downside, this is how I’m going to be activating from now on. It’s far less stressful, despite the downside of … having to plan! Yeah, I’m saying the sole downside is that you have to plan some stuff and work a bit on a schedule. It’s really not a downside at all unless you’re resistant to set schedules like I am.
Tara uses a yogurt maker, which I don’t own and have zero experience with, so I used the Instant Pot that Sabrina sent me. That IP mostly makes a lot of beans, but it should do its real job, too!
Note: this is a cold start method, so you have to use UHT milk. Otherwise, this method will be awful for you because you’ll be heating and cooling milk 3 separate times for the same activation batch. We don’t know if it works as well without the first step because we haven’t tried it, but let us know in the comments what variations are working for you!
Here’s what you’ll do
Step 1:
Place half of the dried culture from the packet in a jar with 100mL of milk (this is around 3.4 ounces). Tara uses a 1 cup Weck jar, and I use a 2 cup Mason for this. For me, I hate doing dishes so it’s important to me to use a jar that has measurements I can at least roughly follow on the line. For those of you who think washing dishes is fun? Measuring cup time!
Leave this in the fridge for 12 hours. It doesn’t have to be exact, but this is the only step where it doesn’t need to be relatively close to the time I’m listing.
Note: the second half of the package belongs in your freezer, and is your very first backup culture saved for emergencies and disasters! We have a lot of disasters in Houston, and so does Tara in Australia, so it’s good to be prepared. I personally have been keeping New South Wales in my thoughts, because I know they’re still dealing with the aftermath of the floods no one noticed while the Suez Canal was out of commission. Poor Australia really cannot catch a break!
Step 2:
Take the jar(s) out of the fridge and stir them up, mash the yogurty-flakes in there, whatever. Do your bit. I chose to swirl because dishes and because lazy. Those are facts, but let’s pretend that I did it a little differently to test things. That sounds better, yeah?
Either way, add another 50mL (~1.7oz) or so of milk from the fridge and swirl or stir it in. Pop that bad boy in your yogurt maker at 40C (104F) and set it for 12 hours. In the Instant Pot, I did 12 hours at the low setting, which is around 90F (32C). I have a strong preference against fermenting thermophils at temps higher than 38C (100F), but you don’t have to pay attention to my preferences. If you have an IP and not a yogurt maker, this works brilliantly at the low and slow yogurt setting. If you have a yogurt maker, other temperature-customizable (not a word) device such as the Brod and Taylor proofer that Sabrina favors, you can float this anywhere in that range of 90-104F (32-40C) and it’ll be fine.
Again, this is 12 hours in the 90-104F (32-40C) range with a total of around 150mL (5.1oz) of milk. You can float these quantities a bit. You can also float the times a bit. Sometimes Tara and I are doing 10-11 hours instead of 12.
Step 3:
As soon as it’s done its 12 hours (really, immediately!), top it up with another 100mL of your UHT milk and stir it in. Do the same low-and-slow setting on whatever device you’re using for another 9-12 hours. You’ll want to start checking at 9, because we both have found that 12 will often produce a barely over-fermented yogurt.
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: you are topping it off with milk, not removing cultured milk from the jar before adding it. Think of this as a diner-style coffee top-up. This is all the same first batch!
Once it finishes its final cycle in whatever device you’re using, you will now have beautifully set yogurt you can pop in the fridge! At the higher temperature Tara used, there can be a tiny bit more over-fermentation than what I’m getting at 12 in the IP, so if that’s not something you’re into, you will want to remember drop it down to 9-11 hours instead of 12. My dahi was barely over-fermented (so tiny-bit over-fermented that CT and her ridiculously sensitive palate didn’t notice it, because I poured off that barest hint of whey that separated), and the malai was perfectly set.
From here on out, you culture as per normal! Tara and I really hope y’all get a chance to try this method, because it really is a better way to handle those activation batches when you’re fermenting with appliances! This is totally my go-to method, now.
Happy fermenting!
