Fool-Proof Yogurt Activation: Mead Method 2.0
Tara
Tara S., from Australia, let me in on a method she developed for fool-proof thermophilic yogurt activation! I admit, I had my doubts, so I still waited until last winter was over to check it out. Because I did wait until last spring to try it out, 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.
Either way, Tara developed this method, and while it has exactly one large downside, this is how I’ve been activating from then 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!
Autumn
Autumn had some trouble with the method below, and so did others. Near as I can tell, this came down to really poor writing on my part. The method itself is still spectacular, in my view. As I was undergoing a period of intense chaos and unfun, Autumn kindly went through the post and did some edits. She also rightly wanted all of my various (and important) notes to go down to the bottom. So that’s happening today!
If y’all didn’t know, I really do appreciate it when y’all tell me something is less usable than it should be due to however I wrote the given article. Autumn is far from the only person who’s done this, though to date she’s the only one to toss me a bone and give me the recommended edits rather than a list of the portions of an article that were difficult to understand. So y’all are welcome to let me know when something is tough to use for you (please tell me why), and you’re also welcome to send me recommended edits!
Streamlined Instructions
Step 1:
Place half of the dried culture from the packet in a jar with 100mL of milk (this is around 3.4 ounces, or ½ c in US measurements).
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.
Step 2:
Take the jar(s) out of the fridge and stir them up, mash the yogurty-flakes in there, whatever. I chose to swirl because dishes and because lazy.
Either way, add 50mL (~1.7oz or ¼ c) of milk from the fridge and swirl or stir it in. Anything between ¼ c to ½ c is fine, the yogurt will be happy and ferment just fine. Pop 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).
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.
And you’re done!
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! We 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!
Various Notes You May Benefit from Reading
1: the second half of the package belongs in your freezer, and is your very first backup culture saved for emergencies and disasters!
2: 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!
3: 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.
4: 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!
