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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So you're my new fav. Person to ask questions to lol. Does a gallon of kombucha take longer to ferment than the 1st batch? I've checked my gallon 3x over 8 days and it's still rather sweet. Each time I check I have a new scoby on top so I'm assuming it's healthy? Sorry for all the questions. This is so new to me. It tastes like slightly bitter sweet apple juice rn. It is Jun. Any advice would be great.

— Gina

Probably, yes, and especially since it’s the second batch. Basically what happens when we package the starter (well, Sabrina, since I have no hand in operations), the kombucha (ditto jun) goes into a sort of stasis where no fermentation happens. It takes a little while for them to wake back up and hit their stride in their new environment (which they have to adjust to, in addition to having to wake up fully). If it’s still sweet tea, just leave it and taste every couple of days until it’s at the level of fermentation you want. This varies for everyone, where some prefer a fairly sweet kombucha, others fully fermented, and the rest with a preference for somewhere in between. It’s definitely healthy, though! 

Hi again Allie. I am making sourcream/high fat yogurt by fermenting cream with your greek heirloom culture. I am fine with that, but the kids think it is too sour. Can you please recommend another yogurt culture, with milder taste, but still thick enough.

— Lena

Lena has a preference for thermophils for this round, so I’ve offered our list of the mildest thermophils we carry: If you want them a bit more sour, just go back to the main site and click on the “what’s your flavor” widget and it’ll let you go through all of the yogurts by level of tartness.

Hey! I was wondering how essential temperature control is when activating a yoghurt starter. I failed twice and am trying to troubleshoot.

I used my usual method of wrapping my container in tea towells but both starters failed. Do I need to buy special yoghurt equipment for activating a dried starter?

— Kamila

I needed more info, and asked for it. So y’all know, if you are having problems with your activation, it’s easier for me to figure out what went wrong if you tell me everything you did as though you were teaching me how to make yogurt. Kamila told me the following:

Oh thanks for your response. Wasn't expecting such help! I think I've mostly worked out what I did wrong for both my yoghurt starters. Ill include some info in case it helps. I ordered from long way away, Australia.

Lebanese: Activated once then fridged it before attempting 2nd and 3rd activation.

Greek: left in the freezer for months, probably too long.

Both ended up splitting and tasting of nothing and a little spoiled.

The variables I tried to control:

I took care to check the temperature of the milk with an infrared gun after mixing for a better reading. I used measurement spoons for accurate quantities. I used your activation recipe: no more than 1 cup milk for 1 tablespoon starter. ((((The only variable I'm not sure about is how essential is it to hold the temperature after adding the starter.)))) I have been using tea towells, the same technique I’ve always used with store bought yoghurt. I'm willing to give it another go and have already purchased more. Hope it works! Thank you so much!

They require 3 batches for activation, so that’s probably what really went wrong. If the Greek was frozen for less than a year, should still have been viable. When they split, it’s because it’s over-fermented. With the tea towels, are you wrapping with a towel and putting it in something to maintain temperature longer, or just wrapping in towel and sticking it somewhere?

I followed the instructions as best I could and activated the greek one 3 times. I made the mistake of fridging the lebanese one after the first activation though. Yes, I just wrapped the container in 4 tea towels and put it into an oven (it doesnt have a light though). Should I buy a yoghurt making machine to hold temperatures steady? Thank you again for your time!

Okay, I understand what went wrong now. The oven option only works right if it’s a super tiny oven or if there’s a light for it. Otherwise, the volume of space in the oven is too great to help the towels insulate. You can buy a yogurt maker, but I wouldn’t. What I’d do is use a cooler instead of the oven, because you can pack it with towels/blankets/rugs/whatever and have an object you can also use for other things. I tend to dislike unitaskers, so yogurt makers are not something I ever recommend without pretty special circumstances being involved. 

You can fridge them after first activation, but you really do need to get them out the next day so there’s no more than 24 hours between each of the first 3 batches. So you know, I never do more than half a cup of activation batches because there’s a limit to how many mashed potatoes even I’m willing to eat on those weird or runny batches.