Author Topic: What yogurt culture to use? And culture storage.  (Read 2567 times)

Mac99

  • Guest
What yogurt culture to use? And culture storage.
« on: October 01, 2013, 02:43:11 PM »
Hello.

CHR Hansen cultures are available in my city. But I would like to know which one to buy as they have so many types.

Mainly I'm looking for a Sour/Tart, Solid (curd-like) and Zero Viscosity yogurt.

Can I use the result yogurt as a starter for another batch ( how many times can I do this). I'v heared that this could mutate the bacteria, is that true?

One more thing;
The culture come is sachets that produces 250 liters of milk, which is way too much. Can i split the culture into like 20 portions and keep it in the freezer?

High Altitude

  • Guest
Re: What yogurt culture to use? And culture storage.
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2013, 02:59:07 PM »
You need to check out the culture descriptions to find one that suits your tartness and viscosity requirements. There are so many different ones. 

I have one culture that is tart that I cut (or extended) with dried milk powder as soon as I got it, and put it in the freezer. For that culture, I use 1/8 tsp per 1-2 quarts milk. And, I have another (Y5) that is very mild (almost sweet even) and very thick that comes in little packets.  I use 1/8 tsp of that as well (which is 1/2 a packet).  I add 1/2 cup dried milk powder to every quart of milk before warming to ensure a thicker, protein-packed yogurt.

You can definitely use your finished yogurt to culture another fresh batch, but each successive batch will be slightly thinner (at least that is what happened to mine).  Because I like really thick yogurt, I prefer to inoculate with fresh culture for each make.  Especially when you extend the culture, you can make TONS of yogurt for literally pennies.

After 3-4 batches using finished yogurt culture, you could expect to get flavor variations (mutations).  But hey, try it 1-2 times and see how it works for you.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Mac99

  • Guest
Re: What yogurt culture to use? And culture storage.
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2013, 10:47:33 PM »
@High Altitude; Thanks for sharing your method of storing the culture.

How many grams would be equal to 1/8 tsp of culture?

I'm thinking of using a glass vial with some moisture absorbing sachets in it stored in the freezer.

The thing with the culture description they make is that I don't get what they mean by some terms they use (English is not my mother tongue).

For instance; "High Body" what they mean by that? "Strong flavor" is it the acidity or the overall flavor? And so on.

What I'm looking for, texture-wise, is something like cheese curds texture that produces whey when take a spoon of it or so and holds its shape.  I don't at all like the texture to be glue-like or soggy.

Flavor-wise; it has to be a bit tart/acidic.

That's all.

Thanks again.

High Altitude

  • Guest
Re: What yogurt culture to use? And culture storage.
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2013, 06:35:10 PM »
High body yogurt would be very thick and definitely hold it's shape when you take the spoon out.  Sounds like that is what you are looking for.

Strong flavor, I suspect, has at least something to do with the tartness level. I would guess that different strains of yogurt culture offer different flavor profiles, aside from tartness, but I haven't tried enough varieties to really know. Either way, it does not sound like you would be looking for "mild" yogurts.

1/8 teaspoon = 1 gram superfine sugar on my kitchen scale (didn't want to measure out the culture powders), BUT that scale is not so precise and only measures whole grams. The first time I weighed the sugar, it registered 0. Try searching online for better information.


Offline Gürkan Yeniçeri

  • The one who masters temperature and humidity can make any cheese.
  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Canberra / Australia
  • Posts: 703
  • Cheeses: 36
  • It's not a hobby, it's an addiction, a good one.
    • Artizan Peynirci
Re: What yogurt culture to use? And culture storage.
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2013, 04:33:39 AM »
Mac99, do you have access to Kefir? If you can get Kefir, then you can use it as a yogurt culture and will give you the tartness you are after. This starter will be much more probiotic and healthy. See here. Also I add 100g milk powder per litre of milk to get a stronger lactic curd and the yogurt becomes like stone.  ;D