texture achieved!

I did a second round of fermenting yogurt a few days ago- It's been a busy week, so I'm just getting a moment to check in about how it went. I started the process on Monday evening after work. I decided to use more liquid (raw cow's milk) because my crock pot has a wider mouth than the slow-cookers I've seen other people use. With a larger volume, I think it allows the milk to come up to the proper temperature slower, which seems to be key from what I've read. I also had a more precise thermometer this time- I have borrowed a friend's candy/caramel making thermometer.  In addition, I used a yogurt starter from Brown Cow whole milk yogurt brand, and transferred the starter when the yogurt was still thick (instead of older, more watery and in the fridge for a week or so).  I also let the yogurt come up to room temperature, allowing it to sit out while I did the first round of heating.

Here are some photos from this round of fermenting!

This is twice the volume (I used a half gallon of raw milk) from last attempt.

This is showing the type of thermometer used; you can also just about see the yogurt, which I brought out to let warm up to room temperature- thus activating the live cultures a bit. Much more accurate.  

The second picture here is when I wrapped up the crock pot and its contents to leave it over night, for approximately 8 hours. This allows the active cultures to do their thing! Go, microbial magic, go (aka lactic fermentation!!)!

After the first, warm-blanket-over-night sit, I put the yogurt in its vessel, directly into the fridge. Because I had a busy week, I ended up leaving the yogurt in the refrigerator for longer than my first attempt at fermentation. I left it for 48hr, instead of 8hrs! This is a LARGE variation, but it seemed to not harm anything. The resulting yogurt from this round of fermentation was both spot on, in terms of texture AND taste! I attribute these achievements to both the more accurate thermometer as well as to the thickness of the original starter. 

I will probably consume all this yummy yogurt prior to our class, but I will indeed make a new one to share between now and then!

Microbes do work magic- especially when they are given the correct circumstances to flourish. Their work seems to be pretty consistent; it's more the human error that seems to account for the difference.