how long should yogurt ferment

Barb Hodgens loves to cook with alternative, healthy whole food ingredients, with a focus on gut health. Barb has overcome her own gut health issues through healthy eating. Share your ideas, comments and photos at the end of this post 🙂

Yogurt fermentation time and temperature impact the bacterial quality of homemade yogurt. At the right temperature, milk turns to yogurt in just a few hours. But yogurt is not a food to rush along or be impatient with. Its a living food, full of active, beneficial bacteria.

Higher heat will speed up the fermentation process but that’s not such a good thing if you are aiming for a probiotic rich yogurt. Too much heat will damage or kill off your starter culture. Conversely, if the temperature is too cool, the culture will become dormant and fermentation will not occur.

Homemade yogurt requires a stable, continuous temperature between 36 – 42 degrees Celsius. (96-107°F) A Luvele Yoghurt Maker will ensure your yogurt remains at the ideal fermentation temperature for perfect homemade yogurt goodness, every time, in every season!

Yogurt fermentation time and temperature impact the bacterial quality of homemade yogurt. At the right temperature, milk turns to yogurt in just a few hours. But yogurt is not a food to rush along or be impatient with. Its a living food, full of active, beneficial bacteria.

Higher heat will speed up the fermentation process but that’s not such a good thing if you are aiming for a probiotic rich yogurt. Too much heat will damage or kill off your starter culture. Conversely, if the temperature is too cool, the culture will become dormant and fermentation will not occur.

Homemade yogurt requires a stable, continuous temperature between 36 – 42 degrees Celsius. (96-107°F) A Luvele Yoghurt Maker will ensure your yogurt remains at the ideal fermentation temperature for perfect homemade yogurt goodness, every time, in every season!

Yogurt is the most popular fermented milk in the world and can be made with any type of milk by following simple steps of (1) heating the milk, (2) adding yogurt starter, also known as a “mother culture,” which is the source of bacteria, and (3) then allowing the milk to incubate for 6-8 hours.
how long should yogurt ferment

24-HOUR YOGURT FOR SCD & GAPS DIET

Some gut healing diets such as GAPS and specific carbohydrate diet and therapeutic probiotic yogurts recommend a long fermentation. The Luvele Yogurt Makers unique water-bath technology evenly distributes and regulates the temperature over a long period of time, making it the perfect environment for bacteria to happily proliferate.

The basis of the SCD diet is to remove all sugars and heal the gut by depriving bad bacteria of the food they love. Within milk there is a type of sugar called lactose. The bacteria that make up a yogurt starter culture consume and thrive on the lactose. An 8-hour fermentation, will produce a yogurt that still contains plenty of lactose, however after 24-hours there is minimal. SCD yogurt may be fermented for even up to 30 hours, however beyond that, you risk starving the bacteria and spoiling the yogurt. To learn more browse the SCD yogurt recipes below:

Dr. William Davis, author of Super Gut found that some probiotics, when fermented in dairy, provided impressive health benefits. His method ferments at a low temperature for 36-hours and requires the addition of prebiotic fibre – food for the bacteria. The long fermentation increases the bacterial strains exponentially. Lab studies show that the bacterial strains only start to increase at 24 hours. The outcome is technically a fermented dairy and a very delicious way to get more probiotics. Learn more about probiotic fermented dairy in the following posts:

Fermentation time will also effect the taste of homemade yogurt. A short fermentation will result in a milder tasting yogurt while yogurt that has been left to incubate for 24-hours will taste tart and full of flavour. Additionally, it is the combination of bacteria that determine the flavour. Some yogurt starter cultures specify mild or tart. Learn more about yogurt starter cultures here.

Yogurt fermentation time and temperature impact the bacterial quality of homemade yogurt. At the right temperature, milk turns to yogurt in just a few hours. But yogurt is not a food to rush along or be impatient with. Its a living food, full of active, beneficial bacteria.

Higher heat will speed up the fermentation process but that’s not such a good thing if you are aiming for a probiotic rich yogurt. Too much heat will damage or kill off your starter culture. Conversely, if the temperature is too cool, the culture will become dormant and fermentation will not occur.

Homemade yogurt requires a stable, continuous temperature between 36 – 42 degrees Celsius. (96-107°F) A Luvele Yoghurt Maker will ensure your yogurt remains at the ideal fermentation temperature for perfect homemade yogurt goodness, every time, in every season!

Homemade yogurt experiment – how long to ferment milk before it become yogurt

FAQ

How long can you let yogurt ferment?

Incubated at 115°F/46°C, yogurt will coagulate within about three hours, but if left too long it can easily curdle. I prefer to ferment it a bit more slowly at a slightly lower temperature, four to eight hours at a more forgiving 110°F/43°C.

How do you know if yogurt is fermented?

Smell: Yogurt should have a fresh, pleasant, fermented smell. It can smell sour, but should not be pungent (strong or sharp). If it smells rancid, foul, spoiled, strongly acidic, rotten, or off-putting, something other than yogurt bacteria has cultured and it should be thrown out. Taste: Yogurt should taste pleasant.

What happens if you incubate yogurt for 24 hours?

A short fermentation will result in a milder tasting yogurt while yogurt that has been left to incubate for 24-hours will taste tart and full of flavour. Additionally, it is the combination of bacteria that determine the flavour. Some yogurt starter cultures specify ‘mild’ or ‘tart’.

Should you stir yogurt while fermenting?

In traditional yogurt manufacturing, the yogurt is not agitated during fermentation. However, stirring could be beneficial, particularly for improving heat and mass transport across the fermentation tank.

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