Yogurt fermentation time & temperature

THE PERFECT ENVIRONMENT FOR GOOD BACTERIA.

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. It's 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! 

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:

Step by step yogurt recipe for SCD & GAPS
24-hour goat milk yogurt recipe for SCD & GAPS

36-HOUR SUPERFOOD FERMENTATIONS 

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: 

L reuteri superfood yogurt 
How to make yogurt with Lactobacillus Gasseri 

TIME AND TASTE

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.

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