Homemade yoghurt

[just4me]

I make my own yoghurt using yoghurt I've frozen in ice cube trays from my previous batch. I simply thaw a cube of yoghurt and stir it into full cream milk brought up to temperature and then cooled. I pour it into little jars and sit them to culture in an insulated bag with a couple of heated wheat bags for about 10 hours and voila, beautiful yoghurt...no sweetners, no added weird stuff or thickeners. Now, a thought came to me today and I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on it......
I usually get a cube of frozen yoghurt out to thaw in a sterile jar the night before I plan to make a batch but I forgot this time and so this morning I got it out of the freezer while I was preparing my milk and jars. It seemed to thaw pretty blooming quickly and was ready to use an hour later when my milk was ready to use so.....knowing that I am dealing with live bacteria here, wouldn't I get more live bacteria in my thawed yoghurt cube if I use it straight away and therefore get a more succesful, yummy yoghurt? Is it logical to presume that the longer the thawed stuff is sitting in the fridge the more degraded it will become before I use it? Any microbiologists or fellow yoghurt makers out there to enlighten me?
Will be interesting to see how this batch turns out.....

[Bubby]

Re: Homemade yoghurt

I used to make our yogurt and it was wonderful. I doubt you would lose any of the live cultures thawing it in the fridge overnight.
I used to make frozen yogurt pops by adding fresh fruit and pouring the mixture into popsicle forms. Jeff won't eat yogurt so I don't bother making it from scratch anymore.

[mario1360]

Re: Homemade yoghurt

I have been making mine for ages, I use an electric maker, so simple and purely delicious. I just keep about 1/3 of cup of my yogurt to start a new batch. You know since yogurt is basically bacteria it can be kept for months in the fridge before it will actually go real bad so no need to freeze it if you make it on a regular base. I use 3.25% milk.

What is '' full cream milk'' please?
Thanks.

[just4me]

Re: Homemade yoghurt

Hi mario1360...full cream milk over here is just full fat milk.....not fat reduced etc. I have made yoghurt using fat reduced milk but find it is a thinner consistency. LOL, I had an electric maker but I lent it to a friend and in the meantime starting using the heat bag method.....sort of never got back to the electric maker.
Hmmmm, my homemade yoghurt wouldn't keep in the fridge for longer than a week or two at most. After that time the bacteria does start to degrade and the yoghurt loses consistency and flavour...ick! That's why I was intrigued with the idea of using my thawed starter as soon as possible. I'm very impressed that you can keep yours for months...wow, that's cool!