Here is a quick guide to help you identify the amount of starter to use for different volumes of milk.

1 gram	makes	1 Liter/quart or 32 oz
1.5 grams	make	2 Liters/quarts or 64 oz
2 grams	make	4 Liters/quarts or 1 gallon
4 grams	make	8 Liters/quarts or 2 gallons
6 grams	make	16 Liters/quarts or 4 gallons
8 grams	make	30 Liters/quarts or 8 gallons
10 grams	make	50 Liters/quarts or 14 gallons
13 grams	make	60 Liters/quarts or 16 gallons
20 grams	make	100 Liters/quarts or 26 gallons
25 grams	make	150 Liters/quarts or 40 gallons

Bacillus Bulgaricus starters are very powerful so your yogurt will easily catch even if use less than the recommended quantity.

You can either weigh the starter on a scale or use a teaspoon to measure it. Here’s a quick visual of what teaspoon measurements are.

The minimum recommended quantity of starter to use is 1 gram or about 1/4 of a teaspoon. Try avoiding using less to ensure there is enough bacteria strains to carry on fermentation.

Using Yogurt as a Starter

Since all our starters are heirloom, you can use your ready-made yogurt to make new yogurt — for as long as you’d like!

When making yogurt from your previous batch, use a cup (200ml) of yogurt for every 3-4 liters of new milk. Adjust those measures for the volume you are making.

The process is pretty much the same as when using the starter but you should shave 1.5 – 2 hrs off the incubation time since the bacteria in the yogurt is already live and active and do not need to thaw before it starts the fermentation (as it is in the case with the freeze-dried yogurt starter).

Use yogurt that is as fresh as possible. Bacteria gradually uses activity with time so the fresher your yogurt the better the results. You should get excellent results with yogurts that are less than 7 days old, and ideally try to use your yogurt as a starter by day 4. 

Using the Packs

The packs are packaged and labeled with the grams they contain and the volume those grams make when used entirely in one go.

The packs are intended for single use, or their contents could be split for multiple use.

When you split the pack, take out as much as you need to make your yogurt, then reseal and refreeze the remaining starter for later. Make sure you store the sachets in a way that prevents moisture from getting in, i.e. well closed in a Ziploc bag or wrapped around and fastened with a rubber band.

When you split the contents of the pack and use less starter amount to make smaller volumes, keep in mind that you are also reducing the total amount of yogurt that you can make from the pack (read more on that here).

Splitting the packs does not change how much starter you need for the different volumes of milk.

For example, splitting a 20g pack in 2x 10g will result in making 2 batches of starter for 50 quarts each, splitting 20g in 5x 4g will result in 5 batches of 8 quarts, splitting 20g in 20x 1g will result in 20 batches of 1 quart, etc.

Here’s a gram to quart/liter chart with some more information.

Read more about the math behind the yogurt starter