Making yogurt is a Much more delicate process than most of what we do at my job. Obviously anyone using live bacterial cultures for anything has to be careful, but it is important that we strike the balance between "there is so much bacteria in here that our packaging won't hold up" and "we ultra-pasteurized all the flavors out of this because it didn't culture long enough."
So what happens is they transfer small amounts of sugary milk to the ICs, which are small silos capable of heating as well as cooling the product. They put in yogurt cultures and ramp up the temperature to make the bacteria all cozy and warm. The process is referred to as "breaking ICs."
Four hours after the culture is added, the lab tech (yours truly), begins checking the acidity and pH via a very specific sampling method that involves basically climbing up to the top of the silo and dipping a little bucket on a stick into it (so as not to disturb the bugs).
Each IC (and they usually do several at overlapping times) must be checked every half hour thereafter until the desired levels are reached, then it gets cooled down to stop the growth of the cultures.
Most people hate breaking ICs because it is a complete pain in the ass. I kind of like it because I'm five and I like to climb on things.
But as I discovered last night, breaking ICs also roughly translates to "no, little girl, you do not get a coffee break."
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