Instant-read stainless steel dairy thermometer for kefir, yoghurt, and cheese making. No batteries required, simply place it in milk for accurate, real-time temperature readings.
Designed by KoruKai Herb Farm, drawing on over a decade of hands-on experience in cheesemaking and dairy fermentation, it reflects practical, real-world needs in a working kitchen.
13.5 cm long with clip for easy pot or jar attachment.
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This stainless steel dairy thermometer is a simple, reliable tool for accurately measuring milk temperatures when making kefir, yoghurt, cheese, and other cultured dairy products. It provides instant temperature readings without the need for batteries, switches, or digital settings—just place it into your liquid and read the temperature immediately.
Because precise temperature control is essential for successful fermentation and culturing, this thermometer helps ensure your milk is heated and cooled to the correct stages every time. It is especially useful for avoiding overheating or underheating, which can affect culture activity and final results.
The clear dial display allows you to monitor temperature at any moment, making it easy to follow recipes with confidence. A built-in clip allows the thermometer to be secured to the side of a pot or jar for hands-free use during heating and culturing.
Designed for practical, everyday kitchen use, this thermometer is durable, simple, and effective.
Care Instructions
Wash the measuring tip by hand using warm soapy water. Do not place in the dishwasher, as this may damage the thermometer.
Specifications
Length: 13.5 cm
Material: Stainless steel
Type: Instant-read, battery-free
Feature: Clip for pot/jar attachment
Temperature Guide (Blue, Green & Red Zones)
This dairy thermometer includes clearly marked colour zones to make culturing and cheese making easier, more consistent, and more reliable—especially when working with kefir, yoghurt, and fresh cheeses.
Designed by KoruKai Herb Farm, drawing on over a decade of hands-on experience in cheesemaking and dairy fermentation, it reflects practical, real-world needs in a working kitchen.
🔵 Blue Line (20–22°C)
Mesophilic cultures
Ideal for:
Mesophilic kefir
Caspian Sea yoghurt
Clabber
Lactic cheeses such as chèvre and Valencay
This range is especially useful for ensuring milk is at the correct temperature after heating and cooling. It has helped preserve kefir grains many times by preventing overheating and culture shock. It is also invaluable during fermentation, particularly in colder months, helping you monitor fluctuations and find the best warm spot in your home to keep cultures active and healthy.
🟢 Green Line (35°C)
Cheese making temperature
Most traditional cheeses begin culturing around “cow-warm” temperature (around 35°C), before rennet is added. This stage is critical for proper curd formation and texture development (excluding lactic cheeses, which ferment at lower temperatures).
Accurate temperature control at this stage helps ensure strong, clean curd set and more consistent cheese results.
🔴 Red Lines (40–45°C and 80–83°C)
Thermophilic yoghurt & milk heating
These ranges are essential for making thick, set yoghurts and thermophilic cultures.
80–83°C: Used to heat milk before yoghurt making. This step changes milk proteins to support a thicker final set.
40–45°C: The precise cooling range required before adding yoghurt culture.
Getting these temperatures right is crucial—too hot and cultures can be destroyed, too cool and fermentation may fail to set properly.
Why it matters
This thermometer has been a trusted tool in our kitchen for years. It helps protect live cultures, improve consistency, and take the guesswork out of fermentation—especially when working with sensitive dairy cultures like kefir and yoghurt.
It is particularly helpful for troubleshooting, seasonal temperature changes, and finding the most stable fermentation environment in your home.
Ingredients: 1 stainless steel dairy thermometer with colour zones.
We have made a great amount of ferments over the years at KoruKai Herb Farm and used a fair bit of pounders. We know what makes a pounder fabulous. This one is made to our measurements and is well-designed for pounding vegetables and tightly packing them into jars or crocks for best fermentation.
The wood is untreated beech.
Measurements: length 30cm, top diameter 4cm, bottom diameter 6.1cm. Easy and comfortable grip with a tapering of 3.5cm diameter.
Please note: Measurements can vary slightly as each one is handmade and unique.
Newly updated guide with more recipes and tips. A fresh FAQ section has also been added.
This guide covers all the basics that you need to know to create probiotic, healthy, fizzy water kefir sodas. It includes instructions how to make the frist and the second ferment and includes recipes and flavour combinations.
You will get the guide as downloadable pdf so make sure you enter the correct email address when placing your order. Please look for an email with the subject line: [KoruKai Herb Farm] Files available for your order
Fully booked! To go onto the waiting list please sign up below.
This is an informative workshop for anyone interested in healthy food. No cooking skills are required. You will walk away with some easy recipes that you can implement in your own kitchen using basic equipment.
Date: Saturday, 2nd May 2026 Time: 10am-2:30pm
Location: KoruKai Herb Farm, Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsula 1 hour from Halswell, Carpooling from Chch is usually possible.
Stainless Steel Strainer for Milk and Water Kefir Grains
10 cm diameter
Small round stainless steel sieve with a fine wire mesh. Perfect for use when straining the kefir grains out of the finished kefir. It can also be used for sieving flour or draining food.
This silicone fermentation airlock and stainless steel band is perfect for keeping lacto-fermented pickles and drinks under an airlock during fermentation and storage. As pressure builds up gas pushes out the top of the spout without letting air in.
pH strips are a quick and easy way to check the acidification of your cheese and ferment.
In a lactic ferment and in cheese making beneficial microbes are underway to turn plant sugars and lactose into lactic acid.
This acidification can be measured and ensures your ferment or your cheese is on the right track.
For most cheeses timing of salting is really important; you want the fermentation to be just at the right acidity before you apply salt to slow it down.
Expected to arrive mid week (11th March). Orders will be dispatched as soon as we receive them.
This Fermenting Flask from Culture Cupboard is perfect to keep your kefir at a steady temperature without the nightly lows in winter and the mid day highs in summer.
It is also amazing to make your own yoghurt without the need for an electric yoghurt maker. The flask comes with a glass jar and a recipe book to make your own dairy and dairy-free yoghurts.
Billions of probiotics per tablespoon for gut health.
1 portion of active organic milk kefir grains to culture 1 cup of milk in 24 hours, which can increase to 1 litre within 2 weeks.
This kit contains all the basic equipment that you need to make probiotic milk kefir at home. Instructions are sent via email. An additional glass jar for keeping ready kefir milk in the fridge can be purchased here: 500ml glass jar.
Shipment of fresh milk kefir grains every Monday (or Tuesday if Monday is a public holiday). Orders and payments need to be in by 8pm Sunday to get shipped the following Monday.
Certified organic water kefir food containing sugar, molasses and micronutrients to feed your water kefir grains optimally. This pack contains the food for water kefir grains only, you need to have your own grains or buy them from us.
This way they stay healthy and produce a better probiotic fizzy drink for you and your family.
Available in 100g, 500g and 1kg bulk pack in a home-compostable, biodegradable pouch.
Containing only certified organic ingredients so that your water kefir grains can thrive (do not come with the grains). Without any roundup or other agricultural chemical residues, which could have a negative effect on the microbes in the water kefir.
We have put together this pack for anyone wanting in making delicious ferments at home, but unsure where to start and how to go about it.
The KoruKai Herb Farm "Lacto-Fermentation" eBooklet (table of contents below, comes via email) will guide you along step by step to make your own probiotic lactic-ferments at home. It has recently been updated and contains 7 more recipes.
We have put together this kit for anyone wanting to make their own apple cider vinegar.
Apple cider vinegar is easy and satisfying to make at home and the health benefits are numerous.
A lot of cider vinegar in the supermarkets are pasteurised and filtered. This removed the microbiome of the vinegar and you won't get the maximum health benefits from it.
We have put together this kit for anyone wanting in making delicious water kefir at home.
The KoruKai Herb Farm "Water Kefir eGuide" will be sent via email once you have placed your order. Please look for an email with the subject line: [KoruKai Herb Farm] Files available for your order. It will guide you along step by step to make your own probiotic, healthy, fizzy water kefir sodas at home.
Learn how to turn dairy milk into healthy and delicious natural yoghurt without any additives.
With recipes turning yoghurt into a variety of soft cheeses and dips and using it for baking to enhance nutrient availability and flavour.
This eGuide contains 40 pages of detailed instructions and links to demonstration videos on how to make thermophilic and mesophilic yoghurt on a perpetual basis as well as recipes to turn your yoghurt into special dishes - from yoghurt icing for a cake to yoghurt cheese balls and labneh (please find the table of contents below).
This is an ebook and will be available as a pdf to download once your order is placed.
One thing that should be in just about everyone's diet are fermented or cultured foods. Not only are they packed with flavor, but they're positively brimming with probiotics.
Those little microorganisms support your immune system and help to revive and maintain gut health. Fermented foods are also rich in B vitamins, food enzymes and key antioxidants that support healthy cells.
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