Author Topic: Failed Yogurt  (Read 2229 times)

sceleste54

  • Guest
Failed Yogurt
« on: May 19, 2010, 05:32:58 AM »
Hi all !  From time to time through the years I have made yogurt using an electric yogurt maker.  I got decent results but nothing outstanding.  I was told by someone from the Middle East that special equipment was not needed, his family never used anything beyond the kitchen counter.  I tried it, heated my milk to 185, cooled to 110, added live culture ( I used a commercial Greek style) and let it sit on the counter for @ 12 hours.  I got the most WONDERFUL yogurt I've ever made !  When I got low on supply, I repeated the process using the yogurt I had left.  It was a total bomb.. thin, runny, not tangy at all... I just finished heating the milk mix again to try to add culture and incubate again.  Is this a waste of time?? Should I just throw it all out and start from scratch??  I can' figure out what happened....

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Failed Yogurt
« Reply #1 on: May 19, 2010, 05:56:58 AM »
Seems like the ratios of bacterial species was off in the second generation starter. It's pretty common. Try inoculating with a sample of the original store bought yogurt and try to keep the temp high (110-115) during incubation.

sceleste54

  • Guest
Re: Failed Yogurt - Update
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2010, 02:44:24 AM »
Well..I reheated, cooled and mixed again with all the homeade yogurt I had left... NO yogurt resulted at all... the entire batch was liquid as 2% milk.. no yogurt flavor... I stopped at the store and picked up a different brand of store bought yogurt, Dannon Plain..and some fresh 2% milk... we'll try it again..:)  I really love the taste and texture of the first 2 attempts I made !!

MrsKK

  • Guest
Re: Failed Yogurt
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2010, 12:27:51 PM »
You say you cultured this batch using yogurt you had left - I think that's where you went wrong.  When you use your yogurt, the container is being opened repeatedly and it can allow other organisms in.  Or the good yogurt bacteria were weakened over time and exposure.

I also use commercial Greek yogurt as my starter culture and have had the same strain going for over 8 months now, still getting really good results.  When I make my first batch, I remove a pint of the innoculated milk to a sterilized pint jar and cover with a sterilized lid.  I put the pint jar of culture and the gallon jar of yogurt for eating in a Coleman personal sized cooler and fill it with 115 degree tap water.  In 8-10 hours, I have great thick yogurt.

I don't think you'd be able to keep a pint jar warm enough for long enough to innoculate it thoroughly.  Give it another try and let us know how it goes for you.