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Post by mcgee on Aug 6, 2017 19:40:33 GMT -5
I bought the Yogourmet yogurt maker and cultures from cultures for health and set out this morning to make my first batch of yogurt and it is a total failure. After 7 hours it's still just like milk. I thought I followed directions to a tee but I must have done something wrong. Any ideas?
Oh , and I used an organic milk that wasn't ultra pasteurized so the milk shouldn't be the problem.
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Post by wallycat on Aug 6, 2017 23:00:23 GMT -5
7 hours may not be enough time for the cultures to do their job. Usually it is an overnight process. I've only ever heated the milk and used a few tbs. of live cultured yogurt, let the stuff sit on the counter overnight.
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gobluem82
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Post by gobluem82 on Aug 8, 2017 10:51:35 GMT -5
I agree with what Wallycat said, and I've also found that the yogurt needs some time in the fridge afterward to thicken it up further.
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Post by mcgee on Aug 8, 2017 13:46:12 GMT -5
I gave it 12 hours and it thickened slightly but was still mostly runny and curdled. Tasted ok but was definitely not how yogurt is supposed to be. We're using it in smoothies though so it's not going to waste. I contacted the yogurt machine manufacturer and they had me test the machine for 24 hours to ensure that it was maintaining the correct temp and it is. I contacted Cultures for Health and after a very nice online chat, we came to the conclusion that the most likely problem is that the cultures were somewhat of a dud - said it's rare but it does happen. It's been really hot here and so she thinks that during transit they may have gotten over heated and it damaged them somewhat. Sad thing is, I ordered the Cultures for Health kefir cultures and yogurt cultures at the same time from Amazon but the yogurt cultures came from a different supplier so CFH is unable to send me a replacement. They have a record of my order for the kefir though, so if I have problems with that batch, they will send me a new package. I was impressed with the customer service with both companies - the machine manufacturer and Cultures for Health.
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Post by wallycat on Aug 8, 2017 15:04:07 GMT -5
And it is OK to leave the yogurt out longer than 12 hours. The longer it sits out, the tangier and thicker it will get.
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gobluem82
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Post by gobluem82 on Aug 9, 2017 15:15:45 GMT -5
Also, my yogurt never has gotten quite as thick and smooth as the store-bought stuff--I've always figured it was due to all those thickeners and stabilizers they add. I've had a few cases, though, where mine has been thin and curdled like you've described. One thing that has made my results more consistent is cooling down the heated milk by setting it in a larger container of water (I use the small section of my double sink) as opposed to just having it cool off on its own. I found this out by accident when I was in a hurry a couple of times, but now I use this method all of the time.
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Post by mcgee on Aug 9, 2017 17:44:00 GMT -5
AOne thing that has made my results more consistent is cooling down the heated milk by setting it in a larger container of water (I use the small section of my double sink) as opposed to just having it cool off on its own. I found this out by accident when I was in a hurry a couple of times, but now I use this method all of the time. I actually did this as it was mentioned in the directions as a quick way to cool it down. We even kept our air conditioner on to keep the house at 70 degrees because directions said high temps would affect it - we keep our house at 80 in the summer if it's really hot out and it was in the 90s. Today I bought a starter made by the yogurt manufacturer so I will try that either tonight or tomorrow and hope I have better luck. Purchased it from one of their distributors that is only about 7 miles from us. They don't have a retail shop but said I could come to their warehouse so DH picked some up for me since he was in that area. Thursday/Friday I'm going to get going on the kefir. Activating the grains takes a long while so I'll start them at 10:00 at night. It says to check them every hour once you hit the 8 hour mark so a little time consuming. Once I get through that process I should have kefir grains for life  . DH has some intestinal issues so we go through a lot of kefir and yogurt so decided it was time to start making my own. We eat sauerkraut daily too so maybe when I get the yogurt and kefir down, I'll try my hand at sauerkraut. |
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. DH has some intestinal issues so we go through a lot of kefir and yogurt so decided it was time to start making my own. We eat sauerkraut daily too so maybe when I get the yogurt and kefir down, I'll try my hand at sauerkraut.