Why did my yogurt not yogurtize?

M

marilynfl

Moderator
I followed the recipe to the letter and kept a Polder thermometer in it the whole time. Cook 40 oz water + 7.5 oz powdered milk to 190 degrees. Cool to 180 degrees. Add 9 oz 1/2 & 1/2. Heat at 180 for 30 minutes.

Cool to 110 degrees. Add 1/2 C yogurt and let sit overnight in a microwave.

I used Mediterrean style (greek) yogurt.

It looked no different 24-hours later. The picture shows a spoon standing upright in the yogurt. Mine looked like 48 oz of milk.

So I reheated it to 110, added the remaining 1/2 C Greek yogurt PLUS another 1.5C of drained Stonyfield organic yogurt. Put back in the microwave overnight.

This morning it looked more promising (still not thick enough to stand up a spoon), but what went wrong with the original recipe?

 
Did the Greek yogurt have active cultures?

Stoneyfield does, and maybe that's the reason it looks more promising after adding that.

 
A couple of things.

Two possibilities:

1. Despite being in the nuke it may have been too cold to support bacterial growth. The insulation value of a microwave only goes so far.

2. The yogurt you used as a starter may be been dead; either because it was pasturized or for other reasons. Only live-culture yogurt works as a starter.

If you're really interested in making yogurt, then it pays to invest in a yogurt maker. There are several makes and models on the market.

We went with the Yogourmet Multi a few years back. A complete yogurt-making set up, including an extra insert, thermometer, freeze-dried starter, etc. cost us 80 bucks. It paid for itself in just a few months.

 
Thanks Judy and KYHeir....I think the greek said it had active

ingredients, but deep-sixed the container yesterday. For some reason, I thought the greek would make it even thicker.

I did ice down the pot the first night before putting it in the microwave, but last night I put the hot milk with extra yogurt right into a thick ceramic carafe, which probably held the heat much better.

Thanks! I feel better once I understand where I slipped. Will review the electric version. I remember my grandmother making it so easily in a gas-oven with pilot light.

 
I have made yogurt and in all the literature on making it I have said to use . . .

NO MORE than a couple (2-3) tablespoons of yogurt for a quart of milk. Your recipe used 1/2 cup. Maybe there was too much starter/active yogurt in your recipe?

How did the cooled milk feel to your fingertips? It should have felt comfortably warm. Sometimes thermometers are off, and by more than a few degrees.

 
hmmm, well that confuses things...it thicken after I added even more!

I did check this thermometer during the Great Caramel Debacle of 2006 and it's off by two degrees, which I compensate for.

So I think it helped that--after rewarming up to 110 degree--I put the milk in a pitcher that held the heat better. I was too depressed to try merely reheating--can only take so much failure from 2 ingredient recipes.

Grandma did nothing more than heat the milk to the point of tiny bubbles around the edge, shut it off, dumped the milk in a large glass jar, stirred in a few spoons of yougurt, wrapped it in a towel and put it in the oven. She didn't need no stinkin' thermometer.

Wa-la...yougurt the next day.

I wonder why too much would be too much?

 
Mistral, every recipe I've seen

calls for either a half-cup yogurt or a pkg of freeze-dried bacterium as a starter. But even if a couple spoonfulls were all that was needed, adding extra bacteria wouldn't slow the process; it would speed it up.

Marilyn, you grandmother's stove had a pilot light, which kept the oven just warm enough. Ideal temperature is 105-110 degrees.

BTW, there's not much need to heat everything as high as you did. The point of that was to sterilize non-pasturized milk. Store bought milk, and dry milk do not need that step.

It's been a long time since I had to trouble-shoot yogurt. So I pulled out the book, and it says your problem could be caused by a number of factors. Adding up everything you've said, though, I'm convinced that your "incubator" was just too cold.

 
Do what Grandma did: just as you said. . .

wash your hands and always give it the finger test before stirring in your starter/culture.

 
1/2 cup of COLD yogurt may have put her culture below the grow temp. . . (nt)

It may have helped to make it too cold to ferment properly?

 
I am just sittin here LMAO imagining my

German grandmother making yogurts. It just would have never happened.

But hey I do so the genes are adaptable!

 
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