# Made my first yogurt, have questions



## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

So, I have never made yogurt before, and a few things about my first batch are confusing me. The caveats to know are that I burned the milk a little, and I left it in the "culturing box" too long before sticking it in the fridge (like, ten hours instead of eight). Dunno if any of that makes a difference.

First thing is, it has little lumps in it. Nothing major, just like tiny bits of it are much thicker than the rest. Is that really bad, or is it just cosmetic? It tastes and smells fine.

Second, it is a lot less sour than plain yogurt I buy from the store. I am beginning to gather that this is normal, but I LIKE my yogurt kinda sour. Is there any way I can make it more sour?

Third, it was kinda runny, as expected, but draining it by putting cheesecloth over the mouth of the jar and turning it upside down didn't work, and I'm afraid I won't be able to get it back in the jar if I pour it out. Is there a trick to this?

Thanks in advance... I am trying, but I seem to have just confused myself. DH does, however, seem to be eating the stuff straight from the jar, and he usually won't touch plain yogurt, so I think I did at least SOMETHING right. :baby04:


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## Lannie (Jan 11, 2004)

Did you use store-bought milk or was it your own? Store bought milk has powdered milk added to it and it always burns on the bottom, no matter how low the heat is. If you use a double boiler, it shouldn't do that. But either way, a little bit burned on the bottom is no big deal. Just don't scrape it up into the rest of the yogurt.

The little lumps might simply be from lumps in your starter. You don't say how you added it, but what I do is put my starter yogurt in a bowl, add an equal amount of the warmed milk to it and whisk all the lumps out until it's smooth like cultured buttermilk. Then I add to the rest of the warmed milk and stir thoroughly. So you might try that, if you didn't do it that way the first time.

I always make my yogurt in a pan (I make a gallon at a time) in the afternoon, then cover the pan with several layers of newsprint, then the lid scrunched down on it (this helps keep condensation out of the yogurt), wrap in a fluffy towel and put into a cooler overnight. Normally, the yogurt goes in the cooler around 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon and I take it out sometime the next morning. Leaving it in too long won't hurt it, and it might make it more to your liking. I forgot I had a pan in the cooler one time and left it in there for TWO DAYS! LOL! You should have seen my face when I remembered! The only thing was it was a bit more tart than normal, so maybe you want to leave yours in at least overnight and maybe longer.

I drain my yogurt by pouring the whole thing out into a cloth-lined colander and setting that over a bowl. I put the pan lid back over the colander and put the whole thing in the fridge to drain. Depending on how thick you want it, and how thin it was to start with, you could leave it in there for an hour or a whole day. To put it back in the jar, just spoon it in. It will be thick enough by the time you do that that it should scoop easily. You might have to use a rubber spatula to get all of the firmer stuff off the cloth. Because the outside will be firmer than the center, you could also spoon and scrape it all into a bowl, mix it to make it a uniform consistency, THEN spoon it back into your jar or whatever you're going to store it in.

Hope this helped you some.

~Lannie


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

It was store milk, but really, I wasn't watching it as closely as I should have either, boiled the heck out of the stuff, so it was at least half my fault. I used some store yogurt as my starter, just dumped a couple spoonfuls in the jar and shook it up. Maybe it was not incorporated well enough, or maybe burning the milk did something to it. It did have sort of a creamy skin on top. I will try your in the pot method next time, I was going to make a bigger batch next time anyway, I hope it works better! This is more complicated than I thought... but I will definitely leave it out longer! The more I eat my homemade, the more I realize I like it SOUR! It just isn't the same, I'm finding myself putting lots of lemon in it and it just gets runnier and runnier! :help: Thanks so much!


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## Lannie (Jan 11, 2004)

Although I don't LIKE boiling the milk, I have (ahem) forgotten about it myself once or twice and made that mistake. It doesn't hurt the finished product any, though. You want to let it cool down to about 110 degrees, then skim off the skin (my cats and chickens love that) and stir the starter yogurt in very well. I'm sure that's why you ended up with lumps - you just didn't get it thoroughly incorporated. It's not really hard, there are just certain things you should do.

The way I make mine (to get the thickest yogurt I can) is to put a gallon of milk in a large pot and heat it over low heat until it reaches 180 degrees. I realize this kills the milk, but if you're using storebought it's dead anyway, so it doesn't matter. Whole milk I hold at 180 degrees for 30 minutes, skim or 2% I hold for 40 minutes, then take off the heat and let come back down to 110 degrees. A candy thermometer is pretty handy, or if you don't have one, just put your finger in the milk and if you can hold it in there without it burning you, it's probably cool enough. That's how my mother in law taught me (she's from the old country). For a gallon of milk, I use just less than a cup of starter yogurt. I whisk the starter together with some of the warmed milk, then pour that back in the pan with the rest of the milk and stir briskly (with a spoon so as not to make too many foamy bubbles) for a couple of minutes so I know it's well mixed. Then I wrap in the towel and put in the cooler. (I know I repeated myself a bit there, but I thought it would be better if it was all in one place, from start to finish...)

It's really easy, once you've done it a couple of times, and you'll enjoy making it.  

~Lannie


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Awesome, thanks! Seems like there are as many ways to make yogurt as there are people to do it... I was told that all I had to do was put the starter in the jar and shake it up real good. Going to give it another shot tonight, hopefully it will go better this time.


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## mamajohnson (Nov 27, 2002)

Well, I was reading this thinking there are for sure lots of ways to make yogurt! 
I have been making it for a good while, and while I am admittedly lazy -- no, I just like to do stuff the easy way lol! I do it different than what I have been reading! 
ok, I make a gallon at a time, and I like to use powdered milk. 1 gal of water and enough powdered milk to make the gal. Sometimes a spoonful or two extra and it is thicker. You can also add 1/4 cup or so of powder milk to the store milk and it will make it thicker. Bring to 180 in a double boiler, immediately cool to 110, mix my yogurt starter - I always use dannon, it is fresh and has no additives - with some of the milk, whisk well and then add to the other milk, whisk a little more. I then put it in pint jars, into the propane oven with the pilot only on. It stays there anywhere from 5 hours to 10. Usually the longer it incubates the more sour it gets. I very rarely drain my yogurt. I might pour a little of the whey off the top, but usually only get a tablespoon or so.
If I do seriously drain it, I put it in a cheesecloth over a bowl for the afternoon, and get a creamcheese like product. Add a little salt, stir well, and it is awesome on crackers, toast etc...

I don't use my fresh goats milk, because usually a gallon of yogurt lasts me a week, and the goats milk is a little goaty tasting by then. So, that is why I prefer to use the powdered milk.

Hope all that doesnt confuse you more! 
relax and enjoy, even if you goof it up, you can cook with it like buttermilk.


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

Well I tried it again and it turned out just right.  It was that I didn't mix the starter in thoroughly enough. There are a lot of ways to make yogurt, I think a large part of it is how you like your yogurt... we like ours pretty sour, and it has to be real thick and custard-like or the toddler will make a terrible mess. So I leave it to culture for a whole day then drain it for awhile. It is working pretty well, though I think that maybe next time I'll leave some runny to use in smoothies and popsicles.


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## CHICKIECHICKIE (Mar 16, 2006)

Hmm. Well this is the way I make mine. It always turns out.
I heat milk to 100 deg. Pour into a wide mouth thermos that has been washed in very hot water. Then add 2 teasp of plain yoghurt. Make sure its a good one with live cultures. Like Dannon plain. No fancy flavored,fruity stuff. Mix well then wrap in a blanket and keep in a warm place for 18 hrs.
Tada!! Then I slide it out into a bowl. I take small jelly jars and put some fruit on the bottom. You can even use blueberry or cherry pie filling. Homemade is better. Then I put the yoghurt on the top and screw on the lids. And store in the fridge. Save some of the yoghurt from this batch to make your next so you wont need store bought starter again.
Have fun !
Chick


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## matt_man (Feb 11, 2006)

Now that you have mastered Yogurt, you could make kefir for your smoothies. It is very similar to yogurt just not as separated as yogurt is, with the whey floating on top. I believe it is a different bacteria than yogurt. You can get starter from most health food stores. I just picked up some yogurt and kefir starter today. Our cow calved on Saturday and I have been waiting 3 long months for fresh yogurt and kefir!!!

Rachel


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

You know, I've never been a huge fan of kefir? It tastes DIFFERENT from yogurt, in a way I can't explain. I have been making my own yogurt drinks, half homemade yogurt and half 100% fruit juice. They are REALLY tasty.  But maybe I am weird.


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