# Help with Yogurt



## rvroman (Jan 1, 2012)

I have tried my hand at making yogurt twice now with a plain live yogurt culture. Both times my end result is milk with a slightly sour smell. I follow the directions completely. Is it possible that the milk I am using is too processed? I have used pasteurized and homogenized milk. Not sure what that means. I am in the process of trying to find raw milk but I don't know anything about milk aside from "it comes from___(insert farm animal here)."

Any input or ideas would be greatly appreciated!


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Hmm. Which directions is it that you are following completely?

You are using store-bought cows milk, is that what you are saying?

By a 'sour' smell, what do you really mean? Yogurt generally does have a 'tangy/ sour' smell.
Or do you mean a rancid, "this-milk-is-rotting" kind of smell?

How does your yogurt taste? Lots of people make yogurt from store-bought milk and it turns out just fine, not rotty.

Hard to help you diagnose w/o more info. 
How about a link to your recipe, then we could help you trouble-shoot it.


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## siberiafarm (Feb 14, 2011)

I make yogurt every week, usually using store bought milk. Make sure that milk that you by is not ultra pasturized..Pick a brand of milk that comes from your region of the country, (I live in Maine and use either Oakhurst or Garelick milk because I know it is processed in this state). The closer the milk is processed to you the less chance you have of it being ultra pasturized. Also look at the code dates, you want the freshest milk that you can find, even if it means taking out several gallons of milk to get to one that has a later sell by date. 

I am not sure what recipe that you are using, but this is what I do:
I slowly heat one gallon of skim milk to about 180 degrees over the stove
When it reaches 180, I take it off the store and pour it into the ceramic insert of my slow cooker. To that I add 3/4 of dry non-fat evaporated milk (this adds milk solids, which helps make a thicker yogurt, particularly when using skim milk.)
When the mixture cools to 115 I add 3 Tablespoons of plain greek yogurt. (If the milk to too hot you will cook your yogurt cultures, if you add too much yogurt, there will be too many cultures for the amount of milk you have and they won't have enough "food" to multiply and grow the way they should-this is not a case of more being better).
Once you stir in the yogurt culture, wrap the slow cooker insert with a towel and put in a warm place. ( I use my oven, since I have a pilot light in it that is always on). Let sit for at least 8 hours.
After eight hours the milk should have curdled and it will have a somewhat sour/tangy smell. At this point it is usually a consistency of a yogurt smoothy. I prefer a very thick yogurt, so I drain the yogurt in a colander lined with cheese cloth for at least an additional hour. How long you drain it depends on your preference. Refridgerate at this point. Out of a gallon of milk I usually end up with about 60 oz of yogurt, and 60 oz of whey. I do save the whey and use for making bread, the bread from whey is incredible!

I hope that helps a little bit..Good luck and keep trying, once you get the hang of it, it is really pretty easy

Suzanne


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## rvroman (Jan 1, 2012)

It pretty much has the sour yogurt smell only way scaled down. My biggest problem is that it is milk that smells like it almost turned into yogurt. I am not sure what I can do about this. I sterilized all my stuff, brought the milk to 185 f. let it cool to 110-115f. mixed in the yogurt culture, and then placed it in an insulated lunch box with a heating pad to keep it warm, not hot, for 7ish hours, then in the fridge over night. The other directions i followed told me to wrap the jar in towels instead of put a heating pad around it, and leave it on the counter until later afternoon(assuming i made the mix in the morning). I then preheated my oven for 5 minutes, turned it off and put the towel wrapped jar with the cultured milk into the oven overnight to keep warm. I even added powdered milk to thicken after the first few attempts had failed at producing yogurt. My final product EVERY time was the same consistency as milk with a mild yogurt smell. I figured if I tried with raw milk, which seems to be available around here, I might have better luck.:help:


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## rvroman (Jan 1, 2012)

It pretty much has the sour yogurt smell only way scaled down. My biggest problem is that it is milk that smells like it almost turned into yogurt. I am not sure what I can do about this. I sterilized all my stuff, brought the milk to 185 f. let it cool to 110-115f. mixed in the yogurt culture, and then placed it in an insulated lunch box with a heating pad to keep it warm, not hot, for 7ish hours, then in the fridge over night. The other directions i followed told me to wrap the jar in towels instead of put a heating pad around it, and leave it on the counter until later afternoon(assuming i made the mix in the morning). I then preheated my oven for 5 minutes, turned it off and put the towel wrapped jar with the cultured milk into the oven overnight to keep warm. I even added powdered milk to thicken after the first few attempts had failed at producing yogurt. My final product EVERY time was the same consistency as milk with a mild yogurt smell. I figured if I tried with raw milk, which seems to be available around here, I might have better luck.:help:


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

I would try leaving it sit longer. 
Let it sit there 12 hours and see what happens.
Dont put it in the fridge right away. 


Be very sure that you arent killing the culture w/ too hot of milk.
Also, what kind of culture are you using?


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## opalcab (May 16, 2011)

I have A Real easy way to make yogurt, I heat milk to 175 degrees than cool to about 100 degrees and add culture to it 
I use 1 cup yogurt to 1 gal of milk stir with a wisk and cover pot and place pot in the oven over night with the light on my oven stays a about 90 degrees i leave it to grow for 12 to 24 hours than drian some whey of to make greek yogurt or do not drain any whey for smoothies, but I like thicker yogurt


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## wanda1950 (Jan 18, 2009)

About gave up because of grainy yougurt. Tried again using Greek yogurt for starter. Came out tasting good--mild like I like but it was like a thick syrup. I used the recipe that is milk, 1/2 cup dry milk. Heat to 180, cool, add starter, keep warm. 

HELP!!! Do I have to give up?????


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## offthegrid (Aug 11, 2009)

rvroman said:


> It pretty much has the sour yogurt smell only way scaled down. My biggest problem is that it is milk that smells like it almost turned into yogurt. I am not sure what I can do about this. I sterilized all my stuff, brought the milk to 185 f. let it cool to 110-115f. mixed in the yogurt culture, and then placed it in an insulated lunch box with a heating pad to keep it warm, not hot, for 7ish hours, then in the fridge over night. The other directions i followed told me to wrap the jar in towels instead of put a heating pad around it, and leave it on the counter until later afternoon(assuming i made the mix in the morning). I then preheated my oven for 5 minutes, turned it off and put the towel wrapped jar with the cultured milk into the oven overnight to keep warm. I even added powdered milk to thicken after the first few attempts had failed at producing yogurt. My final product EVERY time was the same consistency as milk with a mild yogurt smell. I figured if I tried with raw milk, which seems to be available around here, I might have better luck.:help:


Maybe it is too warm? How much yogurt are you adding?

Basically this is exactly what I do - I use store bought yogurt (about 3T or 1/4 cup) or yogurt cultures, or yogurt from my last batch. I also have a yogotherm, from New England Cheesmaking, but it is basically a plastic container inside a styrofoam cooler.....I would try wrapping the jar in a towel and putting it into a small styrofoam cooler or insulated lunch box/cooler thingy - no heating pad, and not in the oven - just leave it on the counter. I leave mine from 6-12 hours but last time totally forgot and it sat for about 18 hours and was fine. 

I use local milk, but not raw milk. Regular milk should be fine - I agree with finding something relatively local if you can. Places like Stewarts usually buy milk locally (generally) so it should not be ultrapasteurized.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Check the label on the yogurt container that you are using for a culture. It *must *contain live cultures.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

I just had my first batch that turned out well.

I'd let the milk cool to under 100*, maybe even closer to 80*.

BTW, did you use "ultra-pastuerized" milk? That stuff won't make ANY food - not yogurt, nor cheese - as it's nutritionally dead.


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## linn (Jul 19, 2005)

Has anyone tried the dried kefir starter from New England Cheesemaking Co.? I like it, you just let the cultured milk set on the countertop, no need for extra heat. Once you make the kefir with the freeze dried culture, you can just keep some of the kefir back and use it the next time for culture.

http://www.cheesemaking.com/cheeseculturesandmoldpowders.html


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## rvroman (Jan 1, 2012)

The first couple times I used live culture with pectin, not realizing pectin was a thickening additive. All the instructions I found just said no gelatin, turns out... Once I picked up on that little bit of information I bought dannon, just plain live culture yogurt, nothing else. The milk I buy does not say Ultra pasteurized, it says pasteurized and homogenized milk. I have not had a chance to try again since my initial post, life got a bit hectic, but look forward to putting all this info to trial! Thanks all!


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## Vickie44 (Jul 27, 2010)

I had this problem when my incubating temp was to high, also dont bump or jostle it ~ Vickie

PS The milky yogurt makes a nice frozen treat


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## Dusky Beauty (Jan 4, 2012)

This is how I make my yogurt (no thermometer, no machine, no fancy equipment) and it comes out every time. I have used commercial plain yogurt for starter but my favorite starter is Fage greek yogurt. I find I frequently have to buy it because the yogurt fiends eat up all the yogurt about once a week and forget to SAVE any starter. 

http://www.azcookbook.com/how-to-make-yogurt-at-home/


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## Chicks n' Kits (Jan 29, 2012)

I have made yogurt several times and until recently was always dissappointed in the consistency. I was given a yogurt culture from a friend, she told me to heat the milk to 180, cool to 115 then add yogurt starter into mason jars (about 1-2 T. per quart), add milk to jars, then incubate....I've been using a small cooler that fits 2 wide mouth quart jars perfectly, then I add hot water about 2/3 of the way to top of jars. I think it's the culture you start with. Might be worth buying one from New England Cheesemaking, to ensure you've got a good culture. Some cultures make a thinner/sourer yogurt, some thicker/sweeter.....Most yogurt on the shelves at the store just have a small amt. of live cultures in them, as they first kill everything in them and then add small amt.s at the end--so they can say there is live cultures.


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## blynn (Oct 16, 2006)

I just made my first batch of yogurt on Thursday! I used Cascade Fresh yogurt, it has eight different cultures in it. Used 1% milk from Kwip Trip, and a half cup of powdered milk per quart to help thicken it. The stuff that sat in the water bath for ten hours was thicker and tangier than the stuff that I only left in for seven.


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## Silverstar7337 (Feb 10, 2012)

siberiafarm said:


> I make yogurt every week, usually using store bought milk. Make sure that milk that you by is not ultra pasturized..Pick a brand of milk that comes from your region of the country, (I live in Maine and use either Oakhurst or Garelick milk because I know it is processed in this state). The closer the milk is processed to you the less chance you have of it being ultra pasturized. Also look at the code dates, you want the freshest milk that you can find, even if it means taking out several gallons of milk to get to one that has a later sell by date.
> 
> I am not sure what recipe that you are using, but this is what I do:
> I slowly heat one gallon of skim milk to about 180 degrees over the stove
> ...


Bread recipe please!!!! That sounds yum!!!


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## mrs whodunit (Feb 3, 2012)

We make yogurt following Fankhauser directions and have never had a bad batch. However we have never used store bought so I don't know if that requires care?


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## Hollowdweller (Jul 13, 2011)

You may want to check your thermometer to make sure it's accurately reading.

I normally take a gallon of milk and then use a tablespoon of either 7 Stars Farm Yogurt or Stoneyfield Farm. These 2 make the thickest for me without adding powdered milk or anything. 

I put it in a cooler with 115 degree water for 8 hours. Then I let it set about 7 days in the fridge and it continues to thicken.

It sounds to me like either your temp is off or your culture isn't strong enough


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