What is wrong with my yogurt?

[tortoise]

Why is my yogurt always very thin? Thinner than cream?!

I heat up milk in the microwave to room temperature and whisk in purchased plain yogurt. Pour it into jars and into my yogurt maker which keeps it warm.

It smells good - great for cooking. But not remotely firm in any way.

I use 3 cups milk to 1 cup yogurt.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

raw milk or pasteurized???

 

[tortoise]

Pasteurized. I checked and the yogurt I started with is active cultures.

 

[Blackbird]

How long have you incubated it?

Was the milk and yogurt 'fresh'?

I usually heat my milk up to 100-110 in a saucepan on the stove then mix in the yogurt - maybe it needed to be warmer?

 

[big brown horse]

Why are you using a microwave to heat the milk? Just curious, I don't make normal yogurt only kefir (which requires NO electricity btw ) so I don't know if it is common practice to nuke the milk.

I am afraid of microwaved food...see my "are microwaves really that evil?" thread.

 

[Blackbird]

I haven't heard of microwaving it either, so I'm not sure..

 

[ORChick]

I heat my milk, on the stove, to at least 185*F to re-pasteurize it (this step could possibly be avoided with very fresh raw milk), and then let it cool to 120*F approx. before mixing in the starter, and then incubating. I have often read that heating it to re-pasteurize isn't really necessary, and maybe it isn't, but I have had best results when I do; and sometimes I even bring it up to 190*F. Just because I do not like microwave ovens I wouldn't heat it that way, but that, of course, is a personal choice.

 

[farmerlor]

When I started making yogurt I was told to just expect that it would be thin and that the only way to make it thicker was to A.) strain it like a cheese, B.) add powdered milk (ick, ewww) or C.) buy commercial starter. So I bought my first powdered starters and used THAT yogurt as my subsequent starters. I like it because as yet I can't get fresh milk (i.e. whole milk from goat or cow) but this way I can still control and have some consistency in my end product. There's one I like for "bite you back" sour cream, salad dressing and cooking yogurt and another that's more mellow and makes a nice custardy yogurt.

 

[SKR8PN]

I just made my very first batch of yogurt the other day and it came out great. I used whole, pasteurized milk and brought it to a boil, then let it cool down to 110 degrees. I then added Greek yogurt as a starter, and put it in the yogurt maker for 7 hours. Perfect!

 

[inchworm]

I'm fairly new to the whole yogurt thing. Twice I heated it on the stove and both times it was perfect.

Twice I heated it in the microwave and both times it was too thin. I think the microwave must heat it unevely with hot pockets, so it seems at the right temp, when overall it is not. Try the stove next time.

Inchworm