If you DIY yogurt come in

7river7wed7

So I attempted this on Sunday...and it turned out SUPER runny. I refrigerated it thinking it might help, but now more than 24 hours later no change. What did I do wrong?

I'm scared to eat it.

annabelle.27

It's hard to say what you did wrong for sure without knowing what you did. But two things that come to mind for me are:

1) the starter you used didn't have live cultures

2) it wasn't kept at the right temperature, and the cultures were killed (too hot) or didn't multiply (too cold)

KlassyWithaK

I don't mean this to be snarky, but did you add the starter yogurt? I just ask because I have done this before.

The above mentioned reasons are probably more likely. Sometimes mine is more runny than I think it should be. I tried a different brand of yogurt the last time and it thickened it up a bit.

CDMay2006

My sister makes it and she said when she uses non-whole milk it is runny (it's for my super skinny nephew, so no worries with the extra fat).  Maybe you can try whole milk till you get the hang of it?

WendyGR

you may be able to salvage it by adding some dry milk powder.

7river7wed7

I wouldn't say it was out of the question for it to have gotten too hot. I just got a new crockpot and even on low it's pretty hot.

I did use whole milk so that wouldn't be it. 

And yes, I remembered to add the yougurt Thanks ladies. Guess I'll try again.

 

uncannycanuck

How long did you leave it? Longer = thicker (and sourer).

You could try the "oven with the light on" method rather than the crock pot. i think too much heat is more dangerous than not enough. I've always just made it in a casserole dish in the (off) oven, and it's always worked.

annabelle.27

If you used a turned on crockpot, I definitely think it was too hot. Crockpots lowest settings are generally higher than what yogurt needs, as that temperature breeds all bacteria, not just yogurt bacteria. That's why you boil the milk first, to eliminate harmful bacteria. Crockpots don't go that low because if you were cooking your dinner at that temperature, or even keeping it warm at that temperature, you'd get food poisoning.

I made mine in a big thermos, sitting on top of a hot bag of dry rice and wrapped in towels.

7river7wed7

I used a recipe that said to put the milk in the CP on low for 4 hours, unplug it, whisk the yogurt in with 2 cups of the milk before wisking it in with the rest, cover it with a large bath towl and let sit 8-12 hours.

Can someone post their full recipe that does not use a crockpot?

SuperGreen

DH makes our yogurt, he's sending me the recipe and I'll make a main post out of it later today (hopefully). DH says leaving it in the CP on the counter is too cold, "the culture probably went dormant after an hour." That's why you have more milk than yogurt.  He uses a full 12 hour resting time in a small cooler filled with very hot water.

His yogurt tastes AWESOME but is too runny (not super runny though) for my taste, so I turn it into Greek yogurt.  You line a strainer with cheesecloth, set the strainer over a large bowl, and fill the strainer with yogurt and put into the fridge overnight.  The liquid drains away and you're left with much firmer yogurt, like the greek yogurt I used to buy in tubs from the grocery store.

ETA:  If your yogurt is liquid, not semi-solid then straining it won't help.  If it's liquid then your culture didn't eat up the milk and make it into yogurt.