yogurt making

[peaceful_mama]

I tried it again.

Last time I think i used too much starter (like 5-6 TBSP) to a 32 oz container. I got cheese.

This time, I used 2 TBSP and got.......something thicker than milk but thinner than the starter yogurt I used. Vaguely starting to taste like yogurt.

I left it 10 hours. LOL I forgot it.

I am thinking what I need is more like 3-4 TBSP starter?

IT was an organic greek yogurt starter.

[Ellp]

When I make yoghurt I use a half cup of starter for 7-8oz cups. So thats what...56oz?

If you're making roughly half that amount, I'd say go for 1/4C. of starter. I also add a 1/2C of skim milk powder to the milk to make the finished yoghurt thicker. The end result is almost exactly like the starter yoghurt.

[Therese's Mommy]

When using regular yogurt as starter I use 1/2 c per qt of milk. I think Greek yogurt has the probiotics more concentrated so you should use less, probably 1/4 c per qt of milk. Also, I like to incubate 4-4.5 hours, but that is because I prefer my yogurt to not be too sour. You can also add some non fat dry milk powder to make it thicker (it will use up the whey). If you are trying to produce more greek yogurt the dry milk isn't necessary since you are just going to drain out the whey anyway.

Beth

[peaceful_mama]

somebody told me greek yogurt is strained so if I use a greek yogurt starter I will need to strain it if I don't want a really thin yogurt.

I got a different starter for next time....in a couple days. I do also have dry milk powder. I'm assuming you add it to the milk before it is yogurt. Before or after heating?

[BetsyS]

I just made successful yogurt last week. It was so nice and thick--we loved it. I used 1/4 cup greek yogurt, plus 1/3 cup skim milk powder to 1 quart whole milk. It turned out like store bought yogurt. I then drained it to get greek yogurt. I ended up with 2 cups of greek yogurt.

Oh, and I did 12 hours on a heating pad for the incubation.

[Therese's Mommy]

Originally Posted by peaceful_mama

somebody told me greek yogurt is strained so if I use a greek yogurt starter I will need to strain it if I don't want a really thin yogurt.

If you don't strain it you will just have regular yogurt. If you want greek yogurt you will need to strain out the whey.

[peaceful_mama]

I tried it again. This time I used 4 TBSP Stoneybrook (stoneyfield) something stoney anyway organic as starter.

I put two containers together in a cooler. (what I did before was one and some hot water)

I don't know....the containers felt kind of warm when I filled them...thermometer was *slowly* moving, was about stopped at 95 so I went "oh it's ready"

I got thinnish yogurt that didn't really have the yogurt flavor.

Did it possibly get too cold? Did I start too hot and kill it? Does it just need to sit longer?

It already sat 10 hours....

[highlandmum]

Just subbing! Wanting to make yogurt so I need to read all these threads on it:

[Delicateflower]

I think you need to be more careful with the temperature. If it's too hot when you put the culture in you'll kill it, if it gets too cold during the incubation it won't grow well enough. If you disturb it during the incubation it can make it runnier.

Mine works well in a packed cooler in the hot garage. I use 1/4 cup dry milk, plus 1/2 sachet of starter and half a cup of greek yogurt per quart of milk.