Making yogurt -- keep cracking my jars -- help please!

[likemorning]

Hi there! So I am finally, FINALLY making yogurt at home with our fresh goat milk. I've got my heating and incubation temps down, and am very happy with the taste and consistency, but I have cracked more jars than I haven't, and I'd love some pointers. I'm sure it's to do with too rapid a temperature change, but I'm not sure what to try.

The first batch was perfect -- I took a pint canning jar of milk out of the fridge and put it in a pot of water on the stove. I turned on the burner and stuck a sterilized candy thermometer in the milk. When it got to 180-ish I took the milk out of its water bath and into a bowl of cool water on the counter. When it hit 115-ish I stirred in a tablespoon of full-fat plain Dannon, wrapped it in a couple of towels, and left it by the woodstove overnight. The next morning it was lovely, thick, smooth, and just tangy enough.

The next time I made it I poured milk from a larger canning jar into a pint jar. I sterilized the pint jar by pouring boiling water into it, and I suppose this is where I cracked it? But I certainly didn't notice till pouring in my milk and putting it in the water bath on the stove. After a minute or two of boiling I heard a big CRACK and the milk spilled out of the broken jar into the water bath. Sigh.

I think the next time I tried warming the milk in a Pyrex measuring cup in a water bath -- but I think the Pyrex insulated it somewhat from the water bath, because it took FOREVER to get hot enough -- never did reach 180!

Another time I figured I wouldn't worry so much about sterilizing the jar -- just gave it a good wash with soap and water before pouring (cold) milk into it and putting it in the water bath. Not long after it came to a boil the jar cracked.

The next time I put the jar on a rag in the water bath. I think that jar didn't crack till I put it in cool water to cool down to 115-ish.

ACK!

What's your process for preparing your jars, heating your milk, and cooling your milk back down?

Could I just cool the milk on the counter, not in a cool water bath?

I realize I could simply heat the milk to 115 or so and stir in the starter, but I love how creamy the yogurt is when I take it all the way to 180 first.

Thanks for any thoughts!

-- a Hapless but Happy Yogurt-Making Novice

[Magelet]

on one hand, mason jars are designed for thermo stress, on the other hand, it seems like a LOT of stress.

So you are putting cold milk in a jar directly into hot water? And then putting that jar into cold water? it's a lot of big temperature changes, though mason jars "should" be able to withstand a lot of temperature change.

We've only made it successfully once, but what we did was heat the milk in a pot on the stove. let it cool in the pot. when it was ready, pour it into an already sterilized (back before we heated the milk) jar with the culture. stick it under the pilot light. not creamy, but it worked fine.

I'd say try to heat and cool the jars less. the more times the get heated and cooled, the more likely they are to crack.

[russsk]

Why not heat the milk directly in a pot? You can then just cool on the stovetop or you can put the pot into a cool water bath in your sink.

I heat my milk on the stovetop then let it cool. Add culture, then pour into jars and let sit in the oven. Pop in the freezer for 10 min or so, then in the fridge. Comes out nice and creamy.

[Llyra]

I think you're making the process way too complicated.

I make yogurt every day (we eat more than a quart a day, with five of us in the family), and it takes me less than five minutes a day. It doesn't have to be such a fussy process.

I generally heat my milk on the stove in a clean pan, then pour it into a clean bowl to cool (cools faster than in the pan.) When it reaches an ideal temp, then I pour it into the yogurt jars, culture each one, and incubate. The next day, same time, I pop it into the fridge, and do it again with my second set of jars. I sometimes accelerate the cooling a bit by placing the bowl in the fridge while the milk is cooling, covered with a clean plate as a lid.

I've never sterilized anything I use for yogurt making. I just wash in hot water with some soap, rinse well, and let it dry on a clean towel.

[mellifluousmama]

Hi,

Not sure here but it sounds like you put your jar in a hot water bath (pot of water) on the stove? Do you put anything under the jar between the bottom of the jar and the bottom of the pot? That could be your point of a lot of direct heat to the jar. And it would be bumping around when the water reaches a boil. try putting something in between like you would have on the bottom of a canning pot, to lift it off the direct heat. Then your method will work. I think.

[cristeen]

Canning jars are not made to withstand the shock of temperature change like that. Even a lot of Pyrex won't withstand it. You can heat the milk in a pan and then cool it in a water bath and pour it into the jar when it's cooled; you can heat the milk in the jar and then allow it to cool on the counter, but the way you're doing it, you're gonna break jars when you take the jar from boiling hot to cold to boiling hot to cold.

But I do agree with the pp - you're also making this way more fussy than it has to be. I make yogurt in under 5 minutes. If your concern is that your milk is raw to begin with, then why not pasteurize it first, and worry about yogurt later? - not sure why you would be drinking raw milk, but pasteurizing it to make yogurt though.

[Richelle85]

I make my yogurt raw. I just use some leftover yogurt, put that in the bottom of the clean jar, I just put them in the dishwasher, I don't fuss too much. I just put the milk in, close it up. I might leave it on the counter for a little while so it's not so cold. If the fire stove in hot I will sit it next to that for a few hours, not all eight because it runs hot. And I have to turn it because one side will be hotter than the other. Usually, when the fire isn't going, I will just use my cooler. I fill it with hot tap water (120), place the yogurt jar tightly sealed in the middle, close it up and come back eight hours to put it in the fridge. I kind of culture I use has 6 different active bacteria. You can see what you like better, longer will be tangier. I also make cream cheese from my yogurt, but if it's tangy will be make really tangy cheese! Good luck!