troubleshoot my yogurt, pectin?

[maptome]

I tried to make some last night, and it came out weird.  Not completely soured, and kind of slimy or gelatinous, but nothing strange about the taste.  I'm thinking it's because the yogurt I used as a starter has some pectin in it.  I'm letting it culture a little longer to see if that helps.  I used to make a gallon of yogurt a week, and this is the weirdest stuff I've ever seen.  Is it the pectin?  Did it get contaminated?

[rjruiz_415]

How are you making it? I use a cup of store bought yogurt as my starter, and it does come out with a kind of slime like texture:/ I strain it over cheesecloth for a bit to thicken it up. Not too long, maybe a couple hours in the fridge, MAX. I also am letting it culture for 12+ hours.

[maptome]

After 5 additional hours, it tastes appropriately sour.  The yogurt kind of pulls from the sides of the glass jar instead of adhering.  i think i'll eat it and not give it to my LO and try again with a different starter.

Method:

cultured in a sterilized quart-sized mason jar.  scalded milk to 160F, cooled to 110F. 3 cups milk, 1 cup mountain high plain yoghurt.  held to temp in crockpot water bath.  (just realized crockpot was unplugged, derr)

[Llyra]

The first thing I would suspect is that your temp wasn't right-- that it was either too warm at some point, or not warm enough for a long period of time. I can't imagine the pectin would have a big effect, although I've never used yogurt with pectin as a starter. That wouldn't be my first thought, though. How long are you incubating? I do mine for a full 24 hours, for a really firm yogurt.

[krankedyann]

Slimy or gelatinous comes from temp problems.  Try a different incubation method.