[echospiritwarrior]

I feel like crying!

We went to a raw dairy on Saturday and I brought home two gallons (a serious luxury as we can't really afford it now). After I got my bread going I started my crock pot yogurt. I've made it many times this way and have NEVER had a problem!

What could have gone wrong? I used an old culture of yogurt I'd made as a starter. Made it the same way I've done many times before (two and a half hours on low, let it rest for three hours, mix in the culture and let it culture for about 6-8 hours).

What can I do with this flopped yogurt!? I need quick suggestions! Thanks!

:

 

[russsk]

Perhaps your starter was no longer very robust? Did your yogurt thicken at all? If so, you can strain the whey and that will help thicken it up. If not, I would just use it like you'd use milk or buttermilk.

 

[russsk]

Forgot to ask - do you usually use raw milk for your yogurt? If not, you might want to try increasing the time you let it culture. I find that I need to let raw milk go for about 12 hours to set up enough for my tastes. It ends up pretty tangy, but we like that.

 

[echospiritwarrior]

no I do not normally use raw milk, and I did go ahead and let it culture longer (read that it sometimes needs it). It doesn't seem to be thickening at all I added the culture at 7pm last night and it's already 8am, so I don't think it is going to set

So would you just set it all back in the fridge, no harm done to the milk?

 

[beepsandclicks]

Same thing happened to me once, too. I just used it for cooking. It was a little tangy like buttermilk so worked like a dream in pancakes and cornbread. I guess it would be totally drinkable too if your family likes the taste of kefir or buttermilk...

The only 2 things I can think of is perhaps your milk didn't heat to 180 or for some reason it was still too warm when you put in your starter. Do you think your thermometer is broken, perhaps? Or if you were using goat milk I've heard it doesn't set up as well as milk from a cow.

I use raw milk for our yogurt, too, and I guess heating it to 180 technically renders it *pasturized* (though I'm not positive about this) but I reckon it still has some of the raw benefits. Hopefully. Anyway, the yogurt is the best I've had!

Debra

 

[mbravebird]

Cultures for Health has counter-top yogurt starters that don't need heat, so they're perfect for raw milk. You get truly raw yogurt!

 

[echospiritwarrior]

thanks Debra. I'll just pour it into a pitcher and use it for cooking. May taste it once it cools off (it smells really good- kind of like buttermilk)!

I appreciate all the help.

bravebird I really look forward to looking into the counter top yogurt culture! Sounds divine!

Honestly, I didn't check the temp in the crock, I've always left the heat on low for 2.5 hours and it's always worked.

Might have been my yogurt culture, it was at least a 4th gen from home-made and it had been in the fridge a bit. Oh well, now I know!

oh and it was cows milk.