Homemade Yoghurt - Help needed plse.....

euansmammy

Firstly I do hope this the right place to ask

I made my first batch of homemade yoghurt a couple of days ago as per the recipe and instructions that I found on an old post on here - what a disaster! It smelt like yoghurt but was as runny as milk - I used my old easiyo contraption - I warmed the milk, put in 2tbsp of bio yog and 2tbsp of skimmed milk powder ( i could only find skimmed) but I was so disappointed with myself when it didn't thicken.

Can anyone please tell me where I went wrong? After some searching online I read that I may have used too much bio yog - yet other sites say to used 1/3 of a cup of bio yog - so now I am totally confused.

Are there any yoghurt experts on here that can advised me please.

Kind regards.

euansmammy

Oh dear I was hoping there would be a yoghurt making guru on here that could show me the error of my ways

I will try again tonight and see what happens.

fester

Do you have a thermometer suitable for the job? I haven't made yoghurt for a long time now but I remember it could go very wrong if the milk wasn't the right temperature.

I used an insulated flask thing, I assume similar to an easy-yo. Used to warm it with hot water first.

I used to use normal milk and add some dried milk (which is all low-fat) if I wanted it to thicken.

In those days (20 years ago mainly) it was difficult round here to get big pots of live yoghurt at reasonable prices - and it was usually a bit old and gone slightly sour.

Brighton_belle

euansmammy wrote: »

Firstly I do hope this the right place to ask

I made my first batch of homemade yoghurt a couple of days ago as per the recipe and instructions that I found on an old post on here - what a disaster! It smelt like yoghurt but was as runny as milk - I used my old easiyo contraption - I warmed the milk, put in 2tbsp of bio yog and 2tbsp of skimmed milk powder ( i could only find skimmed) but I was so disappointed with myself when it didn't thicken.

Can anyone please tell me where I went wrong? After some searching online I read that I may have used too much bio yog - yet other sites say to used 1/3 of a cup of bio yog - so now I am totally confused.

Are there any yoghurt experts on here that can advised me please.

Kind regards.

With an easi yo, you don't warm the milk. Use cold milk. But fill the easi yo to 'the line' with boiling water. This then brings the mix to the required temp. HTH

fester

Brighton_belle wrote: »

With an easi yo, you don't warm the milk. Use cold milk. But fill the easi yo to 'the line' with boiling water. This then brings the mix to the required temp. HTH

That sounds very 'hit and miss' - the final temp could vary wildly depending on whether the milk was straight out of the fridge or nearer room temp. ??

BookLover_4

I also use all my old Easiyo equipment but with a recipe I found on here and it works every time. Use UHT milk and half fill the big Easiyo container. Add 2tbsps of yogurt (just make sure it's live) and 2-4 tbsps skimmed milk power depending on how thick you want it. Give it a really good whisk with a fork until all mixed in and then fill to the top of the container with the rest of the milk and then stir again (I tend to put the lid on & shake it like a cocktai!) Fill the Easiyo flask up to the line and then plonk the container in. Leave it overnight then put it in the fridge to cool - easy peasy!

Brighton_belle

fester wrote: »

That sounds very 'hit and miss' - the final temp could vary wildly depending on whether the milk was straight out of the fridge or nearer room temp. ??

I appreciate it sounds very hit and miss. Maybe it is becasue I always used UHT milk (thereforer out of a carton, not fridge, and I missed that theOP wasn't using UHT) but when I used it regularly a few years ago, I had a 100% record of good yoghurt, so I presume the design of thing was well tested vis a vis the instructions it came with. They wouldn't sucessfully sell if they were hit and miss with results IYSWIM. (But then they use cold water from the tap mixed with their own packet of milk power stuff.)

euansmammy

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I was using fresh milk and brought it up to 106 degrees (I used my jam thermometer) as per instructions on an old post on here, whisked in 2 tbsp of live bio yog (yeo valley) and 2 tbsp of skimmed dried milk powder. Filled easy yo up to the top of the baffle with boiling water put the top on and left it there until the morning.

I think that I will give it a go with UHT as then I don't have to faff with the heating up of the milk.

Fingers crossed I get it right this time.

Caterina

I have just been successful in making my first batch of sweet, thick organic yogurt.

In the past it tasted nice but was very liquid, no matter what I did, and I had to strain it, then it would take the consistency of yogurt. I used to warm the (full fat) milk to a lukewarm temperature, then mix a couple of spoonfuls of live yogurt, put it in a flask and let it stand overnight.

Then I talked to an old Indian lady neighbour of mine and she told me that I need to boil the milk first, let it cool to lukewarm, then mix the yogurt starter, then put it in the flask and cover with a blanket, let it sit overnight.

I did exactly what she told me to do, using full fat organic milk and Greek Style organic Yeo Valley yogurt (two large spoonfuls to a litre of milk). I boiled the milk, then once it was boiled I let it cool down for a couple of hours, I went out and when I came back it was just lukewarm. I mixed the starter, put everything in a warm large-mouthed flask, wrapped the flask in a blanket and left it overnight. This morning I poured the already thick-ish yogurt into a clean sterilised plastic tub and put it in the fridge. I just had a cup of the most delicious, sweet, thick yogurt. Success! Hope this helps.

Newgirl_2

BookLover wrote: »

I also use all my old Easiyo equipment but with a recipe I found on here and it works every time. Use UHT milk and half fill the big Easiyo container. Add 2tbsps of yogurt (just make sure it's live) and 2-4 tbsps skimmed milk power depending on how thick you want it. Give it a really good whisk with a fork until all mixed in and then fill to the top of the container with the rest of the milk and then stir again (I tend to put the lid on & shake it like a cocktai!) Fill the Easiyo flask up to the line and then plonk the container in. Leave it overnight then put it in the fridge to cool - easy peasy!

Hi Booklover,

Do you mind if I ask which yoghurt you use? We've tried the same receipe that you use a couple of times now and the last two times just didn't work. It smelled ok but was runny. We're trying to work out what we're doing wrong and the only thing left is that we used the wrong starter. Any help would be appreciated...

Newgirl