Advice on consistency when using a yoghurt maker

JoeA81

I have recently been using a yoghurt maker. You just add a few spoonfulls of yeo valley natural or equivalent 'live' yoghurt, and top up with a litre of UHT milk, plug in and leave for a 8 hours. The milk is kept at 47 degrees ish, and 8 hours later you have a load of lovely yog!

Now I've noticed that the yoghurt I get out, while delicious, is rather stringy. I wondered if anyone had any tips of how to play around with the final consistency. I've tried adding powdered milk, but that didnt seem to have much effect.

Also, the other week I forgot about the youghurt for a while, and found that there was a pink layer over it, and a rather odd smell? I had been re-cycling each batch to make the next one, so I suppose the culture was getting a little 'old'. does anyone know what happened here?

Thanks a lot for any advice.

Mrs_Toxy

Have you tried straining it through muslin to thicken it up a bit? That might help.

shetitasatic

Hi - I filter my yoghurt (made in an Easiyo flask) using the filter jug from my coffee maker, with a paper filter in it. This saves having to mess about washing muslin etc. I usually filter half the yoghurt and add this to the other unfiltered half to get a good constistency HTH

squeaky

This thread may help:-

runny yoghurt

sp1964_2

My yoghurt is lovely and thick but when you spoon it out of the container it is very stringy.I used yoghurt, full fat milk, 1 big spoon of powdered milk and a slosh of evaporated milk. It tastes lovely but the kids won't have it in their pack ups if it's stringy.Any idea how to improve the cosistency?

marmiterulesok

I have a yoghurt-maker,which makes 8 pots of 125mgs (approx) yoghurt.My instruction booklet advises using a pot of natural yoghurt,and not just several spoonfuls.
I always use UHT milk,either semi-skimmed or whole.If using semi-skimmed,I had a pot-full of dried milk powder.Using whole milk,I don't need to add milk powder.

My booklet says that if yoghurt is too runny,it can be because of:

1 use of s-skimmed/skimmed milk with no addition of dried-milk powder

2 movements/impacts or vibrations to the youghurt during fermentation

3 culture no longer active

4 yoghurt-maker opened during cycle

5 fermentation time not long enough

HTH

Marjory

I did not realize you had to keep the yogurt maker still while it was fermenting!

marmiterulesok

Marjory wrote: »

I did not realize you had to keep the yogurt maker still while it was fermenting!

Yes,indeed!

So,obviously don't move the yoghurt-maker either.Removing the lid of the yoghurt-maker during the process will affect the fermentation process.

It is also advisable to keep the yoghurt-maker away from draughts,and if it is cold,it is even suggested covering the appliance with a cloth.