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Yogurt – Too Thin
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Ok so I have re-read posts on yogurt. I have done the crockpot (by far the easiest) and the stove top/dehydrater methods and although they taste fine and are very good it is to thin.
Its so thin that we usually just add some berries throw it in the blender and move on. You can not use a spoon. Wondering for those of you who make your own how you get it thick?
Once we found the secret our yogurt has turned out perfect and thick every time. There are a couple tricks you must know:
- The yogurt bacteria don’t like to be crowded. If you use too much starter the end product will be thin. You only need two tablespoons of starter per gallon of milk. This was the key for us.
- You have to bring your milk up to 180 degrees F and then cool it down to 110 degrees before adding your starter. If you add your starter at a higher temperature it will kill the bacteria. If you don’t heat the milk up then the proteins aren’t prepared and other bacteria can be present and compete with your yogurt bacteria. I know those of you using raw milk might not like going up to pasteurization temperature like that, but you’ll never get consistent results if you don’t.
We also like to start with a greek yogurt having multiple yogurt cultures. Find one that doesn’t have ingredients other than milk and the bacteria.
We’ve tried various methods to keep the yogurt at the right temperature but we’ve settled on glass jars in our large food dryer. It works well and doesn’t need any fiddling during the process.
Here’s the site where we learned our best techniques:
thanks doug! Can you tell me what the “large food dryer” is? Is that the same as a dehydrator? And if so do you keep it at 110 then and for how long? off to read the site you linked. Thanks again. ?? maybe to much starter ??
Another fun thing to try, which I did a couple of years ago was make cream cheese out of yogurt. When I did this id didn’t turn out as thick as cream cheese, but more like greek yogurt, rich and thick. You simply pour your yogurt into a tea towel or a cloth bag and hang it over a large mouthed container like a pitcher and let it hang for a day. The whey drips down into the container (and then you can use it for something else, like culturing veggies) and what remains in the cloth is a nice thick and creamy yogurt. It was fun and tasty!
Can you tell me what the “large food dryer” is? Is that the same as a dehydrator?
Yes, a food dryer or dehydrator is the same thing. We have the Excalibur 3900. They are not cheap but it has easily paid for itself with the amount of yogurt and dried garden produce we’ve made. It works really well and is large enough to handle a lot at once. It can probably fit ten to twelve mason jars.
The only downsides are that it’s pretty large if you keep it on your counter and it looks like it was designed in the 1970s and never updated.
And if so do you keep it at 110 then and for how long?
We go for 110 to 115 degrees for seven hours.
Another fun thing to try, which I did a couple of years ago was make cream cheese out of yogurt.
Technically it’s yogurt cheese, but it does have a similar consistency to cream cheese. It usually has a little bit of tartness that cream cheese doesn’t. It also has a lot less fat if you use low fat milk to make the yogurt. We like to use it to make herb spreads.
OHH wonderful ideas.. we have a dehydrator that sits on the floor and is 3 feet tall. We use it for everything and has also well paid for itself. Thanks everyone..
I actually got a yogurt maker because I’m paranoid about keeping it at the right temperature and food safety. It seems like if we don’t heat the milk to just about boiling first, it’s too thin. Also, the longer you let it be cultured, the thicker. We use whole milk, and I think that thickens it too. I leave mine in the yogurt maker 10 hours, then you have to chill 3 hours before eating (I don’t know why) But it is so thick, it won’t pour out if you turn it completely upside down! But lower fat milk has never been that thick for me. My sister does the crock pot in the oven over night method and hers is very thick also. I’m sure she doesn’t use whole milk.
Also, if you’ve diagnosed and done EVERYTHING else with your yogurt and it still is runnier than you’d like, adding some powdered milk before heating will often help. We do this when we want it more like store-yogurt consistency.
We’ve experimented a lot with techniques and different levels of milk fat, adding powdered milk, and leaving it to culture for a longer time. Our conclusion is that none of those make a significant difference in thickness. But not using too much starter has been the key. (All assuming you have the temperatures right.)
That said, using whole milk or 2% will be give you a creamier, richer yogurt. But that’s different from thickness.
Leaving the yogurt to culture longer will eventually get to the point where it thickens no more but becomes more tart.
Thanks for the tips. I’m interested in trying to use less starter to see if my yogurt comes out thicker.
I incubate mine in a cooler for at least 8 hours. I usually have between 6 and 8 quart jars of yogurt in there and then add four quart jars of hot tap water and cover it all with a towel and keep the cooler closed. Since I don’t have a dehydrator (and no room for one either) this works well for me.
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