Hello,
I have made yogurt 2 times with yogurt culture for bifido yogurt and fresh whole milk.
The first time I did it with 1 liter of milk and an envelope and the yogurts were well thicken, as the yogurts were half full of the glasses, the second time I used 2 liters of milk with 2 envelopes, but they have been thickened half and half not.
I use the application to make the yogurts and I follow all the steps, boil the milk, let it cool down to 45C, I add the envelopes, mix, fill the glasses and put them in the yogurt maker and put them for 12 hours.
This second time the ones that didn’t thicken I had almost another 12 hours but they have remained liquid.
I would appreciate your help to know where I have gone wrong.
Thank you very much and greetings.
Hi Radarman,
We have some questions
- Youn said half jars please let us know what you mean by that - half of the mix in the glasses in that particular batch or half of the glasses in that particular batch?
- Please let us know the exact steps you have taken?
- Please let us know the milk used
- Please let us know the yoghurt maker used
- Have you mixed them in the same container?
For now, please allow more time until we got the answers and then we can advise further. Please simply move the jars to the side of the maker where the yoghurt has set. Please take out and refrigerate the ready ones.
Ussually when make yogurt is very recomended to make the first batch with starter form the sachets and 1L of milk and then reculture further batches using the yogurt from the first batch. This because the timing is favorable and because the consequent batch is more predictable.
Hi,
First of all, thank you very much for your prompt answer.
1.- I mean that the glass was only half full with the milk and culture mixture. I think that the maximum capacity of the glasses is 150ml so there would be about 75ml in each one
2.- Similar steps both times:
- Boil the milk
- Put it in the sink with cold water to lower its temperature to 45C
- Pour the culture into the milk and mix it
- Wait half an hour
- Fill the glasses
- Put the glasses in the yogurt maker
- Start the yogurt maker for 12 hours
The second time the yogurts that I saw that they hadn’t thickened, I put them 4 more hours and then 4 more hours once agai, but even so, they have not gotten to thicken at all
3.- I have used this milk
https://www.lacturale.com/en/product/fresh-milk/
4.- I attached photo of my yogurt maker
5.- If both times I use the same pan to boil the milk, the only difference between the first time and the second time is that in the first ne the milk came out a little from the pan because it didn’t stop boiling in time
If I understand correctly, you recommend using a yogurt as a starter for the following batches, but according to what I have read, this cannot be done more than 2 or 3 times, is it?
On the other hand, I also understand that by adding more culture envelopes, the milk will not thicken more.
We will start explaining backwards,
The number of recultivations depends on the sanitation of the milk. You can reculture for years if you manage to restrict/limit the contamination to the minimum and if you boil the milk in advance and pour boiling water over the container before use this easily can be done.
You must add 1 sachet per 1L and the incubation time would be as per the leaflet. If you use more milk or more starter this would increase the incubation time. On the other hand, if you use a spoon or 2 of the ready yoghurt you will be able to reculture for a shorter incubation time.
The best way to boil the milk in the microwave and in the flat container because the milk cannot burn or if in a flat container cannot overflow.
So this is important here: the yoghurt-making devices are made for recultivation, however when making the first batch the multi-container yoghurt maker usually cannot distribute the temperature equally which is not a big deal when reculture but it deliver what you have described - some of the jars have set, other not yet.
We recommend keeping the jars open with no lead in order to improve the temperature distribution.
The milk seems just fine and if you have any of the batches set please upload an image of it in the milk section here: Milk Bank and in this way you could help other people.
So please remove the lids of the jars and allow more time. Another reason could be that the starter was not distributed properly in the common container. It could be useful if stir the mix a few times before adding it to the jars.
Another thing could be the over incubation. When the temperature is not distributed equally there are 2 scenarios. At some places within the yoghurt maker, the temperature is higher and the yoghurt mix has over incubated - in this case, the yoghurt mix became separated in 2 halves - liquid and thick part due to the higher temperature. So make sure that those 4 jars are not over incubated. The second scenario is when the temperature in some parts within the yoghurt maker is lower. In this scenario, please remove the lids, and allow more time as you keep an eye.
The incubation time varies and depends on the milk used mainly the amount of the milk, but also temperature and sanitation.
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HI,
Thanks again to answer me on Sunday.
I did both times without the lid in the jars, is it better to incubate with it?
I will do a new batch and look with jars are not incubate to see if allways are the same ones.
Thansk a lot for this tips.
You can experiment with that of course, but usually, the temperature distribution is better with no lids on.
You just check now if the yoghurt which did not set is separated and allow more time if not.
Please don’t forget that when reculture you should stop the fermentation after 3-6 hours as it quicker,so keep an eye on it
