[food] notes on yoghurt-making

[kaberett]

Using the Instant Pot, with Collective Dairy yoghurt as an initial starter. I'm not quite getting the results I want, so here's some in-progress notes, with input v welcome.

Fundamentally still getting a yoghurt that's more watery and Textural than I'm aiming for; it would be fine if I were straining it to be Greek yoghurt but that's not actually the aim here.

Things considered: am using whole milk (though it is gay? but that shouldn't particularly be a thing? at the very least it's not upsetting the buttermilk?); have started being more careful about not letting condensation drip from the lid into the pan; have removed skin from milk after cooling and before adding culture.

Some bits of the internet reckon you get a better texture if (1) you boil it for an extra 5-10 minutes with the lid off after completing the first stage of heating (via the magic of the "more" button); (2) you cool on a wire rack/in cold water only, not with ice; (3) you let it incubate for closer to 10 hours than to 8; (4) you do not agitate it before cooling all the way to fridge-temp from room-temp post-incubation, which would mean bunging the inner pot (covered) into the fridge and only subsequently portioning it up into tubs.

Which I think is a sufficient number of variables to be getting on with for the next attempt, and in the meantime I should aim to finish up the current batch...

Comments

[ewt]

Can confirm that letting yoghurt anywhere near ice results in bad texture, so that's one of the first things I would try differently. Good luck with it though!

Collective Dairy yoghurt has a thickener in it, I think, rather than being straight yoghurt; I don't think that should be enough to cause the texture issues you describe, though.

[sporky_rat]

When I was making yoghurt, anything I tried with a thickener didn't do so well while anything that was just culture and dairy did fine.

I also sometimes forgot about it and it did the whole cool at room temp and that was some thick yoghurt. Absolute unit thicc MERL MURDERBIRD slang type of thing.

Science, I guess?

[kaberett]

Thank you for data! <3

[sporky_rat]

DATA and SCIENCE and uh, yeah that sort of thing.
(I am Quite Exhausted but have new towels and am excited to take a soak to see how they do. More SCIENCE.)

[kaberett]

You are quite correct that the Collective Dairy uses pectin, which I hadn't registered. Thank you for flagging up, and also for the ice advice! I will report back with how the next batch goes...

[conuly]

Gay milk... homogenized?

[kaberett]

Yep!

[applenym]

I make yogurt on the stovetop: heat whole milk to 180 degrees F and hold it there for about 20 minutes. Let cool to 115 degrees F. Stir into the pot about 1/4 cup store-bought plain greek yogurt (I use FAGE brand in the US). Portion into 16 oz Mason jars. Seal up in a styrofoam box packed with towels and leave at room temperature overnight—I've left it up to 14 hours, I think.

This usually results in respectably thick yogurt, though certainly not Greek-level thickness. I do get a couple spoonfuls of grainy texture at the bottom of each jar. I usually cool the pot in ice water, so I'll have to try doing without the ice and seeing if that helps things.

I own an Instant Pot, but I've never tried using its yogurt function. I keep meaning to try it, but I have a routine with my stovetop method that works for me...

[kaberett]

♥

[vass]

Thickest yoghurt I've ever made: Car Yoghurt.

This requires a sufficiently hot summer and a sense of the ridiculous.

Yes, I boiled the starter and milk mixture, put it in a clean jar, wrapped it in a towel, and put it in my car, parked in the sun on a 40 degree day and left it there to set. I can't remember how long. It definitely worked.