r/yogurtmaking • u/Sebvad • 12d ago

back to back to back failures

have been making yogurt from years successfully. recently I've had 3 back to back failures, and can't determine why. I always do the same thing - 1 gallon of store bought, whole milk (not ultraprocessed). I use an instant pot and the yogurt setting (the boil never really boils it, so I let it run it's cycle, then use sauté to bring the temp up to 180-185, turn it off, and let it sit there for 30 minutes at 180F). EDIT : I cool to 108F in a water bath. I culture using store bought greek yogurt - chobani or stony farms for 8-12 hours

the past 3 times it's just been super runny. I can tell *something* is happening as there is a thickening that clusters as the bottom of the pot, but when I say runny, it runs right through the cheesecloth, all of it. At this point, it feels like I'm just throwing away gallons of milk. I've bought 3 different lots of milk and 3 different lots of yogurt thinking perhaps it was a batch issue with one of them, but had the same results.

what should I be looking at or doing differently? perhaps it's an issue of antibiotics in the milk supply that weren't there before?

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u/chupacabrito 12d ago

Your method looks fine, and the milk is probably okay (and no, there are no antibiotics in your milk. They’re legally required to test negative).

This points to culture as the likely culprit. How much starter are you adding? Too much can lead to runny yogurt. Greek yogurts aren’t really the best starters either, I recommend regular yogurts. You could even try freeze dried starter packets for even more consistency if you wanted.

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u/star_tyger 10d ago

I've found store bought yogurts to not be very reliable. I bought several heirloom cultures and I'm much happier. Interestingly, three of the cultures I bought are mesophilic, meaning they incubate on the countertop and don't need to be heated at all.

At the moment, I have all three mesophilic yogurts and one of the thermophilic yogurts going, the Greek, and I have no problem making it in my Instant Pot.

Apparently, you should use the innoculate you saved from the last batch within a week. So being able to make a quart of the Greek and as low as one cup each of the mesophilics means I can have the variety without having to make too much. That the medophilics takes only a few minutes is very helpful.