How To Fix Your Failed Yogurt
Have you tried to make yogurt and had it fail? You’ve followed all the directions and heated and cooled it to the right temperatures, and yet its still a milky mess after the set incubation time. Or worse yet, its somehow been over heated and has started to separate into curds and whey. Well have no fear. Here are a few tips of how to salvage your yogurt fail.
Draining Ricotta. Photo courtesy of NewfInMySoup
How to save your unset milky mess: If, when your 5 hours incubation time is over, you go to check your yogurt and find it is still milky and has not set. Do not fear. It is probably because the temperature during the incubation dipped below the 100-110 degrees necessary to make the yogurt set. Just restart the process, reheating the milk to 185 and then dropping it back to 110. Stir in a fresh cup of premade yogurt and incubate again. Here are some tips to maintain a more constant temperature.
How to save your curdled curds and whey: If, when your 5 hours incubation time is over, you go to check your yogurt and find it has seperated into a curdled mess with a yellowish liquid, this is because it was overheated. If the temperature during the incubation time goes above 120 degrees, your yogurt can overcook and seperate into curds and whey. If this happens, the yogurt boat has sailed. However, you can easily turn this mess into fresh ricotta!
To make ricotta simply pour your curds and whey into a strainer lined with a cheese cloth. Allow to drain overnight in the refrigerator. And the next day you will have a delicious ricotta.
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Good morning, I made yogurt last night by taking 1/2 gal. milk, brought to 180, cooled to 110, added starer and 1 1/2 cups powdered milk plus 3/4 cup honey. Into jars then into the oven. This is the first time it came out like think, warm milk! Because I use the honey is it still ok to reprocess? Thanks for any insight.