Set yoghurt

[igenlode]

This time round I tried putting my yoghurt pot to bed with a hot water bottle, which (and/or higher ambient temperatures overnight) resulted in a crop of set yoghurt similar to that produced by the Thermos method; the 'creamy' yoghurt evidently simply hadn't finished ripening.

This does mean that, as before, once you actually decant it into fridge-sized containers you end up with a lot of curdled-looking solids floating in whey rather than the smooth set disc in which it originally forms; I tried straining the remains at the bottom of the pot through a hair sieve, but it didn't work that well. (It wasn't fine enough to give clear whey, while a lot of the yoghurt got stuck in the sieve and wasted.)

Comments

Again, from remembered experience:

[capri0mni]

If you're going to strain yogurt, you need to put several layers (folded) of cheesecloth in the sieve, and rest the sieve over a wide mouth jar, and let it drain slowly overnight in the fridge)

Re: Again, from remembered experience:

[igenlode]

That makes sense -- I was thinking I needed something like a filter paper.

The 'strained' yoghurt did actually have a familiar thickened consistency; it's just that rather a lot got wasted.

Re: Again, from remembered experience:

[capri0mni]

*nod*

[watervole]

Could you make it in a batch of fridge size containers all wrapped up in a thick towel with a hot water bottle in the middle?

[igenlode]

I hadn't thought of that; I think it probably wouldn't work because those plastic pots cool down in no time at all. I was relying on the heat capacity of the heavy earthenware pot both to cool down the boiling milk and to retain and give back that heat over the next few hours -- and that was why I doubled the quantities, too. If the milk goes into yoghurt tubs lukewarm, I don't think any number of hot-water-bottles are going to keep it at culturing temperature overnight :-(