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I made homemade yogurt tonight, except it didn't turn out as I expected. I followed this recipe with a few exceptions.

I made it with three quarts of milk instead of 4 (or two). I modified the amount of "culture" I used accordingly.

I also added flavorings after the milk had cooled and the new culture extracted. I added some lemon juice (thought it was lime, mixed up the bottle). And added some Jelly Belly Green Apple Syrup for icicle pops or something.

I also put it in 8 oz jars instead of 32 oz jars.

The jar with the new culture/start in it, turned out fine. Nice and solid. However, the other jars are about half liquid and half solid. Did adding an acid (lemon juice) mess something up? Is this expected?

What do I need to do next time to make sure this doesn't happen. I haven't tasted it yet so I don't know if it's good or not.

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We also faced the same problem and found that when the quantity of water is more, the problem persits. The solution is very simple. Boil the milk as long as you wish. (Make sure you dont evaporate the liquid part). Depending on the consistency of the thickness of the milk, stop the heating and proceed with subsequent steps.

Also, make sure that the extracts that you add, should have low water content.

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  • Of course! Both the lemon juice and the flavoring from Jelly Belly had high amounts of water.
    – Malfist
    Apr 23, 2012 at 12:41
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    Alternatively, to save time, add some dry milk powder to get some extra protein. This is a good idea even if not adding extra liquid.
    – Sobachatina
    Apr 23, 2012 at 14:52
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My wife and I have made over 100 gallons of yogurt over the past year or so. We use a yogurt maker with 4 quart jars of milk in them.

We always make plain yogurt and add the flavorings and other additions like jellies or jams afterwards.

The separation you speak of is because lemon juice is acidic and it will cause the milk to curdle. The same thing is true of adding liquid yogurt as a culture - add too much and it will cause the yogurt to separate. We get fantastic yogurt with as little as a tablespoon of yogurt as the culture - just make sure to use a blender. You are trying to mix billions of bacteria evenly into the warm milk.

View my website if you want to see more of our experiences. www.mryogurt.info

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  • Thank you for that information, I will be sure to checkout your website.
    – Malfist
    Apr 30, 2012 at 14:01
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The separation is because the milk is too hot. Bring it down to 140 and you shouldn't have a problem.this is for plain yogurt..

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