Thanks Grainlady! Everything you mentioned is true. I really appreciate your explanation. I too use kefir grains to make milk kefir. Little man and I love kefir but my husband won't touch it. That's why I still make the regular yogurt. I do pay a lot of attention to temperatures when making yogurt at home. Use a thermometer in the milk while heating and cooling. I always let it cool to 118F, remove from heat before getting the yogurt cultures ready. I usually use 2 - 4 tablespoons of room temperature yogurt from the last batch. You're right, as time goes on the cultures tend to become weaker so I do use fresh cultures (judged by the flavor of the last batch) from time to time. By the time I add a couple of ladles of warm milk into the cultures, the temperature will be between 110 and 115F. I always clean and warm the jars and keep them warm in the incubator that I built until the milk is ready. Once the jars are filled, they go into the incubator immediately. Once again, I keep another thermometer in the incubator to ensure proper temperatures. If the temperature seems not high enough, I throw a large towel over the box. When the thermometer indicates too warm I take off the towel. If everything goes well, the yogurt will set in a bit over 4 hours. If not, I let it sit up to 8 hours before calling it quit. Since the jars are in an incubator that locates in the corner of the kitchen, nobody ever bumped into it. No animals at home so it's a very safe place for making yogurt. I use only milk (sometimes add 1/4 C of powdered milk if 2% or less fat milk is used) and cultures in my yogurt. A year ago when I was the yogurt diva with yogurt turned out like the Old Faithful, I used a can of coconut milk in with 5 cups of cows milk. These days, I am happy as long as I get yogurt instead of milk. I will play with flavors again once I get the consistency back under control. I have a feeling that it's the heating pad that I use in the incubator. It's pretty old. Only the low heat setting works; both med and high are toasted. I have been using the low setting for a couple of years and didn't have problems until last year. I guess I need a new heating pad! LOL Once again, thank you for your advice. Your expertise is definitely a gem to the forum. Al

1. If you haven't checked out the information found at Cultures For Health, that is a great place (link below). 2. Check your local library for some "yogurt" books. A good book on the subject will give you all kinds of recipes, hints, tips, and should have a chart for troubleshooting, so you know what went wrong. I'm not sure what you mean by "stove-top" method, but you do need to heat the liquid, and you can do that on a stove or in the microwave to 190-210-degrees F. That's the first stage. Second stage is cooling the mixture (place it in a container in a cold water bath in your sink (add some ice or blue-ice blocks to chill it quickly) and adding the starter/culture. The third stage is incubating. Temperatures over 120-degrees F will kill the bacteria. A temperature cooler than 105-degrees F and it won't ferment, or will take much longer. 3. I prefer plain Stonyfield Farm yogurt for a starter (aka culture) because it has six live cultures (bacteria), where most other brands of yogurt only have two live cultures (bacteria). You can freeze the Stonyfield Farm yogurt (or any brand for that matter) in 1-2 T. amounts in an ice cube tray, pop them out when completely frozen and store in the freezer. When you need a new culture, defrost the amount you need in the refrigerator and then bring it to room temperature before adding to the liquid mixture. You can use a portion of yogurt from a previous batch as a starter, but eventually you will need a new culture when you notice your yogurt isn't getting as thick, or taking much longer to develop the curd. 4. Get a good instant-read thermometer or a yogurt thermometer. A yogurt thermometer (mine is a Yogourmet and came with my Yogourmet Yogurt Maker) will have the temperature window for when to add the culture highlighted so it's easy to read. If you add the culture at the cooler end of the "temperature window" (110-120-degrees F / 43-48-degrees C) the yogurt will be more mild - the warmer it is, the more tart it will be. 5. Whichever method you choose to use (I prefer an electric yogurt maker, but I've used any number of other methods), once you have everything ready to ferment, DON'T move/knock/disturb the yogurt while it is fermenting because it will break the curd and you might end up with less-than-perfect yogurt. 6. Don't stir your yogurt once it's done fermenting or it will turn to liquid yogurt. If you do stir it and it turns to liquid, it will remain liquid (use in a smoothie ;-). 7. Once it's done fermenting, it will thicken even more as it cools in the refrigerator. 8. Draining Yogurt: You can use any number of gadgets to drain your yogurt, and yogurt strainers/yogurt cheese makers (they go by various names) are available. Among the things I use is a permanent coffee filter, which fits nicely in my 2-cup Pyrex measuring to catch the whey. I found it on a clearance table for $3 and have used it for draining yogurt (or kefir curd) for many yeas. You can line a colander with clean muslin, several layers of cheese cloth, etc. As the whey drains out of the curd, the curd gets thicker. Don't throw the liquid (whey) away, that's where the highest amount of protein is. I use whey in many things, such as lacto-fermentation - and you'll find many uses for it by doing a search on-line. Now that it's getting hot and we are working outdoors more, I add it to lemonade. It's a great thirst quencher full of nutrients and probiotics. Add it to a smoothie..... The greatest portion of whey drains off in the first hour. If you let yogurt drain for only 5-10 minutes, you will remove a surprising amount of whey. A cup of yogurt gives up approx. 25% of its volume in 5-minutes; a pint 18% of it's volume, and a quart only 12% (source: "The Yogurt Gourmet" by Anne Lanigan). Also from "The Yogurt Gourmet": -Drained Yogurt - drained for about 10-minutes. -Thick Yogurt - drained at least 30-minutes (thick but still soft, will not retain its shape on a flat surface). One hour's draining is "ideal". -Yogurt Cheese - drained for 8-hours or longer. Consistency of cream cheese, will hold its shape and retain the mark of a finger indentation. -Yogurt Cream - heavy cream made into yogurt. Note: One quart of yogurt will yield approximately 1-1/3 c. of yogurt cheese (about 2 c. of whey is drained off). -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Cultures For Health

Yogurt sieves? I'll have to look about. I'm intrigued by the yogurt cheese cheesecake. A bit off topic, but since yogurt cheese has been mentioned, I'm posting the recipe for one of my favorite party nibbles. You gotta love hors d'oeuvres that you can make days or weeks ahead of time and just whip out on 5 minutes notice and still impress people. I'm including my yogurt recipe 'cause it was attached for the sake of anyone who hasn't made it yet: Yogurt Heat 1 quart of milk to the boiling point for just 1 minute. Cool to 115 degrees (lukewarm to the touch). Pour into a heavy ceramic bowl. Mix in 2 T of fresh, plain yogurt (must have active cultures). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm place. An oven with a pilot light is good, I use a goose-neck desk lamp bent low over the bowl. I know some people who use a heating pad set on low under the bowl. According to the recipe, 110 is the ideal temperature, but remember that people have been making yogurt for thousands of years without benefit of thermometers. Essentially, it should be warmer than youd like a bath to be if you were going to spend a half an hour in it, but as warm as youd like a bath to be if you came home on a cold winter night and wanted to warm up. The yogurt should be ready in about 5 to 8 hours. Tilt the bowl to see if it holds together. The longer you allow the yogurt to sit, the more sour it will be. Line a colander with a thin cloth, such as a dish towel or muslin. Pour the yogurt into the colander and allow it to drain for at least an hour. Refrigerate. Note: It does not help speed or improve the process to add extra yogurt starterin fact, it can make for a lower quality product. The cultures have to have enough food to poop enough yogurtsorry, I couldnt help myself. You can make yogurt with 2 % milk if you like, but it takes longer and you need to strain it more. Yogurt Cheese in Olive Oil Pour home made yogurt into a sieve lined with a thin cloth, such as a dish towel or muslin. Fold the ends of the cloth over the top of the yogurt, top with a plate big enough to mostly cover the yogurt but small enough that it wont get hung up on the sides of the strainer as the yogurt gets pressed down. Weigh the plate down with a large jar or lidded tupperware bowl full of water and set the sieve over a bowl to drain. Be sure and empty the bowl from time to time so that the yogurt isnt sitting in its own whey. I generally do this overnight, but times can vary depending on the weight etc. You want a product about the texture of cream cheese. Form the yogurt cheese into balls about 1 " in size, rolling them in your hands. Pack the balls into sterilized jars with an herb mix sprinkled over each layer. Fill the jar with extra virgin olive oil. Store for at least 2 days to moogle the flavors, and up to about 3 weeks in the fridge. For the herb mix, I usually use dried red chilli pepper flakes, fresh rosemary & oregano (minced), fresh garlic sliced paper thin and salt. Then I add other things to suit my fancy. Herbs, minced onions, spices etc. Get playful. I dont know how to measure amounts, but remember that only a bit of the flavored oil will make it onto the cracker or bread with the cheese, so you almost cant put too much "stuff" in the oil. The "cheese" balls should be served with their spiced oil.

Get one that uses an electronic probe at the end of a cable that can be left in the meat throughout cooking. Usually around $30 or so.