BTW, I am sure you do the same.

I wrap some thich towel around the pot to save on electricity.

dcarch

Also, I cut a 1 inch thick foam board to cover the pot with a hole just big enough for the SV machine to go in.

dcarch

Wrapped a towel ( just seeing your suggestion lol and have a piece of foam i can use!) thank you!!

All done. Exactly 7 hrs at 115°. Very pleased and so easy . 3 qts. Edited to add this yogurt has approx 20 g of protein per 8 oz serving.

Thanks for the primer, I've made 5 batches and using a pasta pan with built in collander above hot water ala a double boiler setup works okay but I've had to keep a close eye to turn the water on and off throughout the process... I snug the quart jars into a wool oven handmit and place a wool placemat over the top ... my last batch was too runny, 2 batches were kind of lumpy (not quite like cottage cheese , haha) . so I clearly have some work to do.

I'd heard of sous vide but didn't really know it was a rather simple device, I thought it was a large thing with its own pan or something.

anyway, thanks, I'm considering getting ahold of one now !

This particular brand is CHEAP! There are expensive ones . It is fine . The temp was accurate to 1-2 °.

There are a lot of reasons it can be too runny likely didn’t stay warm enough long enough . Could be need a new starter or use a bit more.

Need to make certain you treat the initial milk at 180° for 20 min. Not hotter or cooler. Whole milk gives a thicker yogurt.

I am impressed with your attempts!! c

We have a local farm doing whole milk that's not ultra pasteurized, I think I haven't kept it at 180 long enough and also I've been inattentive and it has gotten to 200 ... my latest attempt took forever to get to 115 after adding the starter (I think I let the milk get down to 100 before adding ) because I was trying to be gentle so likely it was only at 115 for the last 3-4 hours and more like 104 -108 etc for the first 3 .. thank you for your suggestions and support! I've gone different directions about how much store-bought starter to add, does too much cause it to be lumpy ? I've read too much info without taking proper notes so I really appreciate your tips. In short, I must pay more attention !

I made pancakes with the runny stuff that were great, so I'm not wasting it (I also am enjoying it eaten like a soup, haha with apple sauce) . and I'll try again soon.... my shopping got messed up today because I forgot my glass return bottles after I had to dismantle my keyfob to put in a new battery, sigh, so easy to get distracted . Also it took awhile to get my dh to stop buying 2 quart tubs at Costco, that took my motivation away for awhile.

One of the things I've gone round and round is how to keep it at the right temp, so am very interested in that sous vide device now that I understand more what it is - I think I saw one on food network that looked ridiculously large and ruled it out without looking into it!

Sous vide circulators are so great, especially the stick kind! You can use any vessel--I've often used a mid-sized ice chest type cooler. I haven't done yoghurt, but the cheese curds I need to make the hoop cheese for blintzes needs to be held at a constant-ish temperature for 12 hours. With the circulator, it's set and forget other than making sure to add water if it evaporates too much. Lat62, unless you just don't have $100 (or less, even) for it (as in you're not making your own just to save money short term), it'll be a really big help for your project.

@lat62 yes temp to high ruins the proteins. temp too low it won’t culture and too much starter it won’t set up. I think 1 tbsp per qt of yogurt is about right.

I set a pot into a pot to make a big double boiler to heat the milk initially. I hang the candy thermometer on the side and watch carefully.

It is recommended that you get the temp up pretty quickly stabilize for 20 min then cool quickly . I set the pot of milk into a large bowl and add ice around the base. I watch the thermometer . It is a pain to cool too much but better that than kill the culture ! 120° will kill it.

I just quickly looked at causes for problems:

1) lumpy is uneven mixing in of culture

2) or not to 180° long enough to convert protein

3) old culture or contaminated.

The Sous Vide I have was $38 I think from Walmart ordered on line. Cover the pot while using as DCarch suggested.

Good luck!