Mesophilic: How to fix thin yogurt? — Positively Probiotic (2024)

FAQs

Mesophilic: How to fix thin yogurt? — Positively Probiotic? ›

Increase the fat content by either adding 1/2 & 1/2 or heavy cream. Use whole fat milk. Denature the proteins in the milk by heating to 180 degrees Fahrenheit and then cooling back to room temperature. Then add your cultures and ferment as usual.

The milk was not held at 180 degrees long enough. The longer you hold milk at that temperature the thicker your end result. Try to keep the milk at 180 for at least 30 minutes. The yogurt maker (or alternative method) is not maintaining the correct temperature.

Mesophilic Yogurt

Simply add the culture to cold milk and set it out on the counter where it is a consistent 70 to 77 degrees until it thickens. It does take a bit more care and time than thermophilic yogurt. Usually between 12 and 18 hours, but can take up to 24 hours.

STRAIN THE YOGURT

Straining the yogurt removes some of the water content (whey), leaving the fats and proteins behind. The longer you drain away whey, the thicker your yogurt will become. Removing all the whey will result in a thick probiotic yogurt cream cheese.

While the watery stuff might not look the most appealing, it's perfectly safe to eat and isn't hinting at any kind of spoilage, nutrition expert Amanda Sauceda, RDN, tells SELF.

The texture, appearance, mouth feel, consistency, and viscosity of yogurt can be improved by adding stabilizers (such as gelatin and pectin) to the milk base. Stabilizers can also prevent the whey off of yogurt and improve its consistency (51).

A plain cup of yogurt, one that specifically reads as having live, active cultures, can be added to the failed yogurt as a way of reviving the cultures and making for a wonderfully thick and sour yogurt.

Fermentation time: The longer you ferment the more tart, and thicker, your yogurt will be. Different cultures work at different rates, but as a general guideline: 6-8 hours produces a mild yogurt, 8-12 hours a tart yogurt, and more than 12 hours produces a sour yogurt.

Yogurt sets up significantly once it cools down, but it takes awhile to do so. Don't be tempted to incubate yours longer because it is thinner than you'd like. I usually let mine go until it's just solid, with no wiggle left in it. Overnight in the fridge is usually long enough to firm it up completely.

The temperature is too low. If the temp is below 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the cultures will not ferment properly and the milk will stay runny. The temperature is too high. If the temperature is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the yogurt will ferment too fast and will also render the yogurt runny.

Can I strain yogurt to make it thicker? ›

The longer you strain the yogurt, the thicker it will be. To make plain yogurt into Greek yogurt, strain overnight (10-12 hours) to 48 hours. Check consistency every 12 hours and stop straining when you reach the consistency you like.

As a general rule, when probiotic cultures are subjected to temperatures of 120 degrees F and above they start to die off [1]. It's the reason fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, and miso, marketed as containing “live” beneficial bacteria, can't be exposed to high heat during the cooking process.

Greek yogurt is just what you get when you take regular yogurt, plop it in some fine mesh cloth, and allow some of the liquid in it—whey, to be more precise—to slowly drain out, resulting in a thicker yogurt with less moisture.

One of the ways you can get a better firmness in yogurt is to add powdered milk. This increases the volume of milk solids, so the resulting yogurt is thicker.

"Pure yogurt is quite soft and watery. This recipe adds gelatine and cornstarch like most store-bought brands. The result is a velvety smooth, thick creamy yogurt."

The easiest way is just to use paper towels or coffee filters [though you can use cheesecloth] and put yogurt in it and let the whey drain out into a bowl or cup. Remove whey, enjoy your strained yogurt.

Squeeze Bag Yogurt Rehydration:

This method works well because you can work the mixture better with your fingers than you could with just a spoon. For one large serving, add one cup of dried yogurt bark to bag with one cup of cold water. Squeeze the bag until the yogurt is smooth, about ten minutes.

Yogurt sets up significantly once it cools down, but it takes awhile to do so. Don't be tempted to incubate yours longer because it is thinner than you'd like. I usually let mine go until it's just solid, with no wiggle left in it. Overnight in the fridge is usually long enough to firm it up completely.