Yesterday night I started a new batch of yogurt, and with quite some trepidation after the "runny" batch I produced last time. Not that I really should have been- after all, I believed my analysis of the causes of the runniness was sound, and my planned fixes seemed appropriate as well. Yet, there is always that residual worry- in this case that it might be my starter turning bad after all.
Well, the news is good. I stayed with the hot milk as it cooled to make sure I would pitch my starter the moment my pinkie could tolerate the heat of the liquid for ten seconds. I wasted little time wrapping the covered bowl into my beach towel and transferring the wrapped bundle into the oven. And as planned, I left the oven light on as the yogurt was incubating over night, as to "harvest" that little extra heat emitted by that tine light bulb.
And the result? Very satisfying: Firm almost like store yogurt, and the same pleasant tartness I have grown accustomed to. So it seems fair to say it is a too low incubation temperature that causes runny yogurt, at least with my personal ingredients and procedures.
With this settled, should I just leave it now and stop tweaking with the formula? I probably should, and I most certainly won't. After all, I am still curious whether I can make firm yogurt without the addition of milk powder, by using full fat milk instead of the 2% milk I am using now. The last time I tried I failed. But then, I also wondered if my incubation temperature was warm enough that last time when I failed. So I think the time has come to try again.
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