Morning Everyone, Made my first batch of yoghurt in my new Lakeland yoghurt maker, half price at the moment, until the end of June,by the way.
Left in machine for 8 hours as suggested in instructions, seemed fairly thick ,I then let it cool before putting in the fridge. Only in for about an hour as I was keen to try! Then I tipped it into another container to store and tried a small amount with fruit stirred into it, but it then appeared curdled, with runny bits and set bits ,tasted lovely though!
Was I wrong to stir it ? or perhaps it wasn’t chilled enough.
sorry for rambling on! Any advice please?

Does the Lakeland machine drain or strain the yoghurt? If not you have made what is sold in supermarkets as ‘set natural’ yoghurt with the thin whey still incorporated with the thicker curds. These are made right in the yoghurt pot they are sold in. Flavours and sweeteners are added to the milk at the start.

Stirring ‘cuts the curds’ separating the whey out. As will adding acids (some fruits) or heating/ cooking (often employed in cheesemaking).

You can either eat your set natural yoghurt ‘as is’ or drain/ strain through muslin cloth to make a thicker yoghurt or fresh cheese (= Skyr, Greek yoghurt, quark, cottage cheese).

Interestingly Ricotta cheese is ‘recooked’ from the whey drained out when making other cheeses.

Thank you for the advice .The machine doesn’t drain the yoghurt. As it was my first attempt it’s a bit trial and error I suppose, and using different milks maybe ,I used organic whole milk this time