Yogurt. Attempt 2. Fail.

I can cook.  I'm not too terribly bad at cooking, even.  But for some reason, my yogurt is a complete fail.  And it bothers me.  I follow the directions.  I do what I'm told to do, and the yogurt fails.  I try again, I do what I'm told to do.  Again, a fail.

And I know what it is, too.  I can't seem to keep my yogurt warm enough for the bacteria to thrive in the milk.  The problem is, I don't really know what else I can do to keep it warm.  I stuck it in the stove with a bunch of boiling hot water.  Still not warm enough.

I'm pretty sure I shouldn't even attempt to make cheese until I've got yogurt down.  I'm trying to make a yogurt cheese, but because my yogurt's so runny, it just seeped right through the cheese cloth.  Another fail.

It doesn't help that every website I read up on says things like, "It's practically fool-proof" and "don't worry, this isn't rocket science!"  Tell that to the two gallons of milk I've ruined so far.  I suppose I need to buy a cooler, line it with blankets and then put a kettleful of hot water in a jar in with them just to make sure they stay warm enough.

Because we've got an early summer and every air conditioning unit in the house is going at full throttle, it's probably cooler in here now than it is in the winter.  And yogurt likes warmth to grow.

I'm tempted to dump this batch.  I suppose it'll work well enough in a smoothie.  I just don't know where to go from here.  I'm frustrated.

I'll try again.  Eventually, I'll get this right.