After some of the excellent posts I've seen on this forum relating to advice on recipes (thinking of the recent Zopf speciality in particular) I thought I'd try it out for some advice on yoghurt making.

Recently I bought a yoghurt maker.

It's very simple: all you have to do is heat up some milk at around 80 deg cel. for some 10 minutes to kill off any unwanted bacteria, then cool to below 40, add a "good" culture (or some live yoghurt) and leave in the yoghurt warmer for 6 - 12 hours.

Whilst the maker works okay, the yoghurt I'm making is a little slimey - it hangs together a little too much and the consistency is not as good as what you buy.

I have experimented with milk - and normally go for bio-milk or milk straight from a farmer but this does not help with the consistency.

Any advice on this would be very welcome.

Also, I am wondering about adding fruit and perhaps some sugar. I have tried the latter and found that it changes the whole process. My deduction here is that sugar in some way aggravates the bacteria. But if this is the case, surely adding fruit (such as strawberries) would also change the process and adversely affect the quality of the yoghurt.

Thanks again for any advice.

PS I'm on to beer-making now, but this I do have some experience in!!

Cheers - and a happy Christams to all!!