Home-made yogurt

My husband likes yogurt for breakfast, but of late, it has gotten more expensive. So, now that he is retired & has the time, he wants to try making it himself. I'm all for it, if he wants to. I know it can be made in an Instant Pot, which we have. (So no need to buy a special machine just for that.)

But since neither of us has ever made yogurt, I would like to know if any of you have. If so, any hints would be welcome. Thanks.

 

I tried homemade yoghurt along with kefir during covid but was never happy with the results (used a kit). Plus the nutrition info remains a bit of a mystery. I also tried to do Greek style which took a lot of time for very little yield additionally.

But... The process is simple enough if a little time consuming in terms of passive waiting.

 

Kefir and Greek are quite healthy(Yogurts).

 

I use store bought dannon yogurt as a starter. Edit ( full fat plain)
Clean and sanitize all utensils and containers.
My way.
In a stainless steel 8 quart pot with a lid I slowly bring 1 gallon of whole milk to 190°F carefully not to boil and stirring constantly.
After tempature is achieved remove from heat and cool to 90° F.
In my 2 cup measuring cup using the 90° milk add 1 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of yogurt, stir well.
Stir in this mixture to your pot.
Let ferment for 12 to 18 hours until the milk is set and gives a clean break. Keeping the milk temperature at 90 to 100°F until it's set.
I use my food dehydrated for that and set my temp to 90°F.

I separate mine into 4 one quart canning jars and put lids on.
Refrigerate when finished.

I found if you use low fat milk that will make the yogurt tart.
Letting it fement to long will also give it a tart taste.
Different brands of milk will work and taste differently.

To make it thicker I stir in a half cup of powdered milk before I heat the milk.
To make "greek" yogurt I use this.





Hope this helps

tp

 

So to make cultured buttermilk.
Find a buttermilk that you like to use or like me drink and has active culture as a starter.
My way.
Open one gallon of whole milk, remove about 1 quart replacing it with your favorite buttermilk.

Put lid back on and shake well.

Loosen lid then put it in a place where it can get to and stay about 70° F. I sit the gallon in warm water to get it to temperature first.
After fermenting about 18 to 24 hours, buttermilk.
Refrigerate after fermented.

Don't use ultra pasteurized milk.
It won't work for this.
Low fat milk does work but will be thinner than whole milk.
You can use your homemade buttermilk about 3 times as a starter. Then buy some again to start over.


Good luck!

tp

 

@PLANofMAN buying the ultra-pasteurized milk is about the bacteria. Using it allows you to skip the step of boiling the milk.

 

Yogurt has been ultra pastastureized to eliminate the unwanted pathogens.
Using raw milk does work, but can make unreliable results.

tp

 

Rich, you are obviously more cultured than the rest of us.

I eat Greek yogurt daily for the protein and probiotics, but I haven't tried to make any. Stickin' with Fage and Kirkland for now.

 

Years ago, I consumed raw milk as an adult (didn't grow up with it, always heard it was good and wanted to try it) and ended up in the hospital with a serious and persistent fungal infection. My Bride grew up on a farm, and she can drink raw milk with no ill effects. I wonder if the process of making yogurt renders all the potentially harmful bacteria safe? Assume so since it is boiled for several minutes.

 

Well, I have been known to wear a tux on a regular basis.

Fage with a 1/2 tsp. of quality jam for flavor is my go-to lately.

 

Well as far as I know, boiling milk isn't what you want.
190°F is not boiling it, 212° is boiling and that's to hot.
Only have to have your milk at 190° for a few seconds, not minutes, to kill off anything bad.
But it also does something to the chemical makeup of the milk.
You can make yogurt and a couple other fermented stuff with ultra pasteurized milk.

Now you need milk that was pasteurized at 160°F to make cheese and cultured buttermilk.
Ultra pasteurized milk won't work for these.
I've tried, it won't work.
Not for me anyways.
tp

 

When it comes to heat sterilizing a liquid it's all about time and temperature (and pressure if that's a variable that you can control such as with an autoclave). Either high temperature and short time or lower temperature and longer time. 190 works because you're doing it for longer and The temp is low enough that the milk won't curdle. Whereas you can sterilize water if you boil it for 1 minute but that's boiling temperature which would curdle the milk.

 

I have watched this video, and have made this Probiotic yogurt for several months. My wife and daughter have had constipation problems since an early age. This fixed it overnight. Me, I couldn't sleep but 5-6 hrs a night, since I was very very young. Now, I can sleep 7-9 hrs. Watch the video, and ask questions. I don't follow the recipe, exactly.
L.Reuteri and L.Gasseri are game changers.
99 degrees for 36 hrs.

 

Oh, fyi, my father-in-law has had debilitating nerve pain in his feet, for years, along with other issues, lack of sleep included. He started with the two probiotics and made yogurt, per my recipe, and within 2 days he was sleeping through the night, without nerve pain. Btw, I dont heat my mixture to 180° anymore. I have better luck by just starting and using it cold, before the yogurt maker.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDV3V6JV/?tag=thshde-20


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Well, we’ve picked up the ingredients. We got a small container of plain yogurt with active cultures, for the starter, plus a half-gallon of whole milk. Tomorrow we will make yogurt. More when we have results.

 

We were hoping to start this over the weekend. But my mom had a health scare- she’s doing better now. So finally today, the yogurt is on. We’ve been making notes about prep time (e.g. time for pasteurization & cooling) as we go.

 

I hear that curated herring flavors are all the rage this season.

Glad to hear your mom's doing better.

 

I’ve been herring that too.

 

I originally thought it was just a red herring but I guess not.