making yogurt? [Cooking]

2009 Apr 15
is anyone making their own yogurt? i grew up on homemade yogurt and remember having pour on lots of honey to get it down (not eating it was not an option). in today's new york times food section there is an article on making yogurt quickly and easily at home and now i want to try it. we always used a yogurt maker, but the article does it just in the oven.

it also recommends whole milk, but i wonder if a 2% or 1% would be ok. i like thick yogurt, so i often drain it a bit anyway.

here are the articles:
www.nytimes.com

topics.nytimes.com

2009 Apr 15
I used to do it all the time in the oven when I was in university. And I always used skim milk, so 1% should be just fine. I'd use Hewitt's yoghurt to start it off for me - which I think is still available here in Ottawa and is probably still active.

If you have to drown it with honey, though, I'd say you just don't like yoghurt! I use skim milk because I find the less fat, the more twang you get from the bacteria.

I've been meaning to try it again ... I sense a new video coming on :-)

2009 Apr 15
maybe i will wait for your video and then try it.

i didn't like my mom's yogurt when i was growing up. i could swear she made it extra sour. now, i love plain yogurt. though i still like a little ottawa honey in it sometimes.

2009 Apr 15
Let me see if the yoghurt my wife has in the fridge right now is active, and if so I'll start it today. Just got milk this morning so there is lots :-)

2009 Apr 15
I make yogurt Zym, using a 1 L yogurt maker that we've had maybe 25 years. I like it thick and creamy and use 2%, stirring about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of powdered milk into the cold milk and letting it rest for 10 minutes before heating in the microwave. Once I started using a thermometer I never had a batch not turn out so I highly recommend it's use - relying on bubbles, steam, etc. is less accurate. Reading in the past suggests taking the milk to 185F and holding it there for 10 minutes to get the proper protein denaturing. I use plain Astro or Liberty as a starter on occasion but probably I use Beatrice Fruit Bottom cups most often, just taking a couple spoons off the top. Just this morning a visitor (who is also a yogurt maker) commented on how creamy my yogurt is. This afternoon I used some to make a tasty mango lassi for an after work pick-me-up with one of the now nicely-ripened Ataulfo mangoes from Produce Depot I picked up last Wed. Yum!
I hope you enjoy your homemade yogurt once you've got it made.
Cheers! Andy

2009 Apr 15
Thermometers are something a brewer has a lot of Andy - and accurate ones at that :-) I tend to use them in most of what I do. If one of the boys complain their food is too hot, we haul one out to check whether it really is hot, or they are dilly-dallying because they just don't want to eat :-)

I'll go with 185F for 10 minutes - thanks.

2009 Apr 15
Thanks for the article reference HFF. We go through a lot of yogurt in our house and I've always wanted to try to make it as it is getting expensive! Mango lassi are very popular in our house especially with the Ataulfo mangos - so sweet! I prefer the Liberty yogurt, so would be very happy to make something of similar quality. Off to read the article and awaiting your video Zymurgist.

2009 Apr 15
Just starting to make it now - got tied up with some unexpected stuff this afternoon. So video probably won't be there til tomorrow

2009 Apr 16
Part 1 :

Part 2 :

The link in the video back to my website is now working : www.urbanhippy.ca

2009 Apr 16
Wow, too cool! I sent this to the brewers' list because it is afterall fermented - and a buddy of mine sent me the following technique which I am going to try out right away, and probably use from now on! To cut to the punch line you make it in sealed mason jars which you can keep sealed in the fridge til required! Some simple googling even brought up the original website he talked about : biology.clc.uc.edu

My friend gave me permission to cut-and-paste his text :

---snip---

Last time I tried a new way (for me) of making yogurt and it was really nice and had a few benefits. I'll describe it for you in case you're interested.

First get a small cooler (you can buy them for $10, but any insulated water proof container will work). Then get a few 500ml mason jars. Disinfect the mason jars (you'll see why in a moment). Scald the milk and then cool it. You can force cool it by placing the pot in the sink with cold water and save some time -- or if you make the milk using powdered milk you don't have to scald it.

While you are waiting for it to cool, add 55 degree C water to your cooler. This will make a water bath for keeping the yogurt at the right temp.

When the temperature of the milk is down to 50 degrees C (a little higher than normal) add the yogurt starter. Mix it with a disinfected whisk. Then pour it into the mason jars and screw on the (disinfected) tops. Put the mason jars in the water bath in the cooler and close the top. The whole thing should be around 50 degrees C. Wait 3 hours and the yogurt is done.

I got this technique from a website written by some university prof (can't remember where now). The idea is that at 50 degrees C, a few more potential pathogens are killed and it isn't so far outside the optimal temperature for yogurt. Also by disinfecting everything, you have a much safer environment. He says you should also make the starter from a brand new, unopened container of yogurt (at about an 8:1 ratio of milk to starter).

There are a couple of advantages. First, keeping the temperature in this system is trivial (as we brewers know). You can make as much yogurt as will fit in the cooler. But he also says that if you're careful and don't open the jars, the yogurt will last 1 or 2 months in the fridge. Then when you get to the last jar you simply use part of it as a starter for your next batch. This is why all the care in cleanliness.

2009 Apr 16
Very cool! I will have to try this.
Thanks!

2009 Apr 16
I just went out to buy some more ingredients - there is another video coming realy soon now :-)

2009 Apr 16
Great, I have started a batch, will report on my success! I had just sterilized some mason jars for something else when I read this thread so changed my plans as yogurt is something I eat by the bucket full.

2009 Apr 16
I was just out looking for a cooler for that other technique and didn't find anything as cheap as I'd like, but I thought of a couple of other methods to achieve the same end.

I can just immerse the mason jars in a pot of hot water, and put it into the oven overnight. I already know the oven works fine for making yoghurt. So this will make it even better

I also thought that I could just make a styrofoam hull for a regular mason jar box. When all the slots are full with either yoghurt, or "blanks" of hot water, there should be no need for hot water between the jars to maintain the internal temperature for the required amount of time.

2009 Apr 16
Saw an episode of Good Eats once where Alton used an electric heating pad to maintain the temperature of his system. The little adjusty-dial thingy made it fairly easy to find the right setting to keep the temperature constant.

2009 Apr 16
OK, made another batch with the mason jar / water bath method - love it! It's in the oven now. I'll do a video once I've done it a few times. But it was really easy.

Also to note up front is that 2 bags of milk (2 of the 3) perfectly filled 4 of the pasta sauce mason jars right to the top with only a few tablespoons left over!

I started by putting the jars, lids, spoon, whisk and other implements into my pressure canner and bringing it all to 15psi then turning it off. Did that ahead of time.

I put 2 litres of water into the microwave for 9:99. I was guessing, but in my unit it came out pretty close to the required 50C. I'll do a bit of fine tuning of that time.

At the same time I preheated my oven to 170F - it's lowest setting. I left it running until I put in the pot later on.

Brought the milk up to 185F and turned off heat and left it for 10 minutes. Then I put it into the sink with cold water and constantly stirred with a sterile spoon while monitoring the temp - took it out at 55C and put it onto the stove.

Poured one cup of the hot milk into one of the jars, then added 1 cup of yoghurt starter and whisked it all really well (round handled whisk, rubbed between palms really fast). I then made sure the milk was the required 50C and added the 2 cups of innoculant back into it, and stirred really well with my spoon.

Then 1 by one I removed each jar from the canner, filled it, and capped it. After they were all done, I put them into the (11L) pot, and poured the 2 litres of 50C water in there and put it into the oven, and turned off the oven. I needed more water so I put in more to the MW and heated it to 50C, then added it. That was just about the right about. In the photo here I snapped it immediately and didn't wait for the thermometer to come up to temp, but it came right in at 50C!

I put the lid on and closed the oven (then took the boy to Istanbouli now that it is just down the road - we walked :-))

I love this new method! Total time was maybe 20 minutes over 2 hours. Very conducive to making one's own yoghurt.

2009 Apr 16
nice one momo, thats a very cheap alternative to the oven etc...
i use my dehydrator, works perfect. I also do mine in 1L mason jars and keep them sealed till needed.

2009 May 9
New videos with the water bath method

Part 1 :
Part 2 :

2009 May 10
Zym,
Just watched your video clips and wow you really inspire me to make some yogurt with this method. As I said before I eat ton of yogurt and now I wiil be able to pass some on to my family as well.

2009 May 10
Cakelady - you can use a cooler instead of a pot in the stove. i.e. a camping cooler. That was the original way according to where I got this from. But for me this is a bit easier since I don't have a cooler that is suitable.

1 bag of milk (1 of the 3) makes about 1500ml of yoghurt.

2013 Jan 22
Got some plain yogurt with active cultures on my way home from the city Monday and tried making it this morning. I used 4 cups of milk and 2 tables spoons of store bought yogurt. Heated it to 195 for 10 minutes. Set in a cold water bath until the temp dropped to 120. Used a bit of milk to mix with pre-made yogurt. Mixed it back in with the hot milk. Placed in dehydrator at 115 for about 3.5 hours. Drained off a bit of the whey, popped it into the fridge. After dinner, scooped some out and topped with homemade granola and maple syrup - a bit tart but tasted great. I tried the original starter yogurt as a comparison - the texture was a bit different but the taste was spot on the original.
WARNING! I warmed the milk in a water bath using glass canning jars. The bottom of one broke out. I will be using a double boiler on my next try.

2013 Jan 23
Just put a trivet in the bottom of the pan and it will prevent the jars from breaking. i.e. inside the pan