Homemade Yogurt

I've been making homemade yogurt for about 4 or 5 years now, first for health reasons, now for taste & cost reasons too. I get asked a lot how to make yogurt! I messed up about 75% of my first 20 batches, but I think I've got it down now. No fancy equipment needed, just a food thermometer. Start small when you first try it.

1 gallon milk
4 TBS plain commercial yogurt (I love brown cow cream top)
Large pot
Thermometer
Whisk
Ladle
5 Quart jars
Small Cooler
Towel (optional)

These pictures were invaluable for helping me learn to make yogurt. My directions are below, because I don't do what they say to on the site because they are making a special yogurt for really extreme digestive issues. They let it ferment for 24 hours, which makes very tart yogurt (but full of good bacteria.) 4-6 hours of fermentation is plenty for most people.

Make sure everything is clean, if you've got contaminants it can prevent the yogurt from setting up.

Instructions: (Number correlate to pictures):
1. Same as in picture, but I use 1 gallon full fat raw milk when I can get it, or bgH free when I can't. Whole fat milk makes much creamier yogurt. Turn burner onto med-low temperature. (On my burner it goes from 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest. I put it at about a 3 or 4.)

2. Do not bring it to a boil. Set the timer for 10 minutes, then whisk the milk well when it beeps. Continue to set the timer for every 5-10 minutes and whisking until the milk starts getting warmer (around 140-150.) Now set the timer for every 3-5 minutes and whisk every five. This helps keep the milk homogenized and from burning on the bottom. Heat it to 180 degrees (not 212). I put my whisk on a clean plate to keep it and the counter clean. This will take a while
(maybe 45 minutes?) so I usually do something else in the kitchen in the meantime. If a skin starts to form, I just whisk it back in. You can skim it off, but if you're whisking every few minutes, the skin won't form much. If I'm in a hurry, I will turn the stove up to a 6 or 7, and stir starting at every 5 minutes. This way only takes 15-20 minutes, but you're more likely to burn the milk. Note that smaller amounts of milk will heat faster!

3. Fill sink with ice water about 4" deep. Put pot in ice water. If you're careful, you don't need to cover the pot, and it will cool faster. I occasionally check the temperature. This goes a lot faster than you'd think. It takes around 5-10 minutes, I think.

4. Cool to around 110 to 115 degrees, not 100. In a glass jar, put 4 tablespoons of brown cow cream top plain yogurt. I've had the best results with this brand, but any kind will do. You can even use flavored yogurt in a pinch, but it'll give all your homemade yogurt a faint flavor. Using a clean ladle, scoop out some milk and put in glass jar with the yogurt. Put the top on and shake until smooth. Pour it back into the pot and whisk well.

5. You can ferment the yogurt right in the pot, but I usually need my pot before the yogurt is done. So I pour it into 5 quart jars (it'll fill about 4 -1/2 jars.) I used to have the same heating pad as in the picture and medium works well for me too. At least until I plugged it in and it exploded. Apparently new heating pads often have an auto shut-off feature which isn't such a feature for making yogurt! Yes, I bought a new one, and it didn't work out too well because it did turn off. Now I just put the quart jars into a small cooler. If you don't have a small cooler that will fit the jars, you can put it in a large cooler, but just tuck in a towel all around the jars.

When I first made yogurt this way, I periodically checked the yogurt's temp to make sure it was at 110. Now I just leave it and don't worry about it. I leave the yogurt for about 5-6 hours. If you forget the yogurt, it's ok, you can still use it up to 24-26 hours, but it'll just be more tart. When the yogurt is done, put it in the fridge for 4 to 8 hours. Don't disturb it till it's done, because it's still fermenting and setting up.

6. You can eat it at this point. Or strain the whey as described in the picture. Use the whey as an acid to soaking water for beans, or add it to baking or smoothies for extra nutrition.

Other tips:
I freeze my plain yogurt in ice cube trays. Each ice cube is about 1TBS, so when you want to make yogurt, take out the cubes when you start making the yogurt. It's 1 TBS per quart you want. If it's not thawing fast enough, place in a glass jar w/lid in hot water. I don't usually start new batches with my homemade yogurt because it gets runnier each time you do.

Homemade yogurt IS runnier than store-bought yogurt. Don't compare the two, as they are really two different foods!

I sweeten with stevia, honey, maple syrup, agave, or sucanat. I've found that it takes just about 1/2 tsp of white stevia powder to sweeten the whole gallon. However, you want to start by adding small amounts until you get the sweetness you want.

My favorite way to sweeten yogurt - I add about 1-2 TBS sucanat, 1 tsp vanilla, and 4 scoops of white stevia powder to 1 quart of yogurt and stir it up. Wait five minutes and stir again so the sucanat is dissolved.

Sometimes we make "pie filling" to add - just mix berries or fruits with water in a pot. In a glass jar, mix about 1TBS arrowroot powder and 2 TBS water (shake). Add to fruit/water and cook till boiled. Cool before adding to yogurt. We also bought some plastic freezer jam containers and I put yogurt in those for individual serving sizes. You can put the pie filling on the bottom of the container for "Fruit on the bottom" style.

Favorite uses: smoothies, popsicles, yogurt with granola and berries (parfaits, or just dump it all together), use in baking for moist baked goods, in place of sour cream, and so on.

For an extra friendly bacteria, mix half and half with kefir. I purchase kefir at the store, and mix it into sweetened yogurt. I've tried making kefir, and it was not good. Someday I'll learn!

Our family of 7 eats 2 gallons a month. They'd probably even eat more than that, but that's all I make.