Yogurt Maker

[lwheelr]

The top of your fridge, in the back where it is warm, will usually do to incubate yogurt (might not in mid-winter in a cold house - but if you can feel the heat from it, it should be enough). Pasteurize the milk (it gets a thin film of bubbles on top when it is hot enough - no big bubbles left), cool it down so it is no longer HOT (I hold my hand on the outside of the pot - if I can keep my hand there, it is cool enough), put in the culture and set it on top of the fridge at the back, cover with towels.

I've also done it in a gas oven that had a pilot light, with just the pilot light on. We did it that way up at Scout Camp this summer, in a large 2 gallon bowl.

I do mine in a large flat bowl usually. As long as it is covered, it works. Usually do 2-4 quarts at a time, and my ungrateful kids just eat it all - my husband even helps them! There's no such thing as too big a batch!

My mom used to preheat her oven on warm, turn it off, then put the yogurt in overnight to incubate. The residual heat worked fine. Could do that after baking something, just make sure it is no longer too hot inside.

Laura
Mom to Eight, Web Designer, Milker of Goats, Feeder of Chickens

 

[freemotion]

Never thought of using the top of the fridge! Mine is in a cooler next to the woodstove right now, nine quart bottles. Laura, you don't need to pasteurize the milk from your own dairy animals. I'd pasteurize storebought, though, if that is what I were using.

 

[lwheelr]

I've always pasteurized it for yogurt to make sure I am culturing the right bacteria. I don't pasteurize it for other uses, just yogurt.

Laura
Mom to Eight, Web Designer, Milker of Goats, Feeder of Chickens

 

[freemotion]

Yeah, I did too, at first....but you don't have to! Try it! You'll know instantly if something bad got cultured. I did another 9 quart batch a few months ago and 8 were perfect and 1 was funky. It was very easy to tell the difference. I make it right in the jars that I'll store it in, the same jars that I filter the milk into after milking.

 

[lwheelr]

Can't afford to take the chance on losing a batch at the moment - milk is too precious.

What do you do with it if it DOES go off? I mean, even the ducks and chickens won't eat SOME things, and we don't have pigs!

Laura

 

[freemotion]

Between the hens, the dogs, and the pigs, it always gets eaten. Whoever is producing gets first dibs on the best goodies.

 

[lwheelr]

BEST yogurt starter I've found is actually Danactiv, Vanilla flavor. Makes a good quick set, and those little bottles are perfect for doing about 8-16 cups at a time. Yeah, it has some stuff in it I don't usually eat, but no more than your average commercial yogurt (including the "organic" ones).

Of course, as soon as I started buying it for making yogurt, it became really hard to find... I can find blueberry and strawberry, but vanilla is now difficult to locate.

We are resource challenged out here, it being Wyoming, so we have to get creative.

Laura
Mom to Eight, Web Designer, Milker of Goats, Feeder of Chickens

 

[Mackay]

Like freemotion I make it in quart jars... in a picnic cooler buy the wood stove... but in the summer I add two of those red granny hot water bottles with water as hot as I can get it from the tap and pack with towels...

perfect yogurt everytime.., at least lately.

I have concerns about Dannon and their activia product, that it might be a GMO microbe... no other yogurt anywhere makes people poop like this one.

 

[lwheelr]

No problems with digestion with Danactiv. In fact, it has been pretty helpful for me, my husband and kids. Less fungal infection problems, more stable intestinal functions (a big deal with Crohn's).

I've used it mostly because it is available here, and works well.

Laura
Mom to Eight, Web Designer, Milker of Goats, Feeder of Chickens

 

[fancy]

Tortoise, your inbox is full. Package received, all intact, yes you DO have mad box making skills.

Thanks and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Fancy