Homemade yogurt

[Gayle]

Does anyone make their own yogurt? I've been thinking about this for a while, and it sounds a bit like homebrewing except using milk instead of sugary liquid! A shop near us sells "yogurt makers", but they seem to be just a kind of thermos flask that keeps the yogurt warm, could I use a regular thermos or would it cause terrible smells? I'd like to keep it as simple as possible, any info or advice would be much apprieciated :)

 

[graysalchemy]

I want to make cheese, stilton to be precise to go with my 19 yr old elderberry port.

My mum used to make it in a bowl in the airing cupboard, not rocket science but then back in those days we put wine in the airing cupboard to ferment :sick: :sick:

 

[calumscott]

My mum had a yoghurt maker when I was little. Seemed to just be a box with 6 pots which kept them warm.

Made lovely stuff... especially with mashed strawberries through it...

 

[Cyclops]

I want to make cheese, stilton to be precise to go with my 19 yr old elderberry port.

My mum used to make it in a bowl in the airing cupboard, not rocket science but then back in those days we put wine in the airing cupboard to ferment :sick: :sick:

Used to? we still do, lol

 

[wherespete]

Does anyone make their own yogurt? I've been thinking about this for a while, and it sounds a bit like homebrewing except using milk instead of sugary liquid! A shop near us sells "yogurt makers", but they seem to be just a kind of thermos flask that keeps the yogurt warm, could I use a regular thermos or would it cause terrible smells? I'd like to keep it as simple as possible, any info or advice would be much apprieciated :)

Yes, we do.

We have a "yogurt maker" that cost us £20 from, er, a Cumbrian-based home and garden supplies company with shops across the country. It's basically a lidded pot that fits into a "chamber" which is heated to a constant 45 degrees centigrade. Having looked on the web, many similar products are available from other retailers.

Mix a litre of UHT full-fat milk with a table spoon of dried milk powder, add a starter (couple of teaspoons of existing yogurt) and leave in the yogurt maker for 8 hrs. I usually gently warm the milk to take the chill off it before stirring in the milk powder, although I would expect that leaving it in the maker for an extra hour would have the same effect.

It's just as good as the shop stuff and the more you make the cheaper it is.

If your thermos can keep the temperature constant then I would have thought it would duplicate the process. Give it a go and see what happens. If it works you've saved £20 and if it doesn't then you'll not have wasted very much money finding out. :grin:

 

[Gayle]

Thanks for that Wherespete :) Our thermos is only 400ml capacity... and I can't find the lid :wha: Having researched online it seems it can be done in a slow cooker as well, the milk in jars and kept warm wrapped in towels in the oven. The shop in town is selling the Easyio yogurt makers for about £10, I might invest in one to save on fiddling with slow cookers, towels and oven etc! It sounds so easy, I'm just about to try it.

I don't really like thin yogurt, so if it works I might strain it to get a thicker yogurt, and add sugar and honey or vanilla to experiment with flavours when it's done. I'll report back when finished!

 

[Nero]

All you need is a large jug...warm a pint of milk so the chill is off it. Put into said jug and mix it with a tablespoon of natural yoghurt. Put into your airing cupboard and cover with a towell. Next morning you will find a pint of yoghurt.. Easy :

 

[Gayle]

Yay it worked I heated the milk to quite hot, then cooled it down to about 40 degrees, lots of hanging around with a thermometer but it got there eventually. I added a few tbsp of dried milk powder to help it thicken too. I put the warm milk into various glass jars (coffee and honey jars) and put in the slow cooker surounded with water that was also at about 40 degrees. Lid on (slow cooker not turned on or anything) and wrapped in towels, it sat about 8 hours and when I checked the jars there was no wobble from the yogurt inside, they were put in the fridge to cool overnight, and this morning I've had a lovely yogurty breaskfast :mrgreen: Gonna try starining some to make a greek-style yogurt too.

Nero, I might try it in the hotpress next time but I'm worried what might happen to a jug full of milk in there, it's a rather chaotic mess of towels and sheets ... as long as I don't forget about it for a few weeks ... :sick:

The science behind it is a bit similar to homebrewing (except with milk), as the Lactobacillus consumes the lactose in the milk, producing lactic acid to give the yogurt it's tang, and denature the milk proteins to make it firm up. It was a fun little experiment to try and I will do it again. The cost of the milk was 35p for 1 litre and that got me nearly a litre of yogurt, so it's cheap to do, I'd recommend it to anyone :thumb: Thanks for your helps :)