Homemade yogurt

[RioG]

I finally got around to doing this in the instant pot and made the second batch yesterday, it was done this morning. 

The first time I used a 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt i had in the fridge, using skim milk.  It worked, and was good but not great.

Yesterday I used a 1/2 cup of that yogurt and again used skim milk.  So much better for some reason!  I don't know why, but it tastes richer even with the skim milk.

I am so excited about this.  Low cost, no plastic containers, so easy to make. 

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[merigayle]

strain it after for an even better yogurt.

[RioG]

strain it after for an even better yogurt.

I actually really like this consistency.  It's thicker than store bought yogurt, but not as thick as greek. 

Dh got some whole milk for me to experiment with for the next batch.

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[GeekMaster]

Sue and I have been making yogurt in our instant pot for some time now.

We use whole milk and let the fermentation go for 9 and a half to 10 hours.  We find that there is so little whey that straining is unnecessary and the result is very smooth.

The starter was Stonyfield plain. It's yummy

[RioG]

Sue and I have been making yogurt in our instant pot for some time now.

We use whole milk and let the fermentation go for 9 and a half to 10 hours.  We find that there is so little whey that straining is unnecessary and the result is very smooth.

The starter was Stonyfield plain. It's yummy

I've just let it ferment overnight - so today's batch was probably 14 hours or so by the time I took it out.  There was nothing to pour off!  Maybe that's why the taste is better.

The IP recipe I'm using calls for 1 tbsp of sugar.  Do you guys put the sugar in?  I assume it's necessary for the cultures to feed on, but maybe not?

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[nadra24]

I have never put sugar in mine during the fermentation process, there is plenty of sugar in the milk itself.

[RioG]

Oh good to know, I'm going to try it without next time.

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[GeekMaster]

Nothing but milk and starter.

[radial]

Milk is full of milk sugar (lactose).  There's no need to add extra sugar to the mix. 

[merigayle]

No sugar here

[DocBuzzkill]

  the IP for making yogurt! 

I make a batch every 2 weeks.  My local market carries milk from a dairy out in the Berkshires (far west of Massholia); the cows are all Jerseys.  Jersey milk has a bit more protein per volume than Holsteins (the classic black and white dairy cow) and a higher proportion of the A2 form of beta-casein. 

I use a quart (<= I'm volume impaired ) half gallon of 1% and add 100 g dry milk powder (Bob's Red Mill) to further boost protein and to thicken the yogurt.  Brown Cow Plain yogurt is my starter although I've had decent results with Stonyfield and Siggi.  Twelve to 14 hours fermentation. The end result is pretty thick.  I set aside 1/2 of the batch to eat as standard yogurt (it's very creamy), and the other half is...well, strained is an understatement. 

I line a mesh strainer with unbleached coffee filters, set it over a stainless steel bowl, put the other half of the yogurt in the lined strainer, place another filter on top of the yogurt, then let it sit for a couple of hours.  Then I place a small plate (saucer) on top of the yogurt and weigh it down with another bowl filled with water to press out even more whey.  That sits for another 4 to 6 hours, all at room temp (the lactobacilli and the acidic properties of the yogurt overwhelm any pathogens).  The end result is almost as thick as cream cheese (I usually add salt to it), can be used as a spread on English muffins, bagels, bread, etc., but with a much lower calorie content compared with cream cheese.

[radial]

Oh, interesting.  I never tried the squeezing step, just relied on gravity.  But that makes sense if you've ever made cheese.  I'll try it on the next batch for some ultra-thick yogurt.

[RioG]

Cheese is definitely on my list

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[caribougrrl]

we bought a yogurt maker recently after taking a good look at what exactly we are putting in our container recycling (probably 30% of the content was plain yogurt tubs)... and I am loving the homemade yogurt

also, I've used it to make actual fermented sour cream (I cannot buy naturally soured cream here, only artificially soured) and I am super pleased about that

[DocBuzzkill]

Oh, interesting.  I never tried the squeezing step, just relied on gravity.  But that makes sense if you've ever made cheese.  I'll try it on the next batch for some ultra-thick yogurt.

Yep, gravity works well, and in the distant past, I'd put yogurt in cheesecloth and suspend it to make "yo-cheese."  However,  my makeshift press results in a much thicker result.   I've mixed in minced scallions and chives or flaked smoked salmon to zhush it up a bit.

Do try it!

[Ice Cream]

I use skim and add powdered milk, and I don't strain.  I also use the blender after having added powdered milk. The whey is nutrient dense, so I want to keep it.

You can use vanilla-flavored or plain yogurt as a starter.  I never add sugar.

I used to put it in the ice cream maker for a dessert, and added mango syrup.  Haven't done that in a while. The mango syrup was in the Hispanic section of the supermarket.

DB, that farm is in my town.

[DocBuzzkill]

I use skim and add powdered milk, and I don't strain.  I also use the blender after having added powdered milk. The whey is nutrient dense, so I want to keep it.

You can use vanilla-flavored or plain yogurt as a starter.  I never add sugar.

I used to put it in the ice cream maker for a dessert, and added mango syrup.  Haven't done that in a while. The mango syrup was in the Hispanic section of the supermarket.

DB, that farm is in my town.

High Lawn, right?  I may be imagining things, but I do find that milk makes a better yogurt than Garelick or Hood.

I also use an immersion blender to mix in the powdered milk.  I always feel bad/guilty dumping out the whey from the 1/2 batch that is strained.  I know there are good uses for it!

[caribougrrl]

High Lawn, right?  I may be imagining things, but I do find that milk makes a better yogurt than Garelick or Hood.

I also use an immersion blender to mix in the powdered milk.  I always feel bad/guilty dumping out the whey from the 1/2 batch that is strained.  I know there are good uses for it!

I cook basmati rice in yogurt whey if I have it around. Also, I use it in place of buttermilk for baking and marinating sometimes.

[DocBuzzkill]

I cook basmati rice in yogurt whey if I have it around. Also, I use it in place of buttermilk for baking and marinating sometimes.

 

[RioG]

I have time off right now, I'm going to experiment with the straining and pressing.

Cgrl,  the recycling is a huge motivator for me.  Plus it's nice knowing the ingredients are... milk and only milk.

I recently rediscovered the bulk barn and am making a really good run at substantially reducing plastic.

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[Ice Cream]

High Lawn, right?  I may be imagining things, but I do find that milk makes a better yogurt than Garelick or Hood.

I also use an immersion blender to mix in the powdered milk.  I always feel bad/guilty dumping out the whey from the 1/2 batch that is strained.  I know there are good uses for it!

Yes, High Lawn.  I cannot tell the difference in milk, but I only use skim milk, and connaisseurs claim that is the worst tasting milk.  Since it makes no difference to me, I do not buy high lawn.

[hally]

I only use two tablespoons of yogurt as a starter, I read that it makes the bacteria work harder.

I use either skim or 1% usually from BJ's because it's super cheap, I use a whole gallon. I also use a good thermometer. Get to 185° then cool to 105° to 95° before putting the tempered two tbsps in. Leave for 10 hours I strain it for a long time in a nut milk bag in a strainer.

[Run Amok]

 Resurrecting this thread. I made yogurt today & experimented with 2% ultrafiltered milk. I have a 1 galon wide mouth yeti jar, which I successfully used for incubation. I preheated it with hot water and then poured in the 115 degree inoculated milk.

5 hours later it was very firm and leaking whey so i pulled it.

The curds are almost cheese like they are so firm. In one container I whisked it back together and it was a nice thick texture. I left the other one as is.

If I strain it should I whisk it together first or just strain out the curds and then whisk once it's strained to the right consistency?

Not sure I'll even bother since I mostly use yogurt for smoothies and would rather include the whey than add back water anyway.

[picote]

I usually just strain as is if I want something thicker, though it’s really easy to overdo it! Most of the time I just skim the whey off with a large spoon and that ends up being thick enough after a night in the fridge. 

[radial]

I like using the ultra-filtered milk.  The nutritional profile is better.  But more importantly for lazy me, you can skip the sterilization step.  Waiting for heated milk to cool down gets on my last nerve.

My yogurt needs to be super thick, so I strain off as much whey as possible.  Blending is the final step in the process in case I need to add some whey back into the mix. 

[Run Amok]

2nd batch of yogurt using the other quart of ultra filtered milk. This time I just heated the milk to 115 degrees and put it in the container i wanted to store it in inside the thermous. Perfectly thick results. Maybe next time I will be super brave and just stick it in the oven with the light on. The thermos easily kept it warm overnight.

I havent really felt the need to strain this yogurt. It's already pretty thick.

[Ice Cream]

2nd batch of yogurt using the other quart of ultra filtered milk. This time I just heated the milk to 115 degrees and put it in the container i wanted to store it in inside the thermous. Perfectly thick results. Maybe next time I will be super brave and just stick it in the oven with the light on. The thermos easily kept it warm overnight.

I havent really felt the need to strain this yogurt. It's already pretty thick.

are you using whole milk?

[Run Amok]

are you using whole milk?

2%. But the ultra filtered milk is higher protein and lower sugar so makes thicker yogurt. The one I bought this time has 14g protein per cup vs the 8 grams in regular 2%.

[oblio]

I got around to making some yogurt too! 2% of the fairlife ultrafiltered, so I used the cold start method from the twosleeve blog. It did not seem to have much of any whey on top at all after the chilling, like maybe a tablespoon at most, so it didn't seem... strainable? It is regular yogurt consistency and I wouldn't have minded it a little firmer so maybe I should have tried to strain it anyway or I will probably do the hot start next time to see if that firms it up some. I do like the taste. Her recipe said a half gallon so I did a half gallon and I have waaaaay more yogurt than I would ever eat in a week. It sounds like I can use this as my next starter? I hope so because the options I had for whole milk greek yogurt were nonexistent at the stores easily accessible to me. I ended up using a non-greek yogurt that had probiotics in it but had to buy it in an amount that was already too much yogurt for me to eat normally. It seems to have worked ok, I don't know how important this part is.

[Ice Cream]

You can use your own yogurt as starter 3-4 times.
You do not need Greek yogurt as a starter, any yogurt will do. I have used some of DH's vanilla flavored when I had nothing else.  Works fine.

[picote]

You can use your own yogurt as starter 3-4 times.
You do not need Greek yogurt as a starter, any yogurt will do. I have used some of DH's vanilla flavored when I had nothing else.  Works fine.

Why only 3-4 times? I’ve been using our yogurt for months and all seems fine. We also make a huge batch and it will last a while in the fridge. Hmm, I suppose I can see the combination of these two things being problematic if you get a weird strain taking over in your yogurt!

[caribougrrl]

Why only 3-4 times? I’ve been using our yogurt for months and all seems fine. We also make a huge batch and it will last a while in the fridge. Hmm, I suppose I can see the combination of these two things being problematic if you get a weird strain taking over in your yogurt!

yep, from every batch of yogurt, I pour out starter for the next batch (I make a batch every week, more or less)... I do find it sometimes becomes unpleasantly sour after a few months, which can be fixed starting fresh with a commercial yogurt... however, my last start was a mix of two commercial yogurts and I think I am now 6 months without it getting sour

I have a dedicated yogurt maker. The instructions are to heat milk to 185F and let it cool to 110F, then add starter, incubate for 8 hours. I have found my best consistency results come if I let it cool completely after heating (overnight in fridge) before mixing starter in, then incubating for 12 hours. Using only one of the complete cool or the 12 hour incubation isn't as successful.

[Run Amok]

After many successful tries I have a fail. I tried incubating in a small cooler instead of a thermous. This would have been batch #4 or 5 so maybe I need new starter? It got thick but not as thick as normal. Also not super sour. I let it go 12 hours and then worried about safety. Trying to decide whether to strain it. I often eat it in a smoothie or with chia seeds so thin is ok.  Ultra filtered milk so still pretty high protein (14g per cup).

[Ice Cream]

Why only 3-4 times? I’ve been using our yogurt for months and all seems fine. We also make a huge batch and it will last a while in the fridge. Hmm, I suppose I can see the combination of these two things being problematic if you get a weird strain taking over in your yogurt!

I read that and never questioned it, since we always have commercial yogurt in the fridge, too.

[Natasha]

After many successful tries I have a fail. I tried incubating in a small cooler instead of a thermous. This would have been batch #4 or 5 so maybe I need new starter? It got thick but not as thick as normal. Also not super sour. I let it go 12 hours and then worried about safety. Trying to decide whether to strain it. I often eat it in a smoothie or with chia seeds so thin is ok.  Ultra filtered milk so still pretty high protein (14g per cup).

You don’t think it was because it was in the cooler, and didn’t maintain a hot enough temp ?

[Run Amok]

You don’t think it was because it was in the cooler, and didn’t maintain a hot enough temp ?

I was fermenting my sourdough starter at the same time. My working theory is that it was infiltrated by the yeast.

[Ice Cream]

After many successful tries I have a fail. I tried incubating in a small cooler instead of a thermous. This would have been batch #4 or 5 so maybe I need new starter? It got thick but not as thick as normal. Also not super sour. I let it go 12 hours and then worried about safety. Trying to decide whether to strain it. I often eat it in a smoothie or with chia seeds so thin is ok.  Ultra filtered milk so still pretty high protein (14g per cup).

BTW: https://www.today.com/food/fairlife-dairy-still-under-fire-over-alleged-animal-abuse-t156127

[radial]

BTW: https://www.today.com/food/fairlife-dairy-still-under-fire-over-alleged-animal-abuse-t156127

Do you think that article from June 2019 represents the current state of affairs at Fairlife? 

[Ice Cream]

Do you think that article from June 2019 represents the current state of affairs at Fairlife? 

No, I think they addressed this, but I am not likely to support a company that thought this was acceptable in the past. It says something about their ethics.
Many people would not trust Volkswagen after the Diesel scandal.

[Run Amok]

I don't buy fairlife ultra filtered milk. There are several options available and we are fortunate enough to have a local option.

[RioG]

I didn't read that whole article but if it's the one I'm thinking of, whacko animal rights activists actually infiltrated the farm, got jobs, then perpetrated abuse so they could film it and release it. 

But my first yogurt batch in a while was a success!  I might even try to strain some to see if I like the thicker version of homemade 

[caribougrrl]

after posting about my perfected technique, today's yogurt is too sour and too thin

 

[radial]

I didn't read that whole article but if it's the one I'm thinking of, whacko animal rights activists actually infiltrated the farm, got jobs, then perpetrated abuse so they could film it and release it. 

But my first yogurt batch in a while was a success!  I might even try to strain some to see if I like the thicker version of homemade

Hmm, as I understand it, the animal rights activists went undercover at the farm, pretending to be there for work but actually there to do video surveillance of the operation.  So yeah, they were there under false pretenses.  However I think the animal abuse they captured on video was real, perpetrated not by activists but by regular employees of the farm.  Grisly stuff that needed to be exposed.

[RioG]

Hmm, as I understand it, the animal rights activists went undercover at the farm, pretending to be there for work but actually there to do video surveillance of the operation.  So yeah, they were there under false pretenses.  However I think the animal abuse they captured on video was real, perpetrated not by activists but by regular employees of the farm.  Grisly stuff that needed to be exposed.

Could be.  I only saw right after it was released and the allegations of it being staged.

I have no love for factory farms OR most animal rights activists. 

[radial]

Could be.  I only saw right after it was released and the allegations of it being staged.

I have no love for factory farms OR most animal rights activists.

Same.  There's not much to choose between megalomaniacs and wackadoodles. 

[RioG]

Same.  There's not much to choose between megalomaniacs and wackadoodles.

Not too long ago here an activist died after getting hit by a livestock truck.  They were protesting at the stockyards or a killing plant or something.  It's been ongoing so there were signs warning them to stay out of blind spots and so on.  Well, she stood in a blind spot and died.  Imagine being that truck driver trying to earn a living and you killed someone that day.  Whoever organized that protest should have been charged (and maybe they were)

[Run Amok]

I tried yogurt again after my last fail. Put one jar inside my insulated thermos and one jar in the oven with the light on.  Both set up nicely. The UF milk is so easy: heat to 115. Add starter. Poor into a jar. Overnight in oven with light on.