Yogurt is a super-nutritious food, full of beneficial bacteria (Probiotics). Especially “homemade” yogurt, as most store-bought yogurts contain some sort of additives and/or thickeners-stabilizers.
We use yogurt a lot around here for making smoothies, eating plain (or with fruit) for a snack or great breakfast, and in the summer we make creamy yogurt popsicles. There are so many ways to enjoy yogurt. It makes great sauces as well, such as Tzatziki to go with burgers…yummm!
Well, now that I’m making myself hungry….let’s go ahead and get into the “How-To’s” of making yogurt.
Homemade Yogurt
You can adjust the ingredients according to how much yogurt you want to make. I usually make at least 1/2 gallon at a time, then I only have to make yogurt once a week (which is about how long yogurt will stay the freshest anyway).
- 1/2 gallon whole raw milk (can use organic whole milk…but starting from raw is always better)
- 1/4 cup Plain Whole-Milk store-bought Yogurt, use a good quality brand (for your starter, after this you can save some of your homemade yogurt to make the next batch)
You Will Also Need:
- Pan, big enough to heat milk in
- Glass Jar, with lid (big enough to hold the amount of yogurt you are making)
- Insulated Cooler, to hold your jar of yogurt
- Jar of hot water, with lid on (if making less than 1-Gallon of yogurt)
- Kitchen Towel (to wrap your jar of yogurt in)
- Kitchen Thermometer, to measure the temp of the heated milk
- Rinse inside of pan with cold water, dump out, but do not dry pan (this helps keep the milk from scorching and sticking to the bottom of pan).
- Pour milk into pan and warm over medium heat, stirring frequently. Allow the milk to come to 180F. Hold at 180F for 30 seconds to 1 minute, while constantly stirring. (It’s OK if it goes a degree or two over.)
- Remove pan from heat and allow to cool to 118F, stir every-so-often to help the milk cool faster. (If a skin/film forms on the surface, simply spoon it off and discard.)
- Meanwhile, measure out your yogurt starter culture (from the store-bought yogurt)…allow it to come to room temperature while the milk cools.
- Slowly whisk in the yogurt culture (store-bought yogurt) into the cooled (118F) milk. Make sure it is thoroughly combined.
- Pour this mixture into your glass jar(s) and cap. Do this all quickly, you want the milk to be at 110F-115F when you put it in the cooler. (Do not re-heat the milk once the culture is added.)
- Place filled-capped jar(s) inside insulated cooler. If making less than 1-Gallon of yogurt, fill a jar (around the same size) with very hot tap water, cap jar, and place in cooler as well. Wrap jar(s) with kitchen towel(s).
- Close cooler completely (I use a square soft-sided cooler that zippers shut).
- Allow to ferment (culture), undisturbed for 8 hours, or more. Check yogurt and remove when thickened to your liking. (UPDATE: I culture mine for about 8 hours, and get rich creamy, fairly thick yogurt. I now make 1-Gallon of yogurt at a time, and culture 1/2-gallon for 12 hours and leave the other 1/2-gallon culturing for 24 hours. To keep the 24 hour batch warm I wrap a heating pad around the jar and turn it on low as needed.)
- When yogurt is done to your liking, remove jar(s) from cooler and transfer to fridge to chill. Yogurt will thicken a little more in the fridge, so wait until well-chilled before serving.
After yogurt is chilled you can mix up different flavors if you desire. (Use stevia to sweeten if on a Sugar-Free diet.)
NOTE: Be sure to always set aside and save enough of the plain homemade yogurt to use for your next batch.
*Sugar-Free / Grain-Free
I am having trouble making this yogurt. I started last fall following your instructions and putting it into my dehydrator to keep warm instead of the cooler. I worked wonderful for a while then one batch the milk separated into whey and a white solid chunky substance. I eventually got it working again after Christmas. It is happening again now. I made yogurt last night following these instructions and all 4 quarts look like the whey has separated. I used a store bought yogurt for the starter culture. It was that White Mountain Bulgarian whole milk yogurt. So I have 2 questions. 1. is it safe to put in smoothies if it smells like yogurt? 2. what keeps going wrong?
If the yogurt smells fine then it should be okay to put in smoothies. But if it smells bad or yeasty then I would toss it.
As far as what you are doing wrong…
All I can say is the problems you are having is the exact reason I stopped using my “yogurt maker”. It is extra heat that is not needed. The yogurt simply needs to stay “insulated”, it is already producing its own heat by consuming the lactose in the milk. So the additional heat source is probably just causing too much heat.
Heat + Heat = too much Heat.
When I stopped trying to use “fancy” equipment for making my homemade yogurt is when my yogurt came out the way it’s supposed to every-time. So my advice to you is use your dehydrator for what it’s good at, ie. drying nuts, fruit, making jerky etc. And go back to the simpler way of making the yogurt.
Remember the K.I.S.S. principal (slightly modified by me):
Keep It Super Simple!
I seem to have a problem when I heat raw milk. It always curdles. I don’t have a thermometer but i heat it on med heat and not even to boiling. It curdles as soon as it gets hot, even though i stir it regularly. Am i doing something wrong?
From what you’ve said, I do not think you are doing anything wrong. Though I really recommend that you get a thermometer. They do not cost that much and it is very important when making yogurt to get all the temps just right. If you live near a Wal-mart you can get a decent digital thermometer for around $10 to $12.
The only thing I wonder about is the acidity of your milk. I found the following question on the internet…
Do you leave your milk out a room temp at all? Does the farm chill it immediately? Is it kept cold while being transported to you?
These are all good questions to know the answers to.
When I make yogurt it come out a bit grittier and not creamy like the store. Is there something I am doing wrong or is that just the way it comes out? I do not mind but my family is having a problem with the texture. This is after I strain it.
Yes I agree that sometimes my homemade yogurt is not always as smooth as store bought. I am not sure why this is, but I usually just give it a stir in my bowl (that I am eating it in) and it smooths out.
How and why are you straining your yogurt?
On a side note – One reason that homemade yogurt is far better for you than store-bought yogurt is it is MUCH higher in probiotics (the live “good” bacteria). Store-bought yogurt is allowed a 90% death-rate before you purchase it. Meaning it starts off with a certain number of live bacteria when it is manufactured. But by the time you get it home it could have only 10% of the live bacteria left. Whereas homemade yogurt doesn’t lose bacteria (or very minimally).
Thanks for a great how-to. A couple questions, though:
What is the point of putting the hot jar in the cooler? I assume to keep the culture warmed, but why would you only do this if making less than a half gallon?
Also, not sure what purpose the wrapping with towel serves.
Thanks!
The inoculated milk jar goes into the cooler to stay insulated and warm throughout the culturing process. Wrapping in towels helps the jar(s) to stay insulated as well. Both of these steps are important, as the yogurt will not culture properly if it is too cool. It needs to stay at 110F to 115F, no more no less.
If you are making less than 1-Gallon of yogurt you will need some additional heat source to keep it warm enough in the cooler. You see when making a larger amount of yogurt at a time, the heat from the warmed milk will be enough to keep itself warm in the cooler…..not so with a small batch. This is where another jar filled with HOT water will help, or a heating pad etc. would work as well to keep a smaller batch warm.
How long does the yogurt keep in the fridge?
The yogurt will last for at least 7 to 10 days, maybe a little longer, depending. Remember “homemade” foods never last as long as store-bought because of the lack of preservatives and additives. But, the great thing is that they taste so much better, and are much healthier for you.
You will still want to make new “fresh” yogurt once a week… because you will be using a portion from the previous batch as your “culture” to make the next batch of yogurt. Making yogurt once a week helps to ensure that your next batch will culture correctly, because your culture is fresher… not weakened or stale.
Could you give me advice on this:
- Does it have to be Plain Whole-Milk Yogurt? I usually have on hand the low fat and I wonder what would be the difference?
- I work with raw milk and if the milk is getting close to it last days (still good but maybe only for a day) Can I make the yogurt and will it be still good as long as from very fresh milk?
Any insight on those questions?
You could try the low-fat yogurt. I’m sure it would work, just not sure if the resulting homemade yogurt would be as creamy.
I use raw milk as well when making my yogurt. I believe it is best to use fairly fresh milk when making yogurt or it may not culture properly and/or last as long.