anyone ever make yogurt?

**Contrary Housewife** · 01-06-2012, 07:08 PM

It looks easy enough.... with the right equipment. Would someone who's done this before like to tell me about their experience with it?

DH likes yogurt and it's one of the healthy snacks he can have, but at $1+ per serving (for the good ones) buying him enough snacks for the week is going to get expensive. I thought I'd look into making it, so we can control the sugar and keep costs down.

**mama2James** · 01-06-2012, 09:24 PM

I have made it in my crockpot, i don't have the link anymore but it was a method that uses just milk and a few tablespoons of yogurt as a starter. It sets up overnight. I definately recommend trying it!

**Ebbie** · 01-06-2012, 09:31 PM

I've been making my own yogurt going on about 2 years now. I like my method because it uses the microwave to heat the milk, so I can go off and do other things while it's heating. Also, I no longer need to take the milk's temperature because I have it all timed out (so many minutes in the microwave, so many minutes to cool before adding the yogurt starter).

Here is my recipe which I posted for a friend (it's geared for Canadian measurements, but adaptable to U.S....basically it makes 3 quarts).

Making Yogurt For Canadians

The only thing I do different now from the recipe above is I no longer use jars of hot water to keep the yogurt warm. I just put the 3 jars of milk in one of those heat reflective bags (sort of like this) that I got at the dollar store, then wrap that in a blanket, then put it all inside the plastic cooler. About 4 hours incubation gives a very mild yogurt, longer will make it tarter. Overall, I'm very happy with the results, and I've made it so often it's really simple now, just a few minutes of attention between the heating and cooling is all the effort needed.

**Saule** · 01-07-2012, 01:29 AM

I made it ages ago, but am thinking of trying one of these recipes/techniques -
A Year of Slow Cooking: You Can Make Yogurt in Your CrockPot!
Homemade Yogurt Recipe - Food.com - 32460
Homemade Fage-Style Yogurt Recipe - Food.com - 374129
Yogurt, Homemade, From Good Eats, Alton Brown Recipe - Food.com - 40602
Jamie Oliver's Homemade Yogurt Recipe - Food.com - 427235

**zakity** · 01-07-2012, 02:45 AM

I do the crockpot yogurt thing.

**greekislandgirl** · 01-07-2012, 04:56 AM

I used to make it. I had a yogurt maker (the round machine with little jars) which basically controls the temperature.

I found in the end that it wasn't cost effective. Because I like Greek yogurt (i.e., very heavily strained), I was only getting a cup of yogurt for every gallon of milk. It was costing me more in milk than it would have been to buy Greek yogurt.

Of course now that I live in Greece itself (LOL) Greek yogurt is available by the kilo in the store brand and it's far cheaper than the amount of milk I would have to use.

If you don't plan to strain it at all, it may work out cheaper for you. Just make sure you do the math first to be certain.

**nodmicks** · 01-07-2012, 08:19 AM

I have made it many times. However I like the cooler method. After you have made the yogurt heat water to 115 degrees. We use a small lunchbox type cooler. Add enough 115 degree water to cover the jars and let sit 8 hours. Very easy!

**khaski** · 01-07-2012, 11:11 AM

I had made it a few times years ago, it was easy enough (if I recall I kept it in warm water) but I found, at the time at least, it really wasn't saving me much money so I stopped. You've piqued my interest in it again though!

**nuisance26** · 01-07-2012, 12:04 PM

~I use the recipe/technique from the Tightwad Gazette. It's a regular quart canning jar, a heating pad, a pot, yogurt for starter, milk and dry milk. Mine always turns out very thick but I use 2% milk. The recipe is here on FV somewhere.
At today's prices, it costs about $1.60 to make 4 cups of yogurt. Aldi has 32 ounces of yogurt for $2 so I stopped making it for a while. $.40 is a pretty small pay-off for having a heating pad on for 6 hours and washing a bunch of dishes. When I was making it, I was saving over 50% off of plain, family size, store brand containers of yogurt.~

**nuisance26** · 01-07-2012, 12:06 PM

~Oh, and you can make pretty yummy fruit-on-the-bottom substitutes by blending together Polaner all-fruit jams with fresh fruit. You can keep the mixtures in ice cube trays for perfect portion additions to your plain yogurt. Tastes sweet but no added sugar!~

**Uniwolf** · 01-07-2012, 01:55 PM

This is actually one of the items that is on my homesteading list for this year.
-cheese making
-yogurt making
-coldpress soap
-wine
-beer

So I will look at some of the sites given and add it to my research
Thank you to all who have shared

**SheKat** · 01-13-2012, 08:33 AM

I have and it is good. I have an Esiyo system where you just put in bowling water and it acts as a thermos. I do mine from a live culture, just adding the tineest of smidges to a litre of milk. If I buy the cardboard milk ($1), culture ($0.12) and I also use a tablespoon of powered milk to make it thicker ($0.20) I can have a litre of plain yoghurt for $1.42. I think it is super yummy just like that and I hate store bought plain youghurt, for the kids I have added some pureed fruit, but they also like it plain on pancakes.

Here is a link to a post in my blog about some stuff I have done with my homemade yoghurt - scroll down to read about the labnah cheese made from youghurt this stuff is delicious. Juggling My Home: Yoghurt

**ladytoysdream** · 01-13-2012, 09:04 AM

I have a yogurt machine here that I bought many years ago.
I used to make yogurt a lot when the kids were younger.
I been thinking about digging it out again, and giving it a whirl. It would be just me who likes it here. I always started mine with some plain yogurt from the store. Not dry.

I did do a search yesterday on ebay because a friend is wanting a yogurt maker. She said they were over $ 50, the ones she was looking at. They have a small herd of cows, and she does make butter. I did find some older ones on ebay for about $ 20 with the shipping.

**knitnmom** · 01-13-2012, 08:09 PM

I just found a yogurt maker I'd like for $37.95...it's a Yolife Yogurt Maker. I need to look around to see if I can find it cheaper, but I don't think that's a bad price. I like that you can make yogurt from different kinds of milks too, just in case you are lactose intolerant.

**AikenJan** · 01-13-2012, 08:33 PM

I've been making yogurt once a week for at least a year. I have the Cuisine maker with the 7 small jars which happens to suit our needs rather than a large amount. It's couldn't be more simple...it's all timed and automatically turns off so I usually make it before going to bed. All you need is about 1 liter of milk and some starter. Starter is from another yogurt source (such as a good quality Greek) and after that you simple save one of the small jars as the starter for the next batch. I add a 2-3 tsps. of dried milk to make it thicker (more Greek style). I use an automatic thermometer to get the milk to 185 degrees (which only takes a few minutes), then I take it off the stove for about 25 minutes until it cools down to about 112 degrees. Then I put a little of the hot liquid into the saved starter mixed with the dried milk, mix it and add it to the large pot of scaled milk. Put it into the jars and have nice yogurt the next morning. So, basically it's the cost of 4 cups of milk once you have the yogurt maker. My husband uses it in his morning smoothies so that's why the small jars work for us...for a family it would probably be better to make larger batches. The other reason we like the small amounts is because I can add difference flavorings and fruits.