Looking for tips on making homemade yogurt

powered85

Hi all - I've been making homemade Greek yogurt for a few months with great success - but had a few questions around tweaking the program so I can increase the thickness / reduce the amount of whey leftover...if possible.

Currently making it in a slowcooker heating 4L 2% milk to 185f and letting it cool to 118f and adding 1/2cup of storebought 0% greek yogurt as my culture.

Then letting it sit for 8-10hrs in an insulated cooler, then let cool in fridge for several hrs, and then strain afterwards for a couple hrs.

Couple questions:

1. What is the best yogurt for using as a culture? And is 1/2cup for 4L milk to little/much?
2. How long should I let it sit incubating? And how long is too long given I don't want the temperature to drop too much in the cooler?
3. Is 118f the ideal temperature to add the culture, or should it be slightly lower/higher (typically see between 110f-120f as recommendation)?

If you have any other pointers too that'd be great.

Thanks

Purl62

I make my own yogurt too. so good! I use Fage as my culture. I try to save some of each batch to start the next batch, but when I don't have my own Fage is what I use. I use about a teaspoon to each cup of milk, so not quite as much as you're using. I put the culture in at 110f. Instead of a cooler, I incubate in the Instant Pot (an electric pressure cooker with a yogurt setting) but before I got the Instant pot I just put it in a big ceramic bowl in the oven with the light on over night. About 8 hours but have let it go as long as 12 with no problems. I strain it in a strainer lined with buttercloth (like cheesecloth only finer mesh) inside a bowl to catch the whey for anywhere from an hour to 3 hours. I strain it right away- I will have to try chilling it first. I use the whey to bake bread (but only when my kids will be home to eat it- it's too tempting to have in the house). There are lots of uses for the whey, like fermenting veggies and adding to soups.

hudacurry57

I too make my own Greek and regular yogurt. I also use Fage if I need a starter. I scald a gallon of low fat milk (usually skim), then let it cool to room temperature. At this point I add in the starter, about a cup for a gallon of milk. Since I don't have a yogurt maker, I have improvised and have been using this method for years: I leave the uncultured mix in the dutch oven I scalded the milk in, then set it on top of a large folded bath towel. I then place a heating pad around the pan and hold it in place wrap the pan in another thick bath towel. Leave the heating pad set on high and let sit for about 5-6 hours. I then strain immediately as Purl62 without chilling first.

enterdanger

I made yogurt last night. I've done it in the crockpot, but prefer to do it on the stove. I bring the 1/2 gallon of milk up just under a boil. Let it cool to about 110 degrees F. Then I stir in 1/2 cup of whatever plain greek yogurt was on sale. I do mine in a heavy, ceramic dutch oven, Once the yogurt is stirred in I put on the lid, wrap the whole thing in a hand towel and stick it in the oven overnight with the oven light on.

I like mine thick, so I do drain the yogurt in the fridge the next day. I also have leftover whey. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it. I generally have 1-2 cups of whey. I'd make cottage cheese, but I understand you have to have a crap ton of whey to get any cottage cheese. Not sure if I can freeze it until I have enough or if that would kill the cheese making process. I don't smoothie, so it usually just gets poured out.

powered85

Wow lots of different techniques! I use ultra fine cheesecloth to strain mine. Also find letting it cool in the fridge for several hours after incubating leaves me with thicker yogurt.

I'll try adding the culture when the milk is closer to 110f and see if that helps.

Is there a typical guideline for the amount of culture per amount of milk? Wondering if less could be more as too much could overcrowd the bacteria?

As for whey I add some in soup broths, cooking ground beef and adding a bit to the pot while cooking pasta. You can also make ricotta cheese pretty easily.

Thanks

OldHobo

I hope you guys experienced with this and/or with the use of whey continue the discussion and if you start another thread please send me a note.

allaboutthecake

Just curious how do you do the macro count on your finished product?

powered85

allaboutthecake wrote: »

Just curious how do you do the macro count on your finished product?

If you don't strain it, it's just whatever milk% you use. Weigh final product in grams and create food or recipe.

If straining do the same but subtract the cals and macros removed in the whey.

nanoregi

I buy culture at my local natural food store. Comes in a box with 5packets. Find it in the yogurt section.