Super fun and ez way to make your own yougurt!

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Replies

  • TheAlexMarkov
    TheAlexMarkov Posts: 23 Member
    Wow - never expected this much engagement and feedback - pretty cool!

    Thanks for all the ideas - awesome stuff!

    Alex
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
    Hi,
    yes you can use raw milk - even better as it has more nutrients;
    When you say strength I presume flavour and not thickness - IME the flavour of the final product depends on the starter culture - I used FAGE full fat as a starter; you can experiment with different brands
    You can controll the thickness by varying the time you simmer the milk - the longer the thicker the yougurt will be.
    Use plastic or jar bottle but not metal to avoid contaminating the bacteria.

    Once you get going you can make yougurt forever and ever by using your previous batch as a starter:)

    Hope you like it,
    Alex

    Homemade butter is very hard to eat on bread because it is so strong. It smells rotten. But is amazing in cooking.
  • Tubbs216
    Tubbs216 Posts: 6,597 Member
    Hi,
    yes you can use raw milk - even better as it has more nutrients;
    When you say strength I presume flavour and not thickness - IME the flavour of the final product depends on the starter culture - I used FAGE full fat as a starter; you can experiment with different brands
    You can controll the thickness by varying the time you simmer the milk - the longer the thicker the yougurt will be.
    Use plastic or jar bottle but not metal to avoid contaminating the bacteria.

    Once you get going you can make yougurt forever and ever by using your previous batch as a starter:)

    Hope you like it,
    Alex

    Homemade butter is very hard to eat on bread because it is so strong. It smells rotten. But is amazing in cooking.
    Sorry, but I think you're doing it wrong. When I make butter it is very mild-tasting. Are you rinsing all the whey out thoroughly? If not, that can cause it to go off fairly quickly.
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
    Tubbs216 wrote: »
    Hi,
    yes you can use raw milk - even better as it has more nutrients;
    When you say strength I presume flavour and not thickness - IME the flavour of the final product depends on the starter culture - I used FAGE full fat as a starter; you can experiment with different brands
    You can controll the thickness by varying the time you simmer the milk - the longer the thicker the yougurt will be.
    Use plastic or jar bottle but not metal to avoid contaminating the bacteria.

    Once you get going you can make yougurt forever and ever by using your previous batch as a starter:)

    Hope you like it,
    Alex

    Homemade butter is very hard to eat on bread because it is so strong. It smells rotten. But is amazing in cooking.
    Sorry, but I think you're doing it wrong. When I make butter it is very mild-tasting. Are you rinsing all the whey out thoroughly? If not, that can cause it to go off fairly quickly.

    Our butter is made with sour milk. It can take a month on a family farm to collect the amount of cream needed to make a good batch of butter. My family is old order Mennonite, and have been making butter since they came over from Europe hundreds of years ago.
  • Tubbs216
    Tubbs216 Posts: 6,597 Member
    WakkoW wrote: »
    annacole94 wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    All my attempts to strain my home made yogurt have been a huge fail. What sort of strainer do you use, how do you set it up, and how long does it take?

    I want some liquid whey to try in a recipe.
    Cheesecloth folded so there's about four layers in my regular colander (like I use for pasta). I put the cheesecloth in, put all the yogurt in (my colander will *just barely* hold a gallon), put that back on top of a large bowl or the instant pot insert, and put it back in the fridge for 4-6 hours. When I use skim milk, it ends up about 8 cups greek yogurt/8 cups whey. Higher fat milk yields more yogurt and less whey.

    I use flour sack towels, like these https://www.towelsandhome.com/flour-sacks/what-are-flour-sack-towels.html.
    I also use the Instant Pot method which is SO easy. I strain through a colander lined with a muslin cloth left from when my kids were babies. I strain overnight on the counter, for a super-thick yogurt which peels off the cloth easily. It's cream cheese really - Middle Eastern Labneh. Really delicious with a little bit of honey.
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
    And yes, the butter is thoroughly washed multiple times.
  • Tubbs216
    Tubbs216 Posts: 6,597 Member
    Tubbs216 wrote: »
    Hi,
    yes you can use raw milk - even better as it has more nutrients;
    When you say strength I presume flavour and not thickness - IME the flavour of the final product depends on the starter culture - I used FAGE full fat as a starter; you can experiment with different brands
    You can controll the thickness by varying the time you simmer the milk - the longer the thicker the yougurt will be.
    Use plastic or jar bottle but not metal to avoid contaminating the bacteria.

    Once you get going you can make yougurt forever and ever by using your previous batch as a starter:)

    Hope you like it,
    Alex

    Homemade butter is very hard to eat on bread because it is so strong. It smells rotten. But is amazing in cooking.
    Sorry, but I think you're doing it wrong. When I make butter it is very mild-tasting. Are you rinsing all the whey out thoroughly? If not, that can cause it to go off fairly quickly.

    Our butter is made with sour milk. It can take a month on a family farm to collect the amount of cream needed to make a good batch of butter. My family is old order Mennonite, and have been making butter since they came over from Europe hundreds of years ago.
    Ok, interesting. I haven't heard of that. Do you also make sweet butter for bread?
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
    edited April 2017
    Tubbs216 wrote: »
    Tubbs216 wrote: »
    Hi,
    yes you can use raw milk - even better as it has more nutrients;
    When you say strength I presume flavour and not thickness - IME the flavour of the final product depends on the starter culture - I used FAGE full fat as a starter; you can experiment with different brands
    You can controll the thickness by varying the time you simmer the milk - the longer the thicker the yougurt will be.
    Use plastic or jar bottle but not metal to avoid contaminating the bacteria.

    Once you get going you can make yougurt forever and ever by using your previous batch as a starter:)

    Hope you like it,
    Alex

    Homemade butter is very hard to eat on bread because it is so strong. It smells rotten. But is amazing in cooking.
    Sorry, but I think you're doing it wrong. When I make butter it is very mild-tasting. Are you rinsing all the whey out thoroughly? If not, that can cause it to go off fairly quickly.

    Our butter is made with sour milk. It can take a month on a family farm to collect the amount of cream needed to make a good batch of butter. My family is old order Mennonite, and have been making butter since they came over from Europe hundreds of years ago.
    Ok, interesting. I haven't heard of that. Do you also make sweet butter for bread?

    No. It was not practical for them to make a tiny batch of butter, so the cream is simply collected and stored until there is enough for a large batch. My mom always used margarine for bread and corn on the cob. My brother's family, on the other hand, use it for table eating, too. Once you get past the smell, it doesn't taste too bad, but man, what a smell!
  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 997 Member
    We had a small butter churn back home on the farm. We made sweet butter, but only in the spring when milk has loads of cream on it. :) It might not be customary in some places, but it's not impractical necessarily.

    I also made yogurt a few times, just in the oven with the light on and no heat.
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
    edited April 2017
    annacole94 wrote: »
    We had a small butter churn back home on the farm. We made sweet butter, but only in the spring when milk has loads of cream on it. :) It might not be customary in some places, but it's not impractical necessarily.

    I also made yogurt a few times, just in the oven with the light on and no heat.

    Well, they did do everything by hand with no electricity and didn't have an extra minute it the day, lol. It's a lot of work raising 14 kids and running a farm with horses. :smile: I'm sure in some places it was a higher priority. I love the idea of homemade yogurt. I get my milk free, and don't like buying anything I don't have to.
    I went back and looked at my post, and I meant to say it wasn't practical in their situation. I made it sound like it is never practical, didn't mean that.
  • 7lenny7
    7lenny7 Posts: 3,498 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Okay, you save a little more with the time you put in. If I get a 32 ounce Dannon light and fit it's $3.29 (896 grams). But then again, I don't have to make or store it, so I'd forego the savings personally for the convenience.

    Yeah, sure, but then you're stuck eating Dannon light...

    Seriously though, it's certainly not for everyone (and it may not be for me...I haven't made any yet) but once I tried Siggi's skyr yogurt, I'll never go back to the mass brands. It's like beer from a local brewery vs. beer from BudMillerCoors. No comparison.

    I'm like @annacole94 and like to make my own when it make sense. I make my own kombucha, I cure my own bacon and I think I'd really like to make my own skyr.

  • JenHuedy
    JenHuedy Posts: 611 Member
    Has anyone tried making quark? My first attempt was a failure. Thinking about trying quark again with some of the tips in this thread. Or maybe I'll do Skyr instead.

    And does anyone know how to figure out the macros, or do you just use the standard USDA macros?
  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 997 Member
    for greek yogurt, I just use the Fage entry that matches my milk input. it's not worth the marginal change in accuracy to figure out the inputs and things removed (whey).

    Home cured bacon is amazing. I like stuff like this, but fully know it's a hobby. It's not magically healthier or anything, just sometimes more delicious.
  • WakkoW
    WakkoW Posts: 567 Member
    7lenny7 wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Okay, you save a little more with the time you put in. If I get a 32 ounce Dannon light and fit it's $3.29 (896 grams). But then again, I don't have to make or store it, so I'd forego the savings personally for the convenience.

    Yeah, sure, but then you're stuck eating Dannon light...

    Seriously though, it's certainly not for everyone (and it may not be for me...I haven't made any yet) but once I tried Siggi's skyr yogurt, I'll never go back to the mass brands. It's like beer from a local brewery vs. beer from BudMillerCoors. No comparison.

    I'm like @annacole94 and like to make my own when it make sense. I make my own kombucha, I cure my own bacon and I think I'd really like to make my own skyr.

    I make my own kombucha too! I like your analogy. It really is a different flavor in yogurts and you can adjust the tartness to your taste depending on how long you let it ferment.

    It doesn't take much work to heat up milk and let it chill. I'm usually doing other kitchen stuff like chopping vegetables or cleaning at the time anyway.