How to make your own Yogurt

I make my own yogurt and save a ton of money.  Not only can I make batches of vanilla and add fruit or preserves, but I make refrigerator oats, yogurt cheese to spread on crackers, and I save the whey in ice cube trays for my son's smoothies.  In the future I hope to use this whey for the lacto-fermentation of garden vegetables.

I will reveal my own method that has been successful in making yogurt and accompany with some pictures.  I culture my yogurt in my crockpot that has a warm setting.  Withe the lid off and a couple inches of water the temperature stays pretty consistent at 110 degrees.

In a stainless steel pan I cook 3 cups of whole organic milk on medium.  Make sure your milk is non ultra-pasteurized.  You want to keep the beneficial properties of the milk in tact.  You are going to heat tis milk to 160 degrees to get it ready for your culture.

The milk will bubble at 160 degrees.

I use three half pint size mason jars.  Here I poured boiling water in them to sterilize them.

Add captionI use ball plastic lids for my mason jars when I make yogurt.  You can find them on Amazon and at www.culturesforhealth.com  I stick them in the water in my ceramic crockpot dish to sterilize and keep them clean before putting them on my jars.

You need a starter culture for your yogurt.  Lately I have been using a store bought one and getting a whole lot for my money when I make so many batches out of it.  I have been making greek yogurt.  If you want to know how to culture other varieties of yogurt, please visit the education section of cultures for health's website and watch their videos.  You can order starter cultures through cultures for health as well.

Your milk needs to cool from 160 to 110 before it is ready for your culture.  Once it gets to 115, I usually add 1/2 cup of powdered milk to keep the yogurt creamier.   Then I pour the milk halfway into each half-pint jar.  I add two tspns of yogurt from the starter container.  Then I pour the rest of the milk in each jar to fill it.  I usually leave an inch headspace.  If I want vanilla flavored yogurt I add two tsp's maple syrup and one tspn vanilla to each jar and stir very lightly to incorporate.  Then I dry the lids off and screw them onto the jars tightly to incubate.  I place the jars in the water in the crockpot like the picture below. 

I use a dymo brand label maker to place the date on my lids, so I know when the yogurt was made.

I hope you enjoy making your own yogurt.  It gets used so quickly in my household because we make refrigerator oats for breakfast.  I will post some really yummy refrigerator oats soon! :)