homemade yogurt, what do you warm it in

[ronbre]

i've been reading up on making homemade yogurt again..

i had a yogurt maker before our housefire but they are so expensive i don't want to buy a new one..so i've been looking for instructions on line.

some instructions i have seen use such things as a thermos, heating pad, slow cooker, rice cooker..etc..

i'm thinking of trying a rice cooker but although i have one i have never used it before..and can't find the instruction book..it has just one button..that you push and then i guess it heats up and then stays warm after it cooks the rice..so i'm guessing you would warm it up so it goes to the warm setting before you add the yogurt solution..so it just stayes warm through the process.

any of you that make yogurt at home are welcome to share your ideas please

[Kmac15]

I bring it up to temp on my stove top. then after mixing it with the cultures I let it "cook" in my gas oven, turned off, overnight.

[ronbre]

my guess is there is a pilot light keeping the gas oven warm..i have a glo plug i think so there is no pilot light in mine so it probably wouldn't work??

[Katey]

I've had good results leaving an up-to-temperature quart mason jar on a forced-air register overnight.

Within reason, being too cold just slows it down, and being too hot just speeds it up. You don't want to freeze or cook it, though.

[myheaven]

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser...YOGURT2000.htm

This works for me every time

[Jim-mi]

I bought a Salton on fleabay for not very many bucks.........
That slow cooker would be way to warm . . .I think . . . the Salton while its 'working' . . is just barely warm to the touch.
The gas oven idea might work...........

[Alice In TX/MO]

I put my quart jars of milk and culture in a styrofoam ice chest with a heating pad set on low over night.

[mammabooh]

I recently purchased an Excalibur dehydrator and the instruction booklet claims that I can make yogurt in there.

[Nancy]

I make yogurt regularly by the gallon, in my electric oven, with the light on. I do preheat it to 90 degrees, shut it off and then turn on the light. I incubate for 24 hours so this is very economical way to do it. My light bulb is 40 watts. This should work for the 8 hour method as well. I heat my milk to 180 degrees. Cool the pan of milk in a sink full of cold water for about 20 minutes, add my plain Dannon yogurt as starter, pour into old Dannon quart containers and incubate. Very easy.

[Quiver0f10]

I make yogurt by the gallon in the crock pot. Pour in your milk, turn it on low for 2.5 hours. When the time is up, shut off the crock pot and wait 3 hours and then stir in your yogurt starter. Cover the entire crock pot with a towel and let it sit for 7-9 hours. It's not as thick as store but my kids love it.

I use:
1 gallon milk

At the 2.5 hour point I add:
1 cup powder milk powder( helps thicken it)
1/2 cup sugar

After the 3 hours I add:
1/2 cup plain yogurt.

[Ezekiel's Garde]

Crockpot method. Exactly like Jean/Quiverof10, except I only use 1/2 gallon of milk at a time. Works very well for me. The boys sure like it, and it's the easiest method I've tried (never tried the yogurt maker because of expense and limited space in my house for single-use appliances).

[Harry Chickpea]

After pasteurizing, cooling, and adding the starter, I just leave it in a cabinet over the distiller. Sometimes it sits there for two or three days. Same with buttermilk. The whole concept of how those foods started was that milk was left to ferment. If you pasteurize, fill the container so there is little or no air, then it'll do its thing. It might be slower at a lower temperature, but that is no biggie.

[miss_dee]

I heat my milk in a heavy saucepan to 180 degrees, then cool the pan quickly to 110 degrees in a sink of ice water. Stir in some plain yogurt, then place the covered pan on a heating pad. Cover with a couple of dish towels to retain the heat, and in about 7 hours I have yogurt. Adding some powdered milk will make it slightly thicker.

[miss_dee]

Oops. Double post.

[sgl42]

Originally Posted by myheaven

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser...YOGURT2000.htm

i've made yoghurt similar to this, ie, heat on a stove, then put in an ice-chest to keep warm but without any heat added. worked fine, and no special appliances to worry about.

Originally Posted by ronbre

i'm thinking of trying a rice cooker but although i have one i have never used it before..and can't find the instruction book..it has just one button..that you push and then i guess it heats up and then stays warm after it cooks the rice..so i'm guessing you would warm it up so it goes to the warm setting before you add the yogurt solution..so it just stayes warm through the process.

i don't think the rice cooker would work for yoghurt. you could potentially use the rice cooker to initial heat the milk for yoghurt, but it won't maintain the temp you need for incubation.

a one-button rice cooker works by sensing temp, and cutting off when the temp rises above 212 degrees, the boiling point of water. the temp can't rise above 212 degrees until all the water is boiled away or absorbed by the rice. this cooks rice by continuously adding heat, while the temp is plateaued at 212 degrees, until all the water boils away, at which point the temp rises above 212 degrees and the cooker shuts off. this would not work for incubating yoghurt, as it would be far too hot for the beneficial bacteria needed for yoghurt.

--sgl

[NCLee]

I've made yogurt in my Exclaibur dehydrator. I like this because I can vary the container size for the finished product. ie a bunch of single serve jars vs a quart. No more dipping into a big container when all I want is a snack. OTHO, if I need a quart or half gallon for some purpose, just switch the jar size.

The problem with using things like a rice cooker is that if the temp, during culturing goes above 115-120 degrees, it will kill the live culture. One way to check, is to put plain water in the cooker. Let it do it's thing. Then, check the temp of the water, after it's been on the warm setting for maybe a half hour. (Enough time for the temp to stabilize.) If the temp is around 90-110 that's exactly what you need.

It's better to err on the low side rather than the high side with regards to temperature when it comes to making yogurt. A little low and it simply takes longer. A few degrees too high and the cullture is dead.

I have one of the old style Salton yogurt makers. Not round - long row of yogurt containers in an enclosure. Heat source is a light bulb. Only paid $10 for it at a flea market. Works well.

Just 2-cents that may be useful.
Lee

[Shagbarkmtcatle]

I only make a quart at a time as I like it fresh. I make it in pint jars and I incubate it in an old lunch box. This is a thermal lunch box. I heat the water to 120 degrees and pour it around the pint jars. Then I put the lid on it and incubate it for 3-4 hours. I don't like it very tart tasting and this is very mild when you only incubate it that long. It also uses no electric that way.

[mpillow]

Once you've got your cooled milk cultured in a jar, wrap it in a towel, set on wooden cutting board with inverted stock pot over top and another towel over the stock pot...

In the winter I simply leave mine on a shelf by the woodstove over night...

Has anyone used jello to flavor? I want to try this...

[ronbre]

well i have also looked at several online sites that suggest turning a slow cooker on low every hour for just a few minutes..but i like the heating pad idea or using the registers..would only be able to do that in the winter time though..registers..as we don't have heat in the summer of course..

but the heating pad..that sounds like a real good idea..(if Ron isn't using it.)

i bought a container of plain yogurt today and was thinking of trying it in pint jars on the heating pad when the yogurt i have ready to eat in the frig now is gone..i have bought several squatty pint jars that would sit close to the heating pad..they might work really well and i can put it out of the way in a room no one uses..thanks for the tips..i'll try it next week..blessings Brenda

[freeholdfarms]

We use an Excalibur dehydrator. Works great with Dexter milk.