[Closed] Tell me about… making yoghurt

Borrow a hot tub?

Borrow a hot tub?

That seems a bit excessive?

I use an Easiyo (about £20) which consists of 2 flasks, an outer insulated one (a mini hot tub) and an inner non-insulated one. That's supposed to tie you in to using their yogurt powders but they're full of chemicals and sugar so I consulted the Internet and got this -
put the kettle on
1/2 fill the inner flask with sterilised milk (boil and cool some milk or use UHT - I can't stand UHT but it works fine for this)
add a couple of tablespoons of live yogurt culture (either from a bought pot, use freshest you can find, or from your last batch)
add a couple of tablespoons of dried milk (more for thicker result)
put the lid on and shake for a couple of minutes
fill the flask with milk and shake again
by now the kettle should have boiled, fill the outer flask to the top of the red shelf
put the inner flask in and close the out flask
leave for 10-12 hours (longer for a bit more bite, shorter for milder taste)
into the fridge for 10-12 hours

Add whatever fruit you fancy to some of the finished product - I'm loving orange juice but have tried cherries and vanilla extract, and lemon and lime juice.

Also, i have a second flask (£2 froma car boot sale but I think £10 from a shop) meaning I can kick off the next batch before the last one is empty. Useful given it takes up to 24 hours for the next batch to be ready

Same as bbsb above. Use some of last batch plus uht whole milk plus 2 tbsp dried powder. For the very first one you get a sachet in the pack but if I need to restart I just use any live yoghurt. Really easy and tastes fantastic.

as dougal says but I tend to buy a pot every month to 6 weeks just to refresh it. Don't know if I need to but it's >50p. The only rule is get the freshest pot - the one with the longest sell by date. I didn't get a sachet though, just started off with bought yogurt

I think you are supposed to knit your own yoghurt

I think you are supposed to knit your own yoghurt

Wearing a tiedye tshirt, sandals, and socks.

Buy an Aga.

We have a Lakeland yoghurt maker, works a treat. Put in a live yoghurt, top up with UHT and stir. Leave on overnight. Pisswarm fresh yog by the morning.
We like it best left in the fridge for a couple of days which improves the texture and thickness.

Pisswarm fresh yog

Perfect.

Its quite an easy process, most families from the Indian subcontinent make their own yoghurt at home rather than buying. People think the Greeks love it more than us as you get so many varieties in the shops. But I say we love yoghurt more as we make it in our homes rather than buying it in. I don't use any fancy equipment but I imagine you'd get more consistent results in different climates with it.

- Boil milk in saucepan to sterilise it.
- Allow milk to cool down so it is lukewarm
- Add tablespoon of live yogurt to a large bowl and add the cooled milk and stir/whisk it well
- let it sit somewhere warm with a plate on top or lid, in this climate anywhere should be fine in the winter maybe near a radiator or airing cupboard.
- wait roughly half a day and you should have a nicely set yoghurt.
- stick in fridge to cool down and enjoy.

Just make sure you keep a tablespoon of yoghurt to make the next batch.

But I say we love yoghurt more as we make it in our homes rather than buying it in. I

Can't speak to India but take youself outside urban areas in Greece, the Balkans and a whole lot of other countries and they make yoghurt at home. Damn good it is too. Milk straight out of the cow/goat and into the pot.

So, we don’t really need the electric yoghurt makers I remember my mum having when I was a child?

Punch him in the goolies?

Electric yoghurt makers ensure a consistent temperature. Our climate is not ideal. Mind, the Swedes eat a lot of runny yog called fil so they must have way s of keeping the temperature steady. Probably by burning elk

When my mum's electric yoghurt maker died my dad made a replacement from ply and a 100W lightbulb. I'm fairly sure the original used a lightbulb as a heating element too, but it was 40 years ago.

The easiyo isn't electric so there's nothing to fail. The outer flask is well insulated so keeps the water hot long enough for the yogurt to ferment or set or whatever it does. It's very consistent as long as you're reasonably consistent with what you put in. I'd recommend it

Swedes eat a lot of runny yog called fil

Love that stuff - tastes like milk gone bad at first, but then you get addicted.

Or in NL try dikke melk (*)

(* not the same, but I wanted to write that 🙂 )

The easiyo isn’t electric so there’s nothing to fail.

Any random flask you already own also works absolutely fine. I followed the Hugh F-H 's instructions, which is the same a jairaj post but use a thermos instead of a plate/some-where warm.

I take it that's just add boiling water to heat the flask, give it a couple of minutes, pour it out then add the ingredients and leave for however long it takes?

When in the Balkans don't try the chal or schubat

You can Google what it is.

I had managed to avoid the trotts for weeks. One sip of this. Stuck on the dunny for days.

Top thread! Asking a stupid question but will the yoghurt be 'live' ? Squirming rather re dried and UHT milk! Have also pontificated about making kefir, anyone done that?

C.g. the reason for uht is you're going to ferment it with bacteria from another yogurt. If you were to use raw or pasteurized milk you run the risk of bacteria already in there taking over before the yogurt bacteria have a chance. You're basicly leaving milk in the ideal conditions for it to go off and hoping it doesn't before the lactobacteria reduce the pH sufficiently to preserve it.

The alternative is to boil fresh milk, which is basicly the same process (raise temperature and slightly concentrate it).

Thanks tinas for that explanation. So heated raw milk could be used provided I've checked the temperature with a thermometer? Messing around with milk does make me nervous!

In principal, yes, but thats exactly what uht milk is, its boiled milk (pasteruized is 80C i think) there's no extra chemicals involved incase thats your worry.

Its actually much better for the environment as it's easier to store and transport (hence it being about half the price, the difference is basicly the energy cost of keeping fresh milk cold).

c_g - I use uht because I can't be ar$ed with boiling and cooling the milk. uht is sterilised so works fine and the end result doesn't taste like uht.
dried milk is a thickener. I add orange juice which with unthickened yogurt is so liquid it's more like a drink. a couple of tablespoons of dried milk and I get a more set yogurt.
finally, yes, it is live and you can use some of the last batch to start your next batch

tinas cheers, really didn't know whether there was anything else in UHT. Have a local farm that sells raw milk from Jersey cows which I guess could make the yoghurt rather delicious.

BBSB - thanks for that and like the sound of orange juice too. How long does the yoghurt keep for in the fridge?

Mrs R makes it. Warm milk and live yoghurt into a thermos, then wait a day. Job done.

c_g - no idea. I've just had some made on Sunday/Monday and it was fine. I make about 1 litre at a time and take a biggish pot to work every day and it's never been off so at least 5 days. Doubt if it would be much longer though

Plan A was to make the yogurt and add whatever fruit was around. First time I made it (about a year ago now) I had oranges so squeezed one and added the juice. Deeeeelicious. Apart from a couple of times when I tried lemon, lemon & lime and cherry & vanilla (all good but stoning the cherries was a bit of a pain) it's pretty much always been orange (blood orange in the season) and still not bored with it.

Cheers BBSB now seen 4 days mentioned so that's fine. Cherry and vanilla sounds divine but can imagine it to be rather time-consuming as well as running the danger of eating all the cherries as one de-stones them meaning none left for yoghurt!

Our local Spar has stopped stocking UHT. Presumably to make more space for their 76 varieties of fizzy drink.