I very slowly heat 2 qrts. of milk to no higher than 145 degrees (that’s the beginning of pasteurization); I usually stay below 130. You can heat it up to no higher than 110, but it will be runnier. I think it’s better to take away some of the enzymes while adding in the other, in order to have the thicker yogurt without the processed additions. Does that make sense?
Then I let it cool down to 110 degrees. In the meantime, sterilize whatever jar you’re going to use; I use the 1/2 pint canning jars and lids for convenient single servings, but I only have 2 children, so use whatever size suits your needs. I have a goal of collecting enough of the BPA-free plastic lids so I don’t have to keep using my metal lids.
Add 2 tblsp. of (preferably) whole, plain yogurt per qrt. of milk after it’s cooled to 110 (I stick the saucepan into the fridge to speed up the cooling). Then I either add nothing or add some plain stevia, flavored stevia, flavored extract or my most common-some plain stevia and vanilla extract. The children add honey or frozen fruit to it when they eat it.
Then I pour into the jars, close, and place them into my Excalibur, in a staggard position; set at 110 deg., for 6-12 hours. Play around with different times to see what works best; too long and it will separate into curds and whey. You can find out how ya’ll prefer it best. Mine is generally less than 8 hrs. Then I let it sit in the fridge overnight (apparently you can do it for only 2 hours or so, but I haven’t tried that).
I also like making yogurt cheese and plain cream cheese from straining the curds and whey, then I use the whey in fermenting and for adding to drinks. Whey has electrolytes so it’s very refreshing to drink in water with lemon juice added.
@Robin-you could make a bunch of cheese with your supply. Have you checked out GNOWFGLINS dairy fermenting class?
I also make kefir, but I use the grains. Starting with room temp. grains, I let mine sit for about 12 hours; a medium thickness and tartness. GNOWFGLINS goes 24-48 I think. She makes these really cool middle eastern cheese balls preserved in olive oil with kefir/yogurt cheese. If you store them in raw milk and use them as frequently as 1x a week at room temp (I take mine out of the fridge 1 day before I use them), they’ll be fine and continue growing-no need to keep purchasing powder. Here’s a great site. kefir also makes a good sald dressing/dips base because of it’s consistancy.
If it turns out too runny use it as a salad dressing base, dips and/or smoothies and/or soaking medium for grains. You could intentionally make runnier yogurt by only heating to 110 or lower and making great salad dressings/dips that way.
There’s also room temp. yogurt cultures you can buy.
I read that you can take the quart of yogurt from the store and pour into ice cube trays for future use. Each cube is about 2 tblsp. That way you can just buy one large size and use it as needed.
That’s good news to me because I found the whole milk yogurt works the best as a starter, but I can only find it in quart sizes. I tend to use a new starter each time, as I forget to set out my saved portion, but you could set aside your new starter from your batch, or use a smaller jar specifically as a starter; that way you wouldn’t have to worry about separating it out and/or someone eating it.
HTH, let me know if I’ve left anything out!
Rachel
