Have you ever made yogurt?

I haven’t done it recently, but I’ve made it before. I’ve never had anything go wrong; if mine looks runny I just let it ‘cook’ a bit longer. I scald the milk.. I don’t know what temp. but I would assume probably in the neighborhood of 200, since scalding means it’s just about to boil. Then cool it till it’s warm, not hot, stir in some yogurt & put it (covered) in the oven. I have a convection oven that can be set to 100 degrees, so I let it get up to temp. & turn it off. I do this again after an hour, after 2 hours; that usually does it. You could also get the right temp. by pouring boiling water into a pan in the oven, if your oven won’t let you have the temp. that low. Ovens are also good rising cabinets for bread making. :-)

I’ve “cheated” in making the yogurt by buying a nice yogurt maker. The trick is to maintain the yogurt bacterial culture by constantly making new yogurt (or at minimum, finding the right kind of commercial yogurt to seed your homemade variety). As for the runny yogurt, the trick is to find the right length of cooking time, which is entirely dependent on the temperature and your set-up. Experimentation here is the key. Take notes on what you did and what the results were, and eventually you’ll find the right combination.

Yes, I’ve made it before. I like to use this recipe and make it in my crockpot.

It works fine for me but only if you have a warm spot in your house (or make a warm spot), otherwise, the bacteria that causes yogurt to culture croaks and all you get is slightly smelly milk.

There are several things that affect the firmness of yogurt, I’ve found: the % of milk you used to start with (i.e. whole and 2% work better than 1% and skim) and then how long you let it sit. I have let mine sit for 15 hours or more and it’s always firmer than letting it sit for 8 hours. (You can also add instant nonfat dried milk to your starter milk to encourage firmness. It’s supposed to work quite well.) Also, whole and 2% are always less tangy than 1% and skim, but on the whole, homemade yogurt is less tangy than storebought.

I think there are conflicting temperatures because many different things work; the goal of heating up milk (I’m told) is to kill off any unwanted bacteria. Some recipes don’t give a temperature and just say “Heat until the milk starts to foam up” while others give a time/amount of time to cook, and still others have you pulling out the candy thermometer. I don’t think it matters that much, but the more you heat it up, the more you have to let it cool so that your yogurt starter doesn’t die from heat exhaustion. :P

I’d be happy to answer any more questions you have from my (admittedly limited) experiences!

I have attempted to make it, but it didn’t end up so well. @evegrimm I am going to try it.

I used to have kefir grains, which did the yogurt making part for me. I really enjoyed making and consuming the yogurt- sadly, when I went away to college, my parents who are not crazy about yogurt decided the kefir grains needed too much care (and too much milk) and they were discarded.
But, all in all, good yogurt, really easy to care for.

Tim makes yogurt for our household, and it’s delicious!

I made it a while ago; it was supposed to be part of another recipe but I decided to just eat it then. It was SO good, and runny, but I didn’t really mind it.