Fermentation & Gourmet Food Storage – Making Your Own Yogurt from Scratch

Do you want to sleep better at night?  Are you interested in having a stronger immune system?  Having the right balance of good gut bacteria can help both of those things, but it can also do others things.  How about feeling less anxiety?  Do you suffer from eczema, but you don’t want to?    In this article, I mention even more benefits of eating probiotic foods.  I also list out different probiotic foods.  One of these that I list out is yogurt.

In today’s modern age, it’s so much simpler and faster just to make one trip to the grocery store instead of taking the time to make items from scratch in our own homes.  The HUGE downside to this is, as a culture, we have lost the ability to be self-sufficient.

Y’all know I’m a busy woman.  I have a husband and five kids.  Yet I also homeschool and organize activities for our church.  I do not make everything from scratch all the time.  The difference is that I HAVE made many things from scratch.  I know HOW to make things from scratch.  Just because I don’t do it all the time, doesn’t mean I’ve lost my ability to do them.  But it is a good thing to keep in practice.

Unless you live on an actual off-the-grid homestead, you will still need to live in the modern world and interact with it on a very regular basis.  Practicing your homesteading skills while living what society would call a ‘fairly normal life’ will prepare us for a time if life ever isn’t “normal.”

So today, let’s learn and practice how to make yogurt!  It is super simple.

Yogurt

You can make yogurt from raw milk, pasteurized milk, coconut milk, almond milk.  The best (and easiest way to make yogurt is to use raw milk.  Many people don’t have access to raw milk or have a compunction against using raw milk, so I’ll give you directions for each way.

If you choose to use store-bought coconut milk or almond milk, please make sure that it’s unsweetened and has as few ingredients as possible.  Having a digital thermometer with an ‘alarm’ to let you know when your milk is warm enough or cool enough is a huge help, but you can use something as rudimentary as a candy thermometer.

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon milk (raw, pasteurized, coconut, or almond)

1/4 C pre-made yogurt or a packet of store-bought yogurt culture

2 quart-sized and 1 pint-sized mason jar with lids

Directions:

1.)  If you are using pasteurized, coconut, or almond milk, heat your milk to 180 degrees.  This kills any harmful bacteria that could compete with the culture that we will introduce later.  You’ll see above and to the left that my milk started out at 46 degrees.  I set my thermometer’s alarm to go off at 180 degrees.

2.)  Once your yogurt reaches 180 degrees, turn off the heat and let it cool to 115 degrees.  If you are using raw milk, just heat your raw milk to 115 degrees and follow with the rest of the steps below.  You’ll notice in the picture above on the left that the milk is just starting to bubble and look frothy as we reached 180 degrees.

3.)  As your yogurt reaches 115 degrees, you’ll want to whisk your 1/4 yogurt (or your starter packet) into your milk.  This is called inoculating your yogurt.

4.)  You’ll want to divide the soon-to-be yogurt, between two quart-sized jars.  Put a lid loosely on each jar.

5.)  Incubate the yogurt at 115 degrees for 10-12 hours.

Now, there are a LOT of ways that you can incubate your yogurt, and I’ve tried most of them!   And unfortunately failed with most of them!  So I’m going to tell you the three practically foolproof ways to incubate your yogurt.

First Incubation Option

Your first option is to put your canning jars into your oven and turn the light on, but don’t turn the oven on.  This will keep your yogurt around 110-115 degrees.  The downside to this is that you can’t use your oven for those 10-12 hours.

Second Incubation Option

Your second option is to purchase a Yogotherm.  It is much cheaper to get it from Cultures for Health.  If however, you prefer to buy it from Amazon for any reason, you can find it here.  For this, you wouldn’t need the jars.  You would simply put your inoculated yogurt into this and set it on top of your fridge for 10-12 hours.  This is the one that I recommend because even if you are ever without power, this will work.

Third Incubation Option

Your third incubation option is to use a dehydrator.  This is the one I currently use……well because I have an amazing dehydrator!  It’s large enough for me to do up to 2 gallons of yogurt if I wanted to.  It also guarantees that my yogurt will incubate at 115 degrees because I can adjust the temperature.  I wouldn’t suggest that you buy this dehydrator just for yogurt though.

Runny Yogurt?

No worries.  Homemade yogurt is more often runnier than store-bought yogurt.  This can easily be solved in one of two ways.  If you have a thin tea towel or dish towel that is CLEAN, you can lay this dish towel inside a strainer or colander.  Pour or ladle your yogurt into the towel.  You are going to want to gather the corners and use a rubber band to keep the corners together so that your yogurt stays contained within the towel.  Let it sit and drip for a minimum of 2-3 hours.  What drips out will be whey (and we will use this in a later post), and what is left in the towel is a much thicker version of your homemade yogurt!

What About You?

Have you ever made your own yogurt?  Do you like to eat fermented foods?  Have you had a good experience with how fermented foods have helped heal your gut?  I’d love to hear about it!  Leave me a comment or click respond to this if you’re getting it as an e-mail.

Remember, knowledge isn’t knowing something, it’s living it!

There are links in this post.  Some of the links may be affiliate links.  Some of the links may not be.  My promise to you is that I will only recommend the most economical version of the best quality of items to serve you. These are the items that I have bought for my own family.  You can feel free to use my affiliate links, of which I will get a small amount in compensation, or you can choose to search out your products on your own.