Oh if only you could have seen the delighted look on my face when my slippered feet carried me to the kitchen the other morning. I unwrapped the mass of towels on my counter, revealing seven jars of yogurt that I was hoping would be ready. And what to my wondering eyes did appear?
No whey!!!
I made my homemade yogurt this way, of course doing this that I learned recently. But the final tipping point towards getting my yogurt exactly the way I want it, with no whey sitting in the jar in the morning, was getting out my candy thermometer and keeping track of the temperature of my yogurt for the first couple steps.
I couldn’t be more pleased with how my yogurt has turned out since I started doing this. There is literally no whey in my jars and, even when I refrigerate the yogurt, at max a half of a Tablespoon of watery whey appears on the top. What does this mean for my yogurt? It’s cheaper to make! If 1 part of milk turns into 1 part of yogurt; there is no waste! It’s cheaper to make, and then it requires no straining! If I wanted to strain it to make greek yogurt, I could. But now? I don’t have to! Also, the consistency and even taste of my yogurt is even better than before?
What did I do exactly?
Well, Big Mac and I, in true science experiment form, stayed up late and kept a close eye on the thermometer. I heat up the milk until the temperature reached exactly 180 degrees. At that point, we turned the heat off and left the thermometer in there. We would take it out and shake down the mercury every so often. Big Mac’s job was to read what the temperature was over the next hour+. Once the milk cooled down to exactly 110 degrees, we added the starter. Covered, wrapped as normal, and went to bed. And in the morning?
No whey!
I even turned my jars upside down to let whey drain out and, as you can see from the photo, there really was none! Okay, I’m done sharing about yogurt. I was just excited. Can you tell?
I understand that you are excited to share that you made yoghurt with no whey. And I see that nobody seems to like it, but it is actually pretty healthy and lots of people here drink it, usually with some kind of flavoring though. Here is a webpage you can look at.
http://www.lattella.at/englisch/
I have a question: my SIL wants to get chicken for her family of 6. She was told she needs at least 12.
Is that true? How many do you have and how many eggs a day do you get?
we are a family of 6 (though the 5 month old doesn’t eat eggs yet!) and we have 6 chickens. In the summer we have plenty of eggs, and we eat eggs often. We even gave a few dozen away to the friends who helped us build the coop. Once the days got shorter and they started molting we don’t have nearly enough eggs, we cut back on how often we eat them and had to buy some last week finally. I’d like a few more chickens. Also, our Black Sex Link lays regularly, I can expect an egg nearly every day from her, even with the shorter days!
Candy thermometer all the way! I use it when I make our yogurt. I put the warmed milk in an ice bath in the sink, it cools it down in about 6 minutes. Then for the incubation step I put it in my Excalibur Dehydrator overnight, that keeps the temperature exact while it sets up. I have gotten the thickest yogurt this way! I strained it once to get yogurt cream cheese (not really cream cheese but the same consistency) and it was SO yummy!
And for the record.. if you walk away and accidentally scald the milk, the smell becomes more pronounced if you continue on and make yogurt. LOL
Scalding the milk is okay, scorching it is when you get the horrible smell. To scald milk you heat it to 185. Scorched milk is just a fancy name for burning the milk.
Thank you for that info! That makes sense
Scorched milk sounds like a game my brothers used to play in the 80s, scorched earth or something..lol
I know what to do with the botched batches of yogurt, not that you will have any more of those because it sounds like you have figured out what to do to perfect the process.
I stuck a botched batch in the fridge, it was still kinda runny. My husband took it out and added a package of ranch dressing mix and a little mayo. OH GOSH IT WAS THE BEST RANCH DRESSING EVER!!!!!
OOoohhhh, good to know!!!!!
The key to making great yogurt is to heat the milk to scalding temp and then let it cool to 110 and then keep it warm for 8-10 hours. Don’t disturb it until after you refridge it for a couple of hours. If you stir it while it’s still warm it will get soupy and will never firm up for you.
When you first posted about making yogurt i was excited to make some, then you posted about it never turning out the right consistency,. now im nervous to make any, after you get the milk to 110 degrees and add the starter can you pour it into jars and cover it or does it have to stay in the pot??
Oh, you’re getting me excited too! I haven’t gotten more than 50% yogurt yet. Mind you, I do use the whey for stuff, so it’s not getting wasted, but it would be nice to get 100% yogurt. Looks nice and thick too. Good thing I’m heading to the States for Christmas vacation, ’cause you can’t buy candy thermometers here in the Netherlands, and it sounds like I need to actually break down and buy one!
Thanks for the science experiment notes! P.S. Great thing to be doing together with Big Mac!
Yum! As you already know my Mom & I used to make goat milk yogurt.
Amy
YUM! Do you add flavors to it? One of these days I might make it but not now as there’s too much to do. I just buy the Tillamook brand, which I think is the best, but I do live in Oregon where I can get it. Merry Christmas. Now it’s off to wrap hubby’s gift since he just left for his walk and it’s way too cold for me to walk, as in nearly freezing temp! :0_
Awesome! I’ve never been brave enough to try making my own yogurt….I probably should at some point – my kids love it, and we haven’t had it in AGES. =P Go you!!!!! =)
I bought a kefir smoothie the other day!! I was in our local organic store and saw the bottle and immediately thought, “mckmama told me these are loaded with good stuff”, hah, so i bought it and it was delish!!
Good for you! It’s SO good, huh!?
Awesome!! Thank you!! I’ve been making yogurt since your fist post and couldn’t be happier. We always have whey though and I don’t like it, but it doesn’t turn me off from it. I don’t strain it because I don’t have time to, but now, you have me all excited again! I’ve made to ignite batch for tomorrow already, but I will follow your steps for the next
Oh man you will love it!!! So much yogurt for your effort! If you think of it, let me know how it goes.
I will! I reread my comment and had to laugh. So much for auto correct. I did NOT “ignite” this last batch. It was supposed to say “tonight’s batch.” haha
I was wondering exactly what you meant! I thought maybe you meant you ignited the stove for this batch!
Do you not need to keep the yogurt refrigerated at all? That just makes me nervous!
Not while you’re making it! It must stay warm. Then, as soon as it’s done, it must stay refrigerated! That’s exactly how store bought yogurt is made, too. The wonderfully healthy, beneficial cultures and bacteria need a warm place to grow. Sounds gross maybe, but it’s how it works and it’s so healthy for you! But yeah, it does kind of go against what we think about food sitting out!
That is WHEY cool!! (bad joke)
I wish I had the motivation to try this. With blending, meds and tube feeds, I just don’t have time.. YET. I will eventually try my hand at homeade yogurt. Someday. Merry Christmas to you all!!
Andrea
To you too, Andrea!!