Yoghurt Maker

[GreenFressia]

I got one as a present.

The instructions are really vague.

Can anyone point me to an idiots guide on how to make yoghurt in one?

Not sure if any help, Lakeland website having lots on making yogurts at home. They sell unused to sell packets that you make up in a shaker and refrigerate.

Is it an Easi-Yo or something else?

Is it an electric one? We have one that's non electric, basically just an insulated sack. It's really easy to make the yogurt - just heat milk up to ~50°c with a spoonful of live yogurt in, put in jars in the yogurt maker overnight and voilá.

the instructions on mine were very vague too. It’s an electric one, essentially just a pot that gets a bit warm. Mine came with two plastic containers (one fits in the other) and a strainer. After some googling and trial and error, this is what I do.

I start first thing in the morning given how long the steps take. It works quite nicely as I put it on at breakfast time, in the fridge at tea time, and then strain before I go to bed, waking up to perfect Greek yoghurt.

1. put one litre of full fat UHT milk in the smaller pot with some Greek yoghurt - if I have some yoghurt already made I use the end of it to make the next batch. I use about a single yoghurt pot in volume.

2. mix and put it in the yoghurt maker for 10 hours

3. after 10 hours remove the container and put it straight into the fridge as it is

4. after 3 hours you’ll have lovely natural yoghurt. I would eat this but my kids prefer Greek so I go onto…

5. put the strainer in the larger container and pour the yoghurt into it. Lid on and back in the fridge overnight.

don’t skip the 3 hours cooling before you strain as you’ll just lose too much yoghurt

i know some people heat regular milk first, I use UHT for practicality as I can’t be bothered warming in a pan, like to buy in bulk, and because the quantities work for me

good luck! I usually make a fruit compote with frozen berries and sugar to mix with the yoghurt

Hi, the instructions would depend on your type of yoghurt maker. I have a vintage kenwood yogurella electrical yogurt maker (Y.M.) with 6 jars.

Measure 800ml of your choice of milk (equivalent to 5 jars) into a pot. I use whole milk, also known as full-fat although fat is actually less than 4%.

Heat on the hob until the milk starts to climb the side.

Take off hob and allow to cool to body temp.

Stir 1 small pot of natural live yogurt into the cooled milk.

Pour into jars and place them on the base of the Y.M.

Turn Y.M on and set timer.
4-6 hrs later, delicious, homemade yogurt.

No sachets needed and you can eat them as natural yogurt or add fruit or honey to before serving.

You can also keep a jar back to use as your starter next time instead of buying another live natural yogurt. You can make six 160ml yogurts for around 60p.

Thanks this is really helpful.

Its an electric one with 7 jars (VonShef).

I wanted to make thick Greek style - thinking a single pot maker would be better as a layer of faff but nevermind!

What is the strainer like? I make natural yogurt but making Greek style sounds very interesting!

@NeedSomeComfy It’s just a very fine mesh. It’s in use at the moment but I will take a photo when I’ve got it all cleaned up. I think you can probably achieve the same effect with a muslin cloth over a bowl

This type of thing:

https://amzn.eu/d/5lBLF5y

I strain mine with kitchen towel!
I also just use my instant pot to make it, it's brilliant. If you use UHT milk you don't even have to heat the milk to a certain temperature, you just switch it on & 10 hours later you have your yoghurt. Straining reduces it by about half.

This is what I do too. The whey (the liquid you strain off the get the thicker, Greek yogurt) can be used with the UHT milk to make the next batch, so don't waste it! It's also apparently very good for dogs and mine loves it!

Can I strain with a metal fine mesh sieve do you think?

I'm off to try my first batch this morning.

Quite excited 😂

It's in the yoghurt maker now for 10 hours.

I was thinking its not that economical as milk (admittedly from Waitrose) was £1.60 for a litre, plus 90p for a small live yoghurt pot. However as PP said I can use the last yoghurt pot for the next milk. How many times can I do that?

I am wondering if Almond milk yoghurt would be nice - one to experiment with.

I also did some maths and worked out, depending on whether im comparing it to Aldi or Yeo Valley
greek yoghurt, over 20 years Im saving £1,800 - £5,000.

Not mountains but it all adds up 😊 - I'm going to start putting the weekly saving into my savings pot.

I have the 7 pot one, but Moulinex. Just buy UHT full fat milk, mix it with 1 x 150g. of full fat yogurt - I use a whisk to amalgamate well - pour into 7 pots, cover and switch on
the timer for 8 hours. Once finished, remove from the yogurt maker and allow to cool before putting on the lids and popping in the fridge. NB. The yogurt pot needs to be room temperature, not straight from the fridge. I leave mine out overnight.

i never use fresh milk as the boiling makes me heave. UHT is the same thing as boiling fresh milk.

never used a strainer, my yogurt comes out very thick.

if you want flavoured yogurt (eg. Fruit or vanilla) stir some finely chopped fruit or scrape a vanilla pod into the milk, add some sugar and make as normal.

You can in theory use your previous yogurt cultures indefinitely. We tend to get a new one every 6 months or so because after a while our yogurt starts to get very sour and the texture is less good (maybe the culture gets more concentrated?). We experimented quite a lot with the starter culture and have settled on a Goats milk kefir that our local supermarket sells and always gives us thick creamy yogurt.
Good luck with your first go! It took us a few tries to get good at ours so don't be put off if the first one isn't as good as you hope.

Oh wow this just keeps getting better! Goats milk kefir and UHT milk - fab.

I have one of the 7 jar ones. My timer is set to 8 hours and sometimes the yoghurt is set in 5. I save some yoghurt to mix in with the next batch. I heat milk to 180c, let it cool and then mix in the yogurt and fill the sterilised pots.

Interesting to see how much starter everyone is using; I’ve been doing research on this as have very varied outcomes with my yoghurt thickness. Love thick, creamy and don’t want to have to strain it all away and end up with a tiny amount.

Someone has done some research, and you only need a TINY amount of starter to get thicker yoghurt. Less starter=thicker yoghurt.

So for 1l, use 1 teaspoon of starter yoghurt!

I’ve just done it and it is definitely thicker than my previous batches.

Website here https://saladinajar.com/yogurt/reader-question-how-much-starter-do-you-really-need-to-make-yogurt/

Thanks for this! It was also the conclusion we'd come to through lots of trial and error (and runny, overly sour yogurt). A teaspoon sounds about right, or what I often do is pour a bit of milk into the old pot and give it the lightest of swirls to just get a few dregs.

Yoghurt is going in the fridge. I've been looking up straining as I would like it thicker. What could I strain with that I'm likely to have in my kitchen?

You could try adding a couple of dessert-spoons of full-fat milk powder per litre when you mix the starter/milk. It does need to be full-fat, the semi-skimmed powder from the supermarket just doesn't hack it (I buy mine online).
Thanks @Bestnottalkaboutit, I'm going to try adding less starter next time!

I used a small, fine, plastic mesh sieve - but you have to do it in batches if it isn’t big enough. However, had a lightbulb moment and used the mesh part of my coffee machine; works like a dream! You can buy them on their own for next to nothing. Mine fits nicely in the rim of my pyrex jug, so plenty of space underneath for the whey

One of these on Amazon

Or bung a (very clean) tea towel in a colander; that also works fine too.

For straining, I use old muslins from when the kids were babies. If you don't have to hand, you can buy an economy pack very cheaply, when the "official" cheesecloth is much more expensive for the same thing. You can also try adding a couple of spoons of powdered milk when you make it for a thicker set.

I tasted some this morning - omg it's amazing.

It tastes like fresh yoghurt on a summer holiday in Greece 😂

I'm not sure I will strain this batch as I just want to eat it. I used a Greek yoghurt starter pot - not sure if this made any difference to the thickness but I would say it's like a semi skimmed yoghurt.

Wow no going back now!

Looking forward to trying all the tips above.