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?

Using Greek yogurt as the starter won't make any difference, it's the straining that makes it thicker. Enjoy your delicious yoghurt!

i use a 1 litre glass jar for my yoghurt, it goes in a styrofoam cover that I've had since about 1990 (eek).

I use UHT milk because you don't need to boil it (but i do) and can have a stash in the cupboard. i always have 2 spoonsful of the previous yoghurt in a container ready to go (i have 2 jars and "leapfrog" them. I eat yoghurt every day for breakfast in summer)

My process: Boil milk (you can use fresh milk if you do this) then reduce and simmer for at least 10 minutes. This helps give slightly thicker yoghurt.
Reduce to between 37° and 42° then whisk in the room temperature yoghurt. (you can use organic shop bought as a starter, must be "live" yoghurt)

It all goes in the jar, on the sunniest counter in the kitchen for 24 hours. Stir, refrigerate. Keep 2 spoonsful for the next lot.

It is really thick, not like Greek yoghurt but thicker than shop bought. And gets tangier the longer you keep it going. IME - there is no limit to the length of time you can keep using your starter.

I had success with this one

Skimmed UHT milk
Skimmed dried milk powder - 2 heaped tablespoons
Plain yoghurt starter pot
In the yoghurt maker for 10 hours

Second day it was like French Set yoghurt. Didn't taste as nice as semi Skimmed milk and starter pot - not sure is that's because of the milk powder or the UHT milk.

I feel like there's so many variations to play around with. I've also bought some cloths for straining as I wanted to make higher protein content yoghurt.

Has anyone made cottage cheese? Is that possible with a yoghurt maker?

If you want yoghurt with the bacteria it needs to be organic uht milk. A good starter is the little yeo bio pots and the Greek style one is lovely.

It doesn't need to be organic uht, there are no bacteria in it, due to it being uht! However, I think skimmed milk is a mistake.
I use the yep bio too as a starter (you just need a couple of tablespoons), and then my own. No point in wasting Greek yogurt as a starter, it's just strained (see whole thread above!).

There’s something about ordinary milk and organic when you mix it with the starter yoghurt. It might be something to do with the friendly bacteria and non organic milk not creating the same amount or kills the bacteria.
I can’t remember exactly what but there’s definitely a reason for organic uht milk.

I very much doubt it. I'm not denying that organic milk is better for the environment & may be higher in omega 3 fatty acids, but it won't be any different in milk-fermenting outcome (microbiologist here).

I’ll take your word for it. I can’t even remember where I got the info but I’ll take the word of a microbiologist!
That’s great news to me because I’ve not made any yoghurt for about two years now, just because I couldn’t find organic uht anymore and I only like to make live yoghurt.
Thank you ☺️

Little update here - I strained it and got some lovely thick Greek fat free yoghurt!

I'm going to try semi Skimmed milk powder rather than Skimmed next.

I use cheap bog standard semi skimmed UHT milk from lidl - 68p a litre ( I use 3 litres) and a tub of their fat free greek yoghurt as a starter 34p

Ferment over night, then strain through a muslin cloth lined colander for around 5/6 hours - and voila - yoghurt that's so thick and creamy it rolls off the cloth leaving that clean ( obviously its not, I do wash it lol )

The whey, if Im motivated enough I use to make bread. It gives it a slight sourdough flavour to it and is extremely high protein

Good shout about Lidl - this gets cheaper and cheaper!