h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello, Hope you dont mind me popping round your space but I'm after some yogurt making advice please .

I bought an EasyYo kit which looks much like yours-an inner bottle and a flask for insulation. The problem is all the instructions relate to using horribly expensive powdered sachets you have to buy and I was wanting to make mine the way you described. I had a go last night by boiling some milk, cooling it and adding some yogurt but it didn't work. Although it smelt nice (almost like greek yogurt with honey added) it was a mixture of big soft squishy lumps and lots of yellowy liquid. It was almost like sweet cottage cheese.

I think the problem might be that in the kit instructions you use cold water to mix with the sachets and then boiling water in the insulation flask. Im guessing that boiling water is too hot when you use warm milk?? Or am I doing something else wrong? Any advice would be most welcome.

Absolutely no problem at all!

So, do you have a yoghurt thermometer? One of the most important things is to make sure you have boiled the milk (you can cheat and use UHT milk instead - I don't notice a difference in taste).

Then you have to make sure that if you use full-fat milk, you use full-fat yoghurt. And it must be "live" yoghurt. (I don't use the powdered stuff either - although when you consider you get about 20 litres of yoghurt out of it, it's not too bad)

Next you definitely need to cool the milk to between 39°C~45°C. While I cool the boiled milk, I bring the yoghurt up to room temperature

Then, I skim the skin off the milk (because my Gruesomes don't like the lumpy bits in their yoghurt, spoilt brats!) and whisk the yoghurt into it. Into the jar it goes, into the styrofoam container and then onto the kitchen window sill. It is warm there and it gets sun all day.

The more I have to boil the milk (sometimes it cools down too far and has to be heated - but you don't have to boil it again - again. Anyway, the more I have to heat the milk, the thicker it tends to be (and less of it )

The key thing is: correct temperature and live yoghurt.

Yours sounds as though your milk might have been too warm. Did you try whisking it all together to see what happened? maybe something like Quark, which is also yummy.

Good luck, and don't forget to come back and let me know how you got on!

Thanks Sho

Im afraid I didn't have a yoghurt thermometer, I guess I need to buy one as the kit didn't have one in it . I wasn't sure how long to boil the milk for -Delia said 30mins and HFW said just to boiling point so I split the diference and went for 5mins If you use UHT milk does that mean you dont boil it or heat it at all? How do you keep things aseptic if you dont heat it? Does your styrofoam container have to be filled with water? Mine is a mini water bath and is supposed to be filled with boiling water which seems awful hot.

I used semi-skimmed milk and full fat greek yoghurt as a starter-should I have used low fat yoghurt as a starter? The powdered stuff I bought cost £2 for one kilo of yoghurt-I could buy the finished product for less

Sorry for so many questions but I am a bit confused by it all and really keen to get ny first batch-you made it sound so yummy .

PS I was too scared to whisk or taste it im case I made us all so down the sink it went

Down the sink was probably the best place for it...

Right, the first thing you need is a thermometer - they shouldn't be too expensive. The trick is that you want it to feel a little warm (we are just over 37°C normally, so it needs to be a few degrees warmer than your blood)

You deffo need to match the fat content (I've never mixed it up though, that was a tip I got about 25 years ago when I started making the stuff)

As for boiling the milk. I do mine in a microwave, and the milk usually comes right out of the fridge. For 1 liter I blast it for about 10 minutes on full - it is well and truly boiled but not for a sustained period like Delia mentions. For UHT milk I would just bring it to the boil, and then immediately cool it. The UHT process kills all the stuff you don't want to have anyway.

And most definitely you need live yoghurt. As far as I can gather you want something like that Activia stuff - with the live bacteria. And you should only need about a dessertspoonfull (I use two, but then I go for overkill every time)



tell you what - when you get your yoghurt made, do you fancy writing a joint guide entry on it?

Thanks for that. Right down to shops first thing for a thermometer then. I like the idea of using the microwave, cuts out all that stirring and boiling if I can just zap it for 10mins.

I love the idea of a joint guide entry

I used to make yoghurt and never knew any of that. I think I just warmed up UHT milk to hand warm (didn't boil it) and mixed in any old plain yoghurt. The secret was to be patient - it took much longer than it said in the instructions for the yoghurt bacteria to infiltrate all the milk, and even then, it sometimes turned out a bit runny. That was possibly due to not having the right ratio.

I had a yoghurt "machine" - a little box which kept a constant warm temperature with 6 jars. I used the jars straight out of the dishwasher to ensure that they were sterile. I've still got the machine, actually. I'll try again at the weekend, see if I have still got the knack.

Oh yes, if you use UHT you don't need to boil it - just heat it to between 39° and 45°C

TC, it could be that you were using yoghurt in the days before they flippin' pasturised anything that could move, therefore it was more likely to be "live"

As for the runny - it really is down to the water content of the milk I think. Which is why when I keep having to reheat it (and I boil it just to be on the safe side) the yoghurt is extra thick because it is less watery. Also on sunny winter days it's warmer because where I put it is by a radiator, and the sun comes through the glass and really keeps it at a good temperature (it doesn't get too hot because of the styrofoam)

I used to have an electric one like yours, TC, it doubled up as an egg boiler! But I didn't like that I had to either have a second set of pots, or empty them out so I could have a continuous supply of yoghurt. Now I have 4 jars, usually one is in the washer, one is being made, one full one in the fridge and the one we are eating.

We really do get through a lot of the stuff - especially now when the strawberries are in season.

ok used the packet stuff and have my first pot of creamy white goo

really? that quick?

Sounds good. Did you get a thermometer, then?

You know you can use the resulting yoghurt as your next starter, don't you? You can keep going like that until it gets too thin for your taste.

Its a bit warm but I'm sure it will taste very nice when it has cooled down. Sweeter than the stuff you buy in the shops. I have to say I dont really feel any sense of achievement making it this way-its feels a bit fake. I need to try again with the milk and see if I have any better luck.

Yeah that was why I made it to see if it was a better starter than the shop bought stuff. Don't have a thermometer yet-you just use cold water for this method but am hitting the shops on friday so should get one then.

So this powdered stuff, you mix it with water? And there is no milk involved?

yes, you mix the sachet with cold water then place it into an insulated flask which is filled with boiling water. very simple but doesn't really appeal to my inner domestic goddess

oh no! You need the flask, for the 8 hours warming, and I guess you can use some of your strange yoghurt (I've never encountered that before, my powder is mixed with the milk, essentially it's just dried yoghurt culture) as the starter for your next lot.

Keep me posted, it's fascinating!

so, Fi... how does it taste?

very very nice and thick too-i was expecting runny goo but it was solid and creamy. if i can make the same with the milk i will be very happy.

Fantastico.

So... make a couple more (you'll be surprised, I think, by how long the stuff keeps) and... we can start that entry (I have to get rid of this writer's block somehow, a guide entry seems like as good a way as any)