Yogurt in 9 easy steps.

There are several ways to make yogurt.  I started out making yogurt in a crock pot, but almost gave up because it always turned out too sour, and too runny.  Then a fellow "mostly health" nut invited me over to see how she makes yogurt.  I make a batch almost every week now and my kids LOVE it.

What you need:

• Double boiler, or 2 pots with handles that fit inside each other. You want the handles to rest on the edge of the outer pan. 
• A cooler
• A digital thermometer with an alarm ( again you can do this with a regular food thermometer, but you have to keep checking it)
• A gallon of milk ( we use 2%, but whole milk works great for kids, also make sure it is not ULTRA pasteurized)
• Half a cup of yogurt (after the first batch you can use your homemade yogurt for up to 10 batches)
• Colander
• Cheese Cloth or tulle - double thickness
• And a bowl to catch the whey

Here's how you do it:

1. Put water in the bottom of your double boiler, put it on the burner and turn it on. 
2. Poor the milk in the top of your double boiler and set it inside.
3. Set your thermometer to 180 degrees and stick in the pan with the milk.  You may want to stir once in a while, I usually stir it once or twice when I'm checking on it.
4. Put the lid on the pan.
5. Once the milk has reach 180 turn off the burner.  You can either place your pan of milk on the counter and wait for it to cool down to 120 (you'll want to set the alarm on your thermometer to 120) or you can stick the pan down in a little ice bath in your sink.
6. Mean while put your cooler in a place out of the way.  Some where safe for the next 7 hours.  I use my tub.Pour the hot water from the double boiler into the cooler and close the lid.
7. After the milk drops back to 120, stir in your half cup of yogurt.  DO NOT do this at a  higher temp, or you will probably kill the cultures.
8. Place your pan of milk in the cooler with the lid on.  Be careful that there is not too much water in the cooler.  If there is too much water, just unplug the drain for a few seconds ( or if your cooler doesn't have a drain just use a cup).  The water will need to stay between 90 and 120 for the full seven hours of sitting.  Set your alarm for the high to be 120 and the low to be 90, and set the gauge in the water.  I never have a problem maintaining the temperature.  If it does go down too much just run some hot water into the cooler (another good reason to set it in the tub).  
9. Leave it for 7 hours. Longer if you want really sour yogurt.   Left it 12 hours on accident once, edible but not the best in my opinion.

Straining the whey:

My Thermometer is something like this.
The cord is long.  Mine has a magnet on the back to
stick it to the stove or fridge.

1. Put the colander in a bowl.
2. Put the cheese cloth in the colander.
3. Pour in the yogurt and let the whey strain until the yogurt is the thickness you want. (I usually let it sit about an hour. Some people thicken it with a little pectin or dry milk, but I find straining it longer or shorter give me just the right texture.

Put the yogurt in a storage container and refrigerate.  I also save the way and use it in bread and waffles.  You can substitute the water or the milk in your favorite recipe for extra protein.

If your yogurt turned out lumpy, it didn't sit long enough.  If it turned out sort of stringy, or mucous like it sat a little too long.  Either way you can still eat it!  My favorite way to eat it is with brown sugar.  My kids love to add dry oatmeal and fruit.  I have a friend that pours it into small containers and tops it with a layer of blended fruit and sugar.

There is a way to make it with Raw milk, but since I can neither find nor afford raw milk I haven't tried it.  Ultimately you end up pasteurizing the milk in the process but in all of my "research" most of the comments have said that they couldn't get it to work quite right.