Anyone use Yogurt Makers?

[bmccasland]

I missed going to Farmer's Market yesterday (one looonnnnggg meeting) to get milk from my local dairy, so I'll have to put off the yogurt crockpot experiment for a week. He pasteurizes but not homoginzes his milk, so even the skim tastes creamy (just have to remember to shake the jug every time).

[malkin]

I cultured out of the most recent batch for about a couple years. It was still going strong, but there was one of those accidents with a gravitational surge in the kitchen, so I started over.

The maker I use is branded Salton, and a quart canning jar fits inside it.

[smilingcat]

I also have the EuroCuisine. But my partner doesn't like the style of yogurt I make. so the equipment is collecting dust. Maybe I just need to add simple syrup to the milk...

I prefer the European style with the tang.

[malkin]

I've found that starting with a more sour yogurt to begin with produces (surprise!) more sour yogurt!

[badger]

if you don't want the sourness of the yogurt, try putting inulin in next time (you should be able to buy it at places like Whole Foods). It's a pre-biotic, so it's beneficial in yogurt, it's literally like sugar so it'll cut down on the "sourness".

Hipmama, how do you make yogurt with hemp/almond/soy milk? I tried once with soy and it just curdled. I know it needs something in it, I believe a type of sugar. Do you use a particular brand?

[hipmama]

Badger-I use Edensoy for the soy milk and living harvest hemp milk - for sweetener I use agave nectar or maple syrup, depending on what flavor I'm going for. Never had it curdle- are you watching your heating temp?

[badger]

I'll give Eden soy a try. I read it in the instruction booklet for the yogurt maker, and it said it had to have something in it, and I can't remember what it was (nor can I find the manual at the moment!).

I'm assuming you're using the starter out of a packet? I use the yogourmet type, and when I tried it on the soy milk, it just curdled (same temp as the dairy yogurt as it's a maker). Any other tips would be great, I'm not a huge fan of dairy so I wouldn't mind making my own soy/hemp/almond yogurt.

[hipmama]

For a starter I just use a spoon or two of already made soy yogurt- I either save a little from a batch to start a new one or buy one small container of plain soy yogurt to put in there and it works just fine.

[OakLeaf]

Hipmama, how do you make yogurt with hemp/almond/soy milk? I tried once with soy and it just curdled. I know it needs something in it, I believe a type of sugar. Do you use a particular brand?

It's the opposite - you need to use UNsweetened soy milk or the culture won't take.

+1 on Edensoy because (1) their quality control is SOOOOO much higher than the others (they actually test regularly for GMO contamination!) and (2) it's less diluted so you're getting a thicker yogurt and a better value for your money. Of course homemade soy milk will be even less diluted and way less cheaper and wasteful.... but it's just too much of a PITA for me.

I've got to try hemp milk now! I didn't think it would culture. Grain milks won't.

[badger]

ok, I just found the user guide for my yogurt maker. For soy, it says:

"Be sure to use UHT soy milk which contains one of the following ingredients: fructose, honey or malt. These ingredients are necessary for fermentation and you will not succeed if none are available in the milk."

I've got two kinds of soy milk at home and neither have the above ingredients. The both have evaporated cane juice but I don't think that qualifies as fructose.

[OakLeaf]

Well, whatever the instructions say, the only soy milk I've been able to culture with yogurt bacteria has been UNsweetened, either homemade or storebought. I've been successful with Westsoy unsweetened, very successful with Eden unsweetened and obviously the most success with homemade. Then I've tried it with two brands of soymilk sweetened with cane juice (typically 45% fructose) and both times it came out very runny and fragile.

I did try hemp milk the other day, but unfortunately I think it got too hot. Anyway it did culture to some extent, but it didn't set at all. I'm going to try it again.

[badger]

what do you use for culture? a store-bought soy yogurt?

[OakLeaf]

I've used store-bought dairy yogurt (I'm not THAT allergic to milk), store-bought cultures (usually dairy grown), probiotic pills (non-dairy; split them open and guess at the dosage ).

Where did I just read that big-brand store-bought dairy yogurt has the most stable and vigorous cultures, and the sugar and additives aren't enough to hurt your initial batch? Was it someplace someone on this thread had linked to?

I don't make yogurt often enough to keep a culture going. Now that I've discovered hemp milk yogurt though, I just might!

[badger]

let me get this straight, you use dairy yogurt as a starter for your soy yogurt? I used the packaged starter for my attempt and I figured it curdled because maybe I used one intended for dairy. I could buy a small thing of soy yogurt as my starter, but I don't think I've seen an unflavoured soy yogurt in the stores.

[ZenSojourner]

I had a yoghurt maker years ago, it was a Salton. It worked OK, but I discovered making it in a pan on top of the refrigerator worked just as well.

Unfortunately I've not made yoghurt for probably 15 years so whatever process I was using is lost in the mists of time, but I bet there are dozens of sites on the internet that will describe the process more than adequately. I will say the refrigerator-top yoghurt was better than what came out of the yoghurt maker. The Salton product was OK, but the purely home made stuff was better.