Want to make yogurt but how to get the right temperature?

[chilliepepper]

The recipes I've read say to put the yogurt in a dehydrator at 95 degrees, or in an oven with a pilot light. I don't have a dehydrator or an oven with a pilot light. I think Sally Fallon also says you can put it in the oven at 150 degrees, but the lowest my oven goes is 170.

What should I do?

Thanks!

[janinemh]

I've had some luck putting it in an insulated water jug. I've also just wrapped it in a bunch of blankets.

[WeasleyMum]

Alton Brown (on of the Food Network TV-show cooks) had a show on homemade yogurt and he used a heating pad wrapped around something, set on low.

I don't remember the exact set-up, but it was all about using what you already have rather than buying a specific yogurt-making apparatus-- he hates "uni-taskers".

I'll try to find the recipe and see if it describes how to use the heating pad!

ETA: found it.

"Pour milk into small saucepan and whisk in powdered milk and honey. Place over medium heat and bring to 120 degrees F on an instant read thermometer. Once milk has reached 120 degrees F, pour into a cylindrical plastic container, reserving 1/2 cup. Whisk in the reserved 1/2 cup into the yogurt and add back to the milk mixture.
Place container into a narrow wine bucket, lined with a heating pad. Set the heating pad to medium. Let the mixture ferment for 3 to 12 hours making sure the temperature stays as close to 115 degrees F as possible. "

Ignore the recipe and focus on the set-up: yogurt within a (cylindrical) plastic container, heating pad wrapped around it, whole thing then slid into a wine bucket. I would think that you could use whatever for the outside container that fit-- who has a wine bucket?! Since his recipe has the yogurt at 115 and you want 95, I'd use a lower setting than what he reccommends.

[tempestjewel]

I've done it two ways- one way I've done it is by filling a small cooler up with warm water and fermenting the yogurt in there. My small cooler fits in one side of my kitchen sink which helps insulate it. I ferment for 24 hours so I usually change the water every 8 hours or so.

The other way I've done it is in my crockpot set to "warm" with the lid off. This has been the most reliable method, but I do have to watch it that it doesn't get too warm, so it requires a bit of baby-sitting too.

I've been wanting to try the heating pad method but ours has dissapeared :

[quietserena]

Some things that have worked for me:

warm milk on radiator, in oven with light on, in oven turned to 'warm', in oven with the lowest setting and a wooden spoon keeping the oven door open a crack, in crock pot but it had to be watched closely - i'd turn it on and off as I saw fit, in hot water bath, in a sunny window in the summer.

as long as it's between 100 and 120, those beasties will grow.

[Calidris]

My mother always wraps it in a towel then puts it in a small styrofoam cooler she has that is just a bit bigger than the yoghurt container.

[cristeen]

I use a 2 qt glass bowl with lid. Set it on a heating pad set to low, then wrap in a big beach towel. On top of the fridge so it doesn't get disturbed.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by WeasleyMum

Alton Brown (on of the Food Network TV-show cooks) had a show on homemade yogurt and he used a heating pad wrapped around something, set on low.

I don't remember the exact set-up, but it was all about using what you already have rather than buying a specific yogurt-making apparatus-- he hates "uni-taskers".

I'll try to find the recipe and see if it describes how to use the heating pad!

ETA: found it.



Ignore the recipe and focus on the set-up: yogurt within a (cylindrical) plastic container, heating pad wrapped around it, whole thing then slid into a wine bucket. I would think that you could use whatever for the outside container that fit-- who has a wine bucket?! Since his recipe has the yogurt at 115 and you want 95, I'd use a lower setting than what he reccommends.

:

I love Alton Brown

[chilliepepper]

Well...I also don't have a heat pad, but maybe I'll try one of the cooler methods.

Or the crock pot. But people mentioned needing to babysit it and turn it off when the yogurt's getting too warm. How do you know when it's too warm? Do you have a candy thermometer in there the whole time?

[quietserena]

Yeah, I use a thermometer and keep it in there the whole time, as soon as it hits 110, I turn the crockpot off. I let it cool down to 90 and turn back on.

For some reason, I've misplaced my candy thermometer and have been using a meat thermometer.

[simplepamom]

I turn my oven on to warm which is 170- with a pizza stone in it, while I am warming the milk. Then I turn it off while cooling hte milk. When I jar the yogurt, I turn the oven light on as I put the yogurt in it to set. With the oven light on, and the pizza stone radiating heat, it stays pretty warm.

Brenda