I make my own constantly. I don't use anything special. I have a plastic container that holds a liter of milk and has a lid that fits tightly. A thermos would work well.
My culture is local, so that won't help you, but any natural unflavoured yogurt should do. Note: Brown Cow works well.
You should scald the milk first (I do it in the microwave in a glass bowl, Shoshana uses a 1-quart microwave-safe measuring cup, or you can do it in a pot on the stove but watch it really carefully--boil-overs are a PITA to clean up).
You need a thermometer that will measure 100°C (that is, not a deep fat or oven thermometer; I got mine at a lab supply store). Wait till the temperature is 50°C (remember that it'll be hotter in the middle than around the edges of the bowl) and then pour the hot milk into whatever container you'll use to "set up" the yogurt.
Take 3 tbsp. of milk and mix with 1 tbsp. of the yogurt starter. Mix it thoroughly, then stir gently into
the rest of the milk.
Cover with a blanket or dishtowels and leave it UNDISTURBED (don't even bump it) for at least 6 hours in warm weather, maybe longer in cool weather.
You can use the new batch to make more yogurt but you must use it within a week, or the bacteria end up killing each other off and the yogurt won't set.
The yogurt may be a bit viscous or jelly-like, so you should give it a good stir with a fork or a whisk before using it.
If you want a thicker yogurt, you can add powdered milk (they don't sell powdered milk here, so I've never tried it) or reduce the milk by simmering it for a while (DH did this once by accident; he thought he'd turned the heat off and he'd just turned it down).
That's all there is to it. It's not rocket science. People in this part of the world have been making their own yogurt for centuries.
Avital
(1/7/01)
A few notes about making your own yogurt from various list members:
Joy wrote:
When I make my own, I have used one of the tall, 2 quart vacuum lid french canning jars, scalded the milk, added a little whole or skimmed milk powder if I wanted it thick, cooled it to lukewarm (the same temperature range bread yeast likes), add about 1/2 cup of plain live yogurt, wrapped the whole thing in a big, thick towel and stuck it in the oven (off but with pilot light) all night.
Jola Gayle wrote:
And I just use a mayonnaise jar (unsterilized), scald the milk, cool it, haven't much added milk powder, put a half-cup buttermilk in the jar, pour in a little milk, stir it, add the rest, screw the lid on, put it in a pan deep enough to cover the jar with warm water at least
half (preferrably 3/4) and set it on top of the refrigerator until the next morning.
Erika wrote:
I have a New Zealand-made gadget called an Easiyo, which is basically a very large insulated jar in which you place a 1-liter container of milk and culture and pour hot water around it to keep it warm. Leave it for 6-8 hours, and it's done. The nice thing about it is you don't have to worry about turning it off; the water cools gradually, so it's practically impossible to spoil the yoghurt by forgetting about it. I much prefer it to the electric gadget I used to have.
I imagine you could do something similar with a small picnic cooler; or just put the yoghurt in a thermos.
And here's the thing I learned from Laurel's Kitchen years ago:
Powdered milk (especially the Milkman brand, which has just a little bit of fat) makes excellent yoghurt. No messing around with boiling and cooling the milk--just use hot (110-115 deg F) tap water to dissolve the milk powder, then add the culture. Of course, with powdered milk you don't know much about the source, relativehappiness of the cows, etc., so you may still prefer to use regular milk.
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