I MADE yogurt!!!!

This was so DELICIOUS, simple, takes approximately 16 hours, but it is easy and rewarding.

5/30/20 made this recipe 3 times before. This time I had a new crockpot that only goes on high and low. Heated it on high for 2 hours it went up to 150 degrees. I turned it off and waited 1 hour (130 degrees) then one more hour it was (120 degrees) and a half hour more, yes finally ready it  decreased to 110 degrees.


Slow and Steady makes the best yogurt. Two times I've tried to speed up the process and I burn the milk (B. more details below)

Need-
* Crockpot
* 1 gallon 2% milk and  I've used 1% also (works well)
*  1- 8oz fage yogurt (it has L. Bulgarius, S. thermophilus, L. Acidophilus, Bifidus, L. Casei)
I wanted a yogurt that had the most pure ingredients with not many/no fillers

This makes 7-8 cups of plain yogurt and 7-8 cups of yellowish protein liquid called whey

1. Pour milk into slow cooker on HIGH close the lid.  It will take 2-3 hours before the temperature of the milk is 180 degrees. Check it with a thermometer.  Once it is at 180 degrees, then turn off the cooker, close lid and let milk cool to 110 degrees. This will take another 2-3 hours
2. Once the temperature is around 110 degrees, In a small bowl, take 1-2c of warm milk from crockpot and mix it with the 8 oz of yogurt.  Then gently pour the mixture back into the crockpot.  Stir it in by using up and down motions and left and right motions (not circular motions). Close the lid
3. Turn off the cooker and Wrap the slow cooker in a a large bath towel, to help insulate it, let it sit undisturbed in a non-drafty room at room temperature or slightly warmer for 10-12 hours or overnight.(A. more details below)  The milk will thicken and the yellowish whey will separate.
4.  Line a colander with a tea towel or cheese cloth, put a larger bowl under the colander and pour yogurt into the towel. The larger bowl will catch the whey and the tea towel will catch the yogurt.  I let it strain for 3 hours at room temperature, b/c I like my yogurt thick. But you can have it drain longer and it will get thicker too.
5.  Store yogurt in fridge in airtight container, preferably glass.  I just put the yogurt into 2 mason glass canning jars.  When ready to make another yogurt batch you can use a cup from this batch as a starter culture.
6. The whey can be used to put into smoothies to boost of the protein. Whey contains calcium, thiamin, vitamin B12, vitamin B5, magnesium, potassium, riboflavin, phosphorus, selenium and zinc. You can soak these items in the liquid- vegetables, dry beans, nuts, grains. Pizza dough 





(A) My old school crockpot has a dial that goes from just warm to the hotness of frying oil to deep fry something.  So I just kept my crockpot on warm which was probably around 100 degrees.  But if you have the more up to date crockpots yours probably has a temperature setting low or high.
B. Two times I've heated the milk accidentally to 200 degrees. Its because I put the dial gauge on the crockpot to the highest heating temperature to fry oil, which makes the milk too hot and the final product is sour yogurt not delicious yogurt.  So I need to put the dial gauge at about 300 degrees so it wont boil or over heat it.