Yogurt: Cooler and Oven Method
Until Sabrina sent me an Instant Pot, I always made yogurt using a crock pot and dedicated cooler with blankets inside it. The main reason I tend to use the IP for yogurt now is because I can do the cold start method with it. It really is a time saver. My secondary reason is that I’m usually making 2-4 different types of yogurt at the same time, though that won’t be happening too much longer since Child Tester is nearly done reviewing them all. Convenience said, I find substantially more consistent results come from the cooler than the IP. Unless my starter culture is really old and improperly stored (I have some of these, so this happens, including the yogurt I used for today’s post), I never get a runny batch when I use the cooler!
With the IP, I generally expect a runny first+ batch and am pleasantly surprised when it doesn’t happen. The culture I used for this was at least a year old (bad) and was stored in the door of my freezer (worse), so I was worried it wouldn’t culture at all. This would’ve been a problem for me, since this is CT’s favorite yogurt that I’ve been making since before she was born (and Sabrina doesn’t have a “copy” of it… YET). It was a Fage base spontaneously colonized in the fridge by… probably viili, based on the texture of the ropes, but I’m not sure so I can’t replicate it. Since I was worried about the viability of the culture, I would never have tried to culture in the IP. That’s how much I believe in the superiority of the cooler method, so having a yogurt I was scared was dead was super convenient for making sure this post happened!
Lately, we’ve also been seeing people either struggling to get their yogurts to set when made in the Instant Pot or incubating it using another method in milk that’s way too hot. Way too hot, y’all. Some people have even ventured into the 120F range. No, no, no stawp it. You’re literally killing your culture, albeit kind of slowly.
We don’t want to see anything over 110F for this, please. I personally would prefer it if you’d go closer to 100. If you don’t have a thermometer, this means that it’s barely warmer than your skin. If you put a finger in the cooling milk and it just feels wet, that’s perfectly fine too. If it just feels wet and it’s too cold to culture, you, my friend, are a vampire, zombie, or revenant! My friend Sarah (still human, AFAIK) consistently does hers at 90F now, and is having really great results. That lower temp also brings out more nuance in the flavors of your yogurt! For that reason alone, I recommend trying this at least once. You should know what your yogurt can be like when it’s allowed to eat slowly.
I’m not sure if you can set the temperature on a yogurt maker, but if you can then yes this will work for those too. I’ve never even seen a yogurt maker in person, let alone used one, so these are a mystery to me. Sabrina knows more about them. If she weighs in, I’ll edit to update with her views.
Sarah does hers in sous vide, so that you can do. I believe she uses a smaller amount of starter culture than the normal 1T:1C deal, and I think still ferments it around 24 hours.
The differences that occur with the oven method will be covered after we go through the whole process with the cooler.
Hardware
A cooler (or an oven): I recommend you pick one for this and never change it. You do this long enough, the yogurt smell is part of your cooler presumably forever.
Thermometer or your finger
Blankets: ditto that recommendation, for the same reason
Crock pot or saucepan (and stove)
Here’s what you’ll do
Pour however much milk you want to turn into yogurt in your crock pot or saucepan.
NOTE: if you’re using a saucepan, you have to babysit it. DO NOT RECOMMEND this because I can’t sit and babysit milk for however long that takes. If you can, you feel free. You’ll have to babysit it because you’ll need to stir it frequently to stop it from scorching on the bottom, in case you wondered.
Once it’s in the crockpot, put on the lid and let it simmer. Most of the rest will be in pictures (and their captions).
Like this. I do not babysit milk, so this has a skin on it due to not stirring. No matter. We aren’t ready to remove that. You can stop it around here if you like, but I tend to leave it sometimes for several hours to caramelize. This produces a naturally sweeter yogurt with caramel-y notes because it concentrates the sugars in the milk. Child Tester is a great lover of this method. I believe in Russia, milk is baked until caramelized and then cultured with kefir. I can’t remember the name of this, sadly.
I normally go darker, but here we are anyway! Had to move on with me day. This yogurt has been cooled. I cooled it until my finger felt wet when I stuck it in the milk. If I’m feeling frisky, I’ll go a bit longer. Sometimes I mess up and let it cool too much. I freely admit I stick it in the microwave in 30 second bursts, until it feels right after the milk has been stirred, when this happens. Go on ahead and remove the skin and then add your culture. If Linus the Cat is around when I pull the skin, he’s welcome to it. Otherwise I toss it. I should toss it in the garden next time; it can go with the SCOBYs! Not sure why I didn’t think of that before!
Blanket for the bottom of the cooler. This is technically a tablecloth that got badly stained during hurricane Ike and I haven’t dyed it to cover that up yet. One day. Until then, it cradles the yogurt! Settle your crock in there so it’s as level as you can get it.
This is actually a rug, but same-same. Put it on top and tuck the ends. Be careful not to spill your crock! But definitely make sure your crock is snug in its bed. Don’t stress out on filling the cooler with padding. In a perfect world, it’d be full to maximize insulation potential, but yogurt is flexible about this.
Close cooler, then wait. If your yogurt is established, you can technically do this in as little as 12 hours. Your yogurt will be thinner, though. You also can go up to 72. Your yogurt will be very sour in these instances. I generally shoot for 24 but frequently wind up going 48.
Do not open up the cooler to check on it! You can do this maybe once, but the yogurt is never as good when it happens. Assume that when you open the cooler, you’re removing the yogurt. Because that’s what you should be doing.
I think Ross jacked this cooler from his parents, though I’d need to verify that. I am certain they don’t want it back, though, because the thing really does smell like yogurt inside. It takes a… uh… special kind of non-fermenter to be okay with that.
Yogurt!
Oven Instructions
For you guys, this is a multi-step process. You actually need to know how hot your oven is with its light on, and to do that you need to measure. If it’s over 110F, you cannot use your oven. Well, you can, but eventually you’ll be writing to us to let us know your culture has a problem if so. Shoot for no more than 105 so you’re covered on temperature variances, and other unforeseen OMGs.
Please measure the temp, probably after an hour of having the light on, to see if it’s safe for your culture. Please don’t make us sell you a new one because you cooked yours.
If it’s anywhere from 90-110F, you may use your oven without blankets! That’s exciting! I still personally would use a blanket just to be safe, but that’s just me.
If it’s lower than that, you need a blanket. Probably also some stuff to stabilize it so it doesn’t tip over.
Once you’ve got its coat on (or not!) and it’s in the oven, it’s same-same as above. Do not open that oven door while it’s in process!
And that’s it! This takes a lot longer than the IP, but I find the results more consistent and the yogurts much more flavorful, which very much makes it worth doing.
