I made yogurt!  Real, actual, goat milk, homemade yogurt!  And it was so easy!

Okay, some notes:  I used goat milk because I really like it.  The kind I used is a local, raw milk one that’s very creamy and delicious.  It’s pricey, and I don’t buy it often, but when you start making expensive milk into yogurt and cheese, you start spending less than if you’d bought yogurt and cheese in the first place.  I also used raw milk, although pasteurized milk sets better for yogurt.  I don’t mind a more liquidy yogurt.

Try this at home.  FYI, there are instructions on other websites that involve precise temperatures and other details I’ve chosen to ignore (since all those precise temperatures vary wildly from one website to another, and since I’m not particularly worried about dying from raw milk/yogurt/dairy consumption.

I used:

1 quart raw goat milk

A few large tablespoons of other yogurt to inoculate

Pot with a thick bottom

Small jars (I used two 1-cup jars and one 2-cup jar)

A cooler

Containers for hot water (optional)

Sterilize your jars (I don’t know if this is necessary, but a lot of websites said to do it, so I did) by filling them with boiling water, letting them sit for ten minutes, and then pouring out the water.

Set up your cooler: have hot water at hand, such as from an electric tea kettle or very hot tap.  You’re turning your cooler into an incubator, so you’re going to want to figure out a way to put containers of hot water in there taking up most of the space that yogurt isn’t taking up.  I used a big juice pitcher in one end of the cooler and then used a big rectangular food storage container in the rest of the cooler; the jars of yogurt just sat on top of this and next to the pitcher.  You can also just pour hot water into the cooler

In a large pot with a thick bottom, heat your milk.  Don’t let it boil.  When it’s at about 110 F, turn the heat down, and scoop out about a cup of milk and add a few heaping tablespoons of yogurt.  Stir until dissolved.  Pour this back into your milk and stir well.  (Alternatively, buy a yogurt starter and add the measurement they suggest - probably about 1/2 teaspoon, to the milk).

Pour milk mixture into awaiting jars.  Cover.

Fill those big containers you have with the 110 degree water and place them into the cooler (or fill up the cooler with hot water).  Arrange your yogurt jars in the cooler.  Cover and leave 6 hours or overnight, depending on how fermented you want your yogurt. 

In the morning: yogurt!!!