Homemade Yogurt

Initially thought this is a post which i'll never post.
Simply cos the recipe seems to have failed me miserably.
But..... But magic happens sometimes...
And from this experience, i can see that i'm really not a patient person. lol..

I made a batch of yogurt on last tuesday,
taste it on wednesday, & almost threw it away there & then!!
(I already threw away 2 cups of it!)
The yogurt have a very tart taste with an extreme sourish finish to it!
On Thursday, magic happens to the yogurt..
I think it have something to do with the good bacteria fermenting & sleeping....

I recall that the bacteria will be activated at the right temperature, 110F.
Any cooler, it'll be sleeping & not fermenting...
Any warmer, the bacteria will probably die off.
So the gist of making yogurt,
is just a good handy thermometer thats all.

I have do some online research bout the different method of home making yogurt.
I ty 2 differnt incubation method while fermenting the freshly made yogurt.
As of yesterday evening, the 2 sets of yogurt gives almost the same taste to me.
The only different is that one thicken more & the other is slightly more liquid.
I dunio know if its due to the container size that i use to contain the milk,
or its really the method that cause the different in thickness.
I have a feeling that its the container more then anything else.
As smaller container is better warmed throughout due to its small size.
Here's the method that i use, after reading a ton of other method.


Homemade Yogurt
(1 large bottle & 4 small bottles, pictured above)

Ingredient
1. 1.9Liter Whole Milk (cannot be skim / low fat milk)
2. 118ml Good Quality Plain Yogurt (Must have Live Cultures)

Procedure (A) (Small bottle, more firm yogurt)
1. Prepare the incubation for the yogurt.
a) I used my outdoor cooler, put a glass with warm water of 130F in the cooler & close the lid.
We wanna make the environment warm so that the culture can work the new milk.
2. Boil the glass jars that'll be used to ferment the yogurt in boiling water
to kill any bacteria for 10mins.
3. Bring the Milk to a 180F on med fire in a heavy bottom pot,
stirring occasionally to prevent milk from scorching at the bottom.
4. Turn off the heat once it reached 180F,
Allow it to cool to 110F, i put the pot in my sink filled with cold water.
Meanwhile, boil a pot of water & put aside for later use.
5. While cooling the milk, measure the starter yogurt & allow to cool slightly,
at the same time keep a close look of the cooling milk.
If the milk accidently cooled below 110F, heat up the milk slightly.
6. When the temperature is at 110F, scope some warm milk into the boil of starter yogurt,
mix till the starter yogurt is fully combined with the milk with no lumps.
7. Pour the starter yogurt mixture into the warm milk & mix thoroughly,
we wanna ensure that the starter is even spread throughout the mixture.
8. Pour the yogurt mixture into clean jars & closed them finger tips tight.
9. Place the jars into the incubators with glass of 130F warm water to maintain
the temperature inside the incubator.
10. When is the yogurt ready
Incubate the yogurt for 6-8hours, i check the water temperature,
and top up water to 130F after 4hrs as the water have cooled down slightly.
After 6-8hrs, check that the yogurt have thicken but still slightly liquid,
remove from incubator & rest in fridge for 24hrs.
11. After 24hrs, give the yogurt a good stir to stop the fermenting completely

2nd Incubation Method (Big Bottle, slightly more tart & more liquid)
1) I also try the water bath method.
Use a small cooler, line with 3 plastic bag, fill warm water of 130F in the plastic bag,
later, i'll sit my jar of yogurt inside the water bath, with the water level below my jar lids.
2)After the milk is heated up & cooled down,
fill jars with milk yogurt & check that the water temperature in the plastic bag is still 130F.
3) Incubate the yogurt for 4hrs & removed from water bath,
place in fridge & rest for 24hrs.
4) After 24hrs, taste & give the yogurt a good stir to completely stop the fermenting!
5) There'll be a layer of yellowish liquid on top of the ready yogurt,
this is perfectly alright, even commercial yogurt sometimes have that on top.
Can just stir in the yogurt & eat as normal or scope & remove.

Afternote
I got thicker yogurt using the first method,
i didnt know if its the size of the bottle or the method that i used.
The 1st method also produce yogurt less tart.