homemade yogurt in a crockpot

If you enjoy yogurt, or if you give it to your chickens, this will save a whooooooole bunch of money.

I use organic whole milk and organic whole plain yogurt with live cultures of course. I've heard it is even better if you have access to goats milk. Easy!

8 cups (half gallon) of whole milk- pasteurized and homogenized is fine, but do NOT use ultra-pasteurized. Once you get used to the process, you can switch everything to low fat/non fat.

1/2 cup store bought natural, live active culture plain yogurt (this will be your starter)

frozen/fresh fruits of choice

thick bath towel (I use a beach towel)

This takes a while, make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to moniter.

I use a 4 quart crockpot.

Plug in your crockpot and turn to low. Add an entire half gallon of milk. If you like your yogurt thicker, add 1/2 cup of powdered milk, any type and stir until all lumps desolved.

Cover and cook on low for 3 hours.

unplug your crockpot. LEAVE THE COVER ON, AND LET IT SIT FOR 3 HOURS.

When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in 1/2 cup of store bought culture yogurt. Then dump the bown contents back into the crockpot. Stirl to combine. If usiing a wooden spoon, please take it directly from a dishwasher, to make sure bacteria is not attached to it.

Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it UNPLUGGED and wrap a heavy towel all the way around and over the crock for insulation. If the crockpot is near a wall where it is cold, please move it away from the source of cold. Go to bed or let it sit for at least 8 hours. Longer if you like Greek style. If you choose the 8 hour wait, the yogurt will have thickened, it's not as thick as store bought yogurt then, but has the consistaency of low fat plain yogurt.

Blend in the fruit, bubbles will form, but they settle eventually. I sweeten with agave or honey when adding fruit, but it isn't neccessary. Usually I mix up the fruit separate, then add as it is being dished up. I store mine in air tight glass jars, in the refrigerator.

Save a 1/2 cup of the plain yogurt to make the next batch, but don't use more than 5-6 times.

any separation is from the whey, drain it off if you want, or put cheesecloth or a coffee filter in a colandar and separate it to make it thicker yet.

But for the price of a half gallon of milk, I can make 1/2 gallon of greek yogurt.