How much yogurt does this actually yield? I know you start with 5 cups of milk, but that does result in 5 cups of yogurt after draining?
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Hi, Craig. If you use the yogurt as "regular" yogurt, you get what you put in, so 5 cups milk = 5 cups yogurt, minus a tiny bit of evaporation. How much you get after draining depends on how long you drain it and how thick you want it. I usually don't drain mine, but when I have I'd say draining about 1/2 to 2/3 cup off provides a good "greek" consistency (meaning you'll get at least a quart of "greek" yogurt). I sometimes add a couple of tablespoons of nonfat dry milk - AFTER heating and cooling, WITH the culture or a tablespoon or two of the last yogurt batch - to thicken the yogurt without losing volume. Hi, Craig. If you use the yogurt as "regular" yogurt, you get what you put in, so 5 cups milk = 5 cups yogurt, minus a tiny bit of evaporation. How much you get after draining depends on how long you drain it and how thick you want it. I usually don't drain mine, but when I have I'd say draining about 1/2 to 2/3 cup off provides a good "greek" consistency (meaning you'll get at least a quart of "greek" yogurt). I sometimes add a couple of tablespoons of nonfat dry milk - AFTER heating and cooling, WITH the culture or a tablespoon or two of the last yogurt batch... » Read More Hi, Craig. If you use the yogurt as "regular" yogurt, you get what you put in, so 5 cups milk = 5 cups yogurt, minus a tiny bit of evaporation. How much you get after draining depends on how long you drain it and how thick you want it. I usually don't drain mine, but when I have I'd say draining about 1/2 to 2/3 cup off provides a good "greek" consistency (meaning you'll get at least a quart of "greek" yogurt). I sometimes add a couple of tablespoons of nonfat dry milk - AFTER heating and cooling, WITH the culture or a tablespoon or two of the last yogurt batch - to thicken the yogurt without losing volume. « Show Less
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How much strained yogurt you actually end up with depends greatly upon the kind of milk you are using and the length of time you strain it. The bonus pack comes with a round "wheel" guide for batch yields. It specifies 5 cups milk and 1/2 cup starter with 9 hours incubation time. The yields it lists are: Whole milk with 2 hours strain time makes 2-1/2 cups Greek Yogurt, 2 percent milk with 2 hours straining makes 2-1/4 cups Greek Yogurt, 1 percent milk with 2 hours straining makes 2 cups greek yogurt, Skim milk with 2 hours straining makes 1-3/4 cups greek yogurt. It also has stats for Skim Plus (10 hours) and Soy Milk (11 hours) each yielding 2-1/2 cups Greek Yogurt. Longer incubation times cause the yogurt to be more tart and causes greater separation between the yogurt and whey.
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No, about 70-75% would be yogurt, and the rest is waterly liquid like you see it in store bought yogurt' surface if you leave them for a while. But if you leave the yogurt in the yogurt maker longer, yogurt gets thicker, and so more water. If you want to make a greek yogurt, less than half the amount(probably 1/3 of milk you use) will be yogurt. I heard the water residue is also very nutritious, so what I do is when yogurt is done, I just stir it so it becomes like a yogurt drink and don't waste anything. Some people use the water for cooking but I don't like it, so I just make a yogurt drink. But this yogurt maker makes a good yogurt. No, about 70-75% would be yogurt, and the rest is waterly liquid like you see it in store bought yogurt' surface if you leave them for a while. But if you leave the yogurt in the yogurt maker longer, yogurt gets thicker, and so more water. If you want to make a greek yogurt, less than half the amount(probably 1/3 of milk you use) will be yogurt. I heard the water residue is also very nutritious, so what I do is when yogurt is done, I just stir it so it becomes like a yogurt drink and don't waste anything. Some people use the water for cooking but I don't like it, so I just make a yogurt... » Read More No, about 70-75% would be yogurt, and the rest is waterly liquid like you see it in store bought yogurt' surface if you leave them for a while. But if you leave the yogurt in the yogurt maker longer, yogurt gets thicker, and so more water. If you want to make a greek yogurt, less than half the amount(probably 1/3 of milk you use) will be yogurt. I heard the water residue is also very nutritious, so what I do is when yogurt is done, I just stir it so it becomes like a yogurt drink and don't waste anything. Some people use the water for cooking but I don't like it, so I just make a yogurt drink. But this yogurt maker makes a good yogurt. « Show Less
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The little jars are silly. I retired them and the cover lid after the first batch. Now I re-use two large 32 oz standard yogurt containers. Two of them fit well, then I am adding a third 16 oz container. (Three large containers will not quite fit. I just cover it all with a clean kitchen towel and leave it for 8-10 hours. Works great! I also noticed that the milk will contract when it becomes yogurt so you will have less volume of yogurt than of the starting milk. I measure up full containers when I start, then add another cup or so of milk to be heated.
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You can use 2 -32 oz containers of soymilk, 1-2 tablespoons of starter (or 1/2 cup leftover plain yogurt at room temperature) with 1/2 cup tapioca flour added for thickness. This makes a reasonably thickened yogurt after 10-12 hours. I just made some tonight and it was great after only 1/2 hour of cooling.Finding non-dairy starter is the hard part. Good Luck!
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I save my home-made yogurt and re-use as starter. Don't know why, but I usually do this for at least 4 times and then start with another 6-ounce yogurt (have read something somewhere on that doing it a few times but not always). Others can feel free to correct me on this. My first starter was just 6 ounces of the Stoneyfield yogurt.
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If you take some from your first batch and just freeze it in an ice cube tray you now have several batches of starter, and when you run out you can repeat the process up to 10 times/generations before it doesnt set up well. I only buy some starter about once a year and i eat yogurt almost every day. I have also found that time to set up increases as you get several generations into the process.
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For the first batch, I use sore bought vegan yogurt. After that I use my yogurt. I only use soy mil.
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Not really sure of what you are asking, but judging by the photos are you asking the what is the yield you will get in the glass as you make each batch of kefir? This will depend on how much kefir you are putting in each cup of milk. I put roughly 2 Tbs kefir to 1 cup of warm milk and will get about 6 ou of liquid.
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If you were to fill it right to the top, it holds 1.3 litres, or 5 1/2 cups, but that is impractical. You probably would not want to make more than about a quart or a litre. I have made both natto and yoghurt in it. When I make natto, I use 1 cup of beans, which doubles to 2 cups after soaking. 2 cups of natto is so much that I usually end up freezing some of it, because it lasts me a couple of weeks.
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The amount of whey you get depends on how long you culture the yogurt--the longer you culture it, the more whey you get and the less yogurt you get. Also, as the yogurt sits, it will continue to create whey. Also, the longer you culture your yogurt, the tarter it becomes.Some people just stir the whey (that's the juice) back into the yogurt. Others add it to smoothies or use it when making bread. Some people even give it to their houseplants.
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I have been making yogurt with 2% lactose free milk- Lactaid as well as other brands and it works great- it is thick and creamy and absolutely delicious. I use plain whole milk yogurt to start- I have found two brands in my area that make the best yogurt- I did not care for Stoneyfield as a starter I do add a bit of brown sugar to the milk before I heat it as I had read that there may not be enough sugar in lactose free milk for the culture to work properly. I started out adding 1/2 tsp to five cups of milk and have gradually increased it to 2 Tbl brown sugar and 2 Tbl Splenda to five cups of milk. I prefer my yogurt a bit sweeter and really like the mellow flavor of the brown sugar, but the smaller quantity produced good yogurt. For the first time ever I can eat all the yogurt I want without paying for it! Try it- you will not regret it.
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I always heat the milk to about 180 (in the microwave) before making yogurt and then let it cool down to around 100 - 110 before adding the starter. I've never tried not heating the milk.
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The yogurt is made in one container. If you want to put it in jars after it's made, you can, but to make it, it's done in bulk. A recipe I make uses 3 cups of milk and 2 cups of heavy cream. It all goes into one container, so it's making 5 cups of yogurt in one bulk container.
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i agree that the jar is not very accurate by the measurement. but i never had 2.5 cups of leftover! that's a bit too much... i usually put in 6oz yogurt (1 of those store bought, or one jar from last batch), then add 18 oz of milk. that'd do. once you do a few batches, you'll have a pretty good idea of how much you need to put in there. Or you can always use the cups that come with it to measure. that'd never go wrong.on a different note, if you ever have extra leftover mixture, just drink it. :) I like it that way anyways. sometimes if i made the yogurt too sour, i just add some milk, and do a yogurt drink. you can use that for smoothy as well. don't waste it~ :) i agree that the jar is not very accurate by the measurement. but i never had 2.5 cups of leftover! that's a bit too much... i usually put in 6oz yogurt (1 of those store bought, or one jar from last batch), then add 18 oz of milk. that'd do. once you do a few batches, you'll have a pretty good idea of how much you need to put in there. Or you can always use the cups that come with it to measure. that'd never go wrong.on a different note, if you ever have extra leftover mixture, just drink it. :) I like it that way anyways. sometimes if i made the yogurt too sour, i just add... » Read More i agree that the jar is not very accurate by the measurement. but i never had 2.5 cups of leftover! that's a bit too much... i usually put in 6oz yogurt (1 of those store bought, or one jar from last batch), then add 18 oz of milk. that'd do. once you do a few batches, you'll have a pretty good idea of how much you need to put in there. Or you can always use the cups that come with it to measure. that'd never go wrong.on a different note, if you ever have extra leftover mixture, just drink it. :) I like it that way anyways. sometimes if i made the yogurt too sour, i just add some milk, and do a yogurt drink. you can use that for smoothy as well. don't waste it~ :) « Show Less
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What kind of bacteria are you using? I didn't have good results when I tried using some from another yogurt. I prefer the Vachon Culture. I always use 2 % milk, as I've heard that skim won't set. I also let it process for about 11-12 hours.
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Tanya, I get a little package of plain yogurt to start mine. It works great. I make the greek yogurt. You will have to strain it to make Greek yogurt. Mine tastes better than the Fage brand. I use2 tablespoons of Fage to start mine, so I can eat the rest. But you can start it with regular yogurt. I am thinking about doing a Youtube about how to do it. I have some great tips that will make it easy to do
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Hi Anne,Thanks for your reply - I checked the yogurt maker and it seems to be over heating - that would explain things!
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I don't know. But I usually put a pinch for one liter of milk. It works fine. And repeat get one teaspoon of yogurt for two or times to make more yogurt!