Yogurt-making at home, Part II: Incubation

(Part I) (Part III) (Part IV)

(Edited May 2023)

This is the second in a series of posts about making yogurt at home. The first post ended with a very brief description of the yogurt-making process. Milk is scalded to denature its proteins; then it’s allowed to cool to a safe temperature before the maker adds a starter culture. Once the culture has been added, the yogurt must be held at a temperature of about 110 degrees for a period of 8–12 hours. That temperature allows the bacterial culture to multiply, turning your milk into yogurt.

A stand-alone yogurt maker, or the yogurt-making function on an electric multi-cooker like an Instant Pot, is designed to hold that 110-degree temperature.

I first made yogurt using a stand-alone yogurt maker. Later, when I bought my first Instant Pot, I gave my yogurt-maker away, thinking I no longer needed it. There are some benefits to making yogurt in the Instant Pot, but for other reasons I eventually decided I liked a stand-alone yogurt maker, and I recently bought a new one and went back to that method.

My current yogurt maker, a Proctor Silex 86300.

Stand-alone yogurt makers are very inexpensive, even when purchased new. You can also find them at yard sales or thrift stores; a yogurt-maker is exactly the type of thing that might be received as a gift and left more or less…