Homemade yogurt in the Instant Pot

I had absolutely no intentions of making my own yogurt. I can buy what I like at the grocery store (Zoi Greek yogurt) and not deal with time and such.

Then all the evil people in the Instant Pot community group I am on insisted on posting about all the yogurt yumminess they have been making.

Problem is I have the IP-LUX60 V3 which doesn't have the yogurt function like the IP-DUO pots. But, I found the instructions that will let me make it in my pot here.

So I hit Winco for a gallon of whole milk and discovered they have a line of Greek yogurt under their brand. So I picked up a small container of plain NF yogurt with the live and active cultures.

When I was ready to go I pulled the milk out of the fridge to start warming up. Cleaned out my pot liner with hot water and put it in the cooker and added the milk. Pressed the saute button and set the temp for low.

I was amazed how quickly it came up to the recommended 180F degrees. I had gone back to the living room to my chair to watch some shows. I can see my pot from there so I can periodically go and see how things are doing. The milk heated up to a slow boil and the machine beeped done with the saute cycle and I took the temp of the milk with an instant read thermometer. 181F degrees.

Pulled the liner out and put the lid on to hold the heat after turning the cooker to off. I let the milk cool naturally, which took quite a while (even tho I had had a seriously long day, while I was a bit impatient to have it cool down, I was watching the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes on BritBox, so I was happy).

While it was cooling I put 2 heaping tablespoons of the starter yogurt into a measuring cup to let it come up to room temperature. Once the milk cooled to 110F I ladled a cup of warm milk into the started and whisked it together to temper the starter. Then poured it into the pot and whisked it to make sure the starter was well distributed.

I then put the liner back in the pot, put the lid back on, sealed the vent and tucked it to the back of my counter wrapped in a thick bath towel and went to bed about midnight.

I slept in until 9ish and finally got up. Started my coffee (I was smart and set it up the night before. Just had to push the button) and then it was the moment of truth. Was I going to have yogurt or a whole gallon of funny tasting milk.

I unwrapped the pot, took off the lid and saw:

It certainly looked like yogurt. The top was nice and bubbled from the happy cultres who had lots of room to grown and reproduce.

It wasn't quite thick enough to stand a spoon, but it was thick.

I took my big mesh colander and lined it with the coffee filters I still had after we'd picked up a wire mesh basket for the coffee make and put it over a large bowl. Ladled in the yogurt, covered it and into the fridge to chill and strain.

I gave it a taste test before putting it in the strainer. NOM! A just right tangy smooth yogurt. Can't wait to try it after it is strained and flavored. I picked up some frozen dark cherries to mash up so hubby can have cherry yogurt. As yet there is no sweetener in the yogurt. I will leave sweetening to when we have individual servings. Most likely I will sweeten with sucralose or honey if adding fruit isn't enough.

1 gallon of milk makes a LOT of yogurt. Will probably look at doing it in half gallon batches from here on out. I will freeze some of the yogurt so I will have starter for future batches. Will also explore what I can use the whey in so that isn't wasted. I am also going to like the cost savings. I get my milk for $1.98 a gallon at the moment and the starter yogurt was 68 cents. If my math is right, I should have around 16 cups of yogurt for the cost of 16.5 cents per cup! Talk about serious saving.