Much to her delight, my 10 year old made a gallon and a half of yogurt on her own. If she can, you can too!
I am not a fan of having lots of small kitchen appliances. I do a lot of work in my kitchen preserving and preparing our food. Even though my beloved old farm house has a nicely sized kitchen with nearly 27 feet of counter space, space can still become an issue when canning or freezer meal prepping.
I like to invest in items that can do double duty instead of something that has only one function. I also prefer tried and true and simple over the latest high tech gadget. I've been using a tried and true "instapot" that has been going strong for 32 years now. It's a small "old school" pressure cooker that was well worth the investment and has outlasted many friends' Instapots. My method for making yogurt is even more simple and low tech. I use my cooler which also keeps our food cold and...cooks our corn on the cob!!
I've been using the cooler method for a couple of decades now. I usually make at least a gallon and a half of yogurt at a time to keep up with my family's needs. I prefer making it with fresh goat's milk, but we make it with store bought cow's milk too.
I wash and dry jars, lids, and rings, and prepare our cooler. I fill our cooler halfway with 115F water and close the lid. (If I heat it to 115-120F, it is perfect when I go to put the jars inside.) I heat the milk to 185F and then cool it down to 110F. I put it in the jars and "seed" the jars with 1-2 Tbsp of plain nonfat yogurt. I will stir or shake the jars to mix it. Then, I seal the jars and place them in the warm water for 8-12 hours.
I've never had this fail. In a time crunch, I've also skipped the heating the store bought cow's milk to 185 part (I always heat the raw milk.), and the yogurt still came out great. If I want thicker yogurt, I add a little over 1/2 cup of dry milk to the regular milk in each quart.
This is quick, simple, inexpensive, and uses up a lot of milk at one time. Yogurt is so versatile it does not last long in our home. If you use the yogurt you have made to start the next batch, the cost diminishes further. My family gets to flavor it to their individual preferences which makes them happy. For homeschooling, you can teach the fermentation process and expand upon it by making yogurt cheese.
He shall eat curds and honey
when he knows how to refuse the evil
and choose the good.
Isaiah 7:15
