SCD yogurt making

Save money, you don't need something labelled "starter".
I make yogurt every 5 days or so and I use either Greek yogurt (2-3 Tb) from WalMart or a packet of VSL#3.
The Greek yogurt had a lot of different probiotic cultures listed and of course VSL#3 has many many.
You add it after the milk comes down to 90 degrees or so and then put it in your oven or yogurt maker if you have one. I use the oven and make almost half-gallon at a time.

The last yogurt I made is incredibly good. Tasted the same as the Greek yogurt but maybe even better. VSL#3 makes a thicker yogurt and then I always "drip" mine using cheesecloth in a strainer because I like it even thicker (Greek style). It reduces the yogurt volume by half.

I think you could use some of the last batch of yogurt as your starter but for some reason I thought I read somewhere not to do that. Am I wrong?

I have read that you should use fresh starter every 5 batches. In all honesty I don't see the point unless one of the strains becomes dominant and crowds the others out? I suppose it could become inbred or something? LOL

Mountain High Plain is a good starter but I think it has gelatin maybe

I also use VSL#3 as my starter. My yogurt lately has been turning out really great and I also drip mine so it is a thicker greek style. Yummy!

On the SCD website with Elaines yogurt instructions she has this note at the bottom of the page about using your previous batch as a starter for the next batch.

Note: Do not use the eating batches to ferment other batches or undesirable strains will creep in or the existing bacteria can mutate.

I use this for every batch.
http://www.amazon.com/Yogourmet-Freeze-Dried-Yogurt-Starter/dp/B0019CUN78/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1279087624&sr=8-8
I buy it from a local grocery store. I also make the yogurt with whole milk and drip it. It is very rich and creamy. The stuff that drips off it is mostly whey (I think), which doesn't agree with me.
Here is a tip to stop the milk from creating a layer of brown burned on milk on the bottom of the pot. It took me at least 100 batches before I figured this out. When I make the yogurt I use a large stainless steel pot, I rinse the pot with cold water and leave a film of water in the pot. Then I dump in the two litres of milk and only after the milk is in the pot I turn the heat on max heat with the lid on. The milk boils around 7-10 mins so I always put the timer on to make sure I am there to stop it from boiling over. I also I have a sink of cold water ready to cool the milk. I can usually get a batch of yogurt going and everything cleaned up in about 20mins.
The layer of water is the key to having no milk stuck on the bottom of the pot, but I don't really know why.

Also, what is the temperature I should be keeping the yoghurt at while making it? I didnt notice that stated clearly in any of the instructions. I kept mine at between 100 and 110...

thank you! I copy/pasted it in my journal.

Well, after a year of not eating yogurt, I just finished making a batch.
I used VSL which I have never done before.

If it comes out as a solid and tastes like yogurt, it worked, right?

I put just a touch of maple syrup on it and it is really good-
L

I have been reusing bits of my old batches as a starter for over a year now - ! And sometimes it's thick and mild, sometimes it's thin and sour - seems to be according the room temperature (I wrap the jar in kitchen towels and leave it on the counter) and according to what kind of milk I use. "Smart Balance" milk at my in-law's last week made a really thick, mild yogurt.
I'm thinking maybe I should re-start with some fresh yogurt, but my UC is doing great, so maybe I shouldn't worry (maybe, if the bacteria have mutated, they've actually improved)....?

Thanks for making me think, everyone!

I needed to qualify my remarks - I am not on the SCD, I am just making a type of "24 hour yogurt."
Levi, I think the trick is that much warmer than "lukewarm" can kill off the bacteria. The kitchen counter has worked fine for me.
I generally leave it out for 24 hours - 36 if I forget to refrigerate it - seems fine either way.

And, the reason I've never tried it with the VSL is that I'm not sure the yogurt making would replicate the bacteria in the VSL - and in a basic household, there's not a way to test that....one might end up with 75% of some strains and none of other strains, I'd think. Or 150% of some and 25% of others.

Having said all that, I might try it someday.

Sorry to keep on with this in depth line of questioning, I just don't want to go through a lot of effort if I won't be getting more probiotics than simply eating the yogurt by itself:OK, so the VSL will probably end up being a 1:1 ratio of all eight strains added up before and after the yogurt making process, or something close to it. Therefore, not worth it. What if I use 2-3 tablespoons of Greek yogurt as you suggested? It seems to me if I just wanted to eat the Greek yogurt straight out of the conatiner, I might have, say, 10 tablespoons per day. If, however, I made my own homemade yogurt say it would take me five days to eat it as you said. So, that would be two tablespoons over five days compared to 50 tablespoons if I just ate what I bought, 10TB/day. So the bacteria in those two TB would need multiply by 2,500% to equal me eating 10 TB/day of straight up store bought Greek yogurt each day for five days.Am I missing something?

Levi,
Here is a link to some information on the amount of yogurt (probiotic) cultures in 24 hour fermented yogurts and kefirs. I cannot personally vouch for the accuracy of their numbers on this site, but it seems to make sense to me. http://www.healingcrow.com/ferfun/conspiracy/conspiracy.html

I make homemade kefir using plain kefir from a company called Lifeway. I also add a packet of VSL#3 if we have extra available. I think the VSL#3 enhances the flavor of the kefir and I think it has the been tested blend of probiotic bacteria. The numbers get astronomical quickly when you are talking about cultures multiplying or compounding. Basically the culture continues to double in size at regular intervals until the food source (lactose primarily) is gone.

It would compute something like this:
1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024, 2048, 4096, 8192, 16384, 32768, 65536, 131072, 262144, 524288, 1,048,576 (over a million)
If the culture doubles 21 times you go from 1 to over a million.
If you start with 1 billion you get to over a trillion if it doubles just ten 10 times.

Now, I have no idea how much VSL#3 there winds up being in the kefir I make, but if I start with close to a trillion in a VSL#3DS pack, it seems to me there will be a huge amount of the bacteria in the final product. I am guessing that the density of 24 fermented kefir or yogurt is higher than what you get in even high quality store bought yogurt.

I use a yogurt maker from a company called Yogourmet that cost about $20 dollars and it is very easy. I just put organic milk in the container (without boiling it first - I used to boil it, but it doesn't seem to make any difference), add some kefir and pack of VSL#3, plug it in and wait 24 - 36 hours. I hit it with a stir stick blender once during the fermentation time to keep it stirred up. I then blend it once more, refrigerate it and it is ready to go.

This seems to me to be the most economical way of keeping the good bacteria in a person's system.

Best of luck and I apologize for the public math and any errors in the math in advance. I think there is a famous quote by Einstein about the power of "compounding".

UCPop

Levi,
I buy the kefir at Whole Foods Market. Like I said, I think Lifeway makes a good kefir and I use about a quarter cup of it as a starter for half a gallon of milk. A quart of kefir costs about $4.00 and can start a whole bunch of kefir batches that yield 2 quarts for the price of 2 quarts of milk. As far as the multiple strains of probiotics, I also think that diversity of "good" bacteria is important. The VSL#3 blend is the gold standard of what works for UC, in my opinion. But, that doesn't mean these are the only beneficial bacteria that should be in a healthy digestive system. An analogy I have used is that if you have enough beneficial bacteria in the digestive system, harmful bacteria cannot survive/thrive, sort of like a thick healthy lawn will not allow as many weeds to grow.

Best of luck,
UCPop