I got a yogurt incubator for Christmas. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to make vegan or almost vegan yogurt. Here are my attempts and results.

Equipment

My aunt gave me a Yogourmet. It looked like the best yogurt incubator available. The others had bad reviews about overheating. The Yogourmet can have the same problem. It is merely a bucket with a heating element wrapped around it connected directly to AC power. It requires the ambient temperature to be between 68-70° F for it to keep the interior at about 110-112° F. This is not going to work in the summer. We let our house get into the upper 80s during the summer, and yogurt dies at 120° F.

Thinkgeek sells a mini fridge/warmer that should be perfect for incubating yogurt. Unfortunately, it is on clearance for a good reason: they break very quickly.

My summer solution will be to control the Yogourmet or a heating pad with a thermostat outlet.

The Yogourmet came with a thermometer and a straining bag as well.

Attempt 1: Almond Milk

I used the boxed almond milk Jessi uses for cereal. All the articles I've read about this say to add sugar for the culture to eat. I misread and used too much. Yogurt eats about 8g sugar per quart.

Ingredients

• 1 qt. Almond milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 packet Yogourmet yogurt starter

Process

1. On the stove, I warmed the almond milk to 180° F.
2. I added the sugar.
3. I cooled it down to 110° F.
4. I added the yogurt culture and mixed it in.
5. I poured the mixture into the special container for the Yogourmet.

Over the next 10 hours, I periodically checked the temperature, looked to see how the almond milk was thickening, and sometimes tasted it. The temperature of the water bath was usually right under 120° F, but the yogurt was less.

The almond milk started to form a clear liquid around and on top after about 4 or 5 hours. It was working.

After 10 hours, I decided it was done and dumped it into the strainer bag to drain off the "whey." That was a mistake. When it came time to transfer it to a storage container, I lost a lot to the sides of the bag. There was also a lot more "whey" than I expected. I think there was about 2 cups.

Results

It tasted too sweet. It was not very sour and not tangy at all the way I prefer yogurt. It was also a lot thinner than commercial yogurts(they cheat). Overall though, it was edible. It tasty very much like a plain sweetened yogurt with a hint of almond.

Attempt 2: Cashew Milk

I eat a lot of cashews. I buy them raw and dry roast them without salt . For this and the following attempt, I made milk from raw cashews.

The general process for making nut milk is to soak your nuts in water overnight. Drain them. Put them in a blender with fresh water. Depending on the nut you may need to strain out the pulp. Almonds need straining. Cashews don't. Typically you use a 1:4 ratio of nuts to water.

I used a 1:3 ratio. I also just put all the cashews and all the water I wanted in the blender at once and let it run on liquefy. It was still a little chunky when I started to heat it.

Ingredients

• 1 qt. Fresh cashew milk
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 packet Yogourmet starter

Process

I used about the same process as above. I did not check on it as much, and I let it incubate for 24 hours.

It was a little bit thicker than the almond milk before straining.

This time I put the strainer bag over the container and inverted the whole thing over a bowl to catch the "whey." I let it drain in the refrigerator for 2 hours. There was about 1/2 cup of "whey" in the bowl. I also lost very little yogurt to the sides of the bag.

Results

This batch still wasn't tangy enough for me. It seemed to be the culture. The Yogourmet starter is a European style. It makes a very mild yogurt compared to a Greek or Bulgarian culture. Still, it tasted fine with a bit of a cashew flavor.

It was still not very thick. It also had a few chunks of cashew.

Attempt 3: Cashew Milk with Local Bulgarian Yogurt as a Starter

My favorite yogurt is made a few blocks from my house. I used a few spoonfuls out of a fresh jar of their yogurt as my starter this time.

I also perfected my cashew milk blending process.

1. Put soaked cashews in the blender on chop.
2. Add enough water to cover and blend on liquefy.
3. Add the rest of the water and blend on liquefy.

The ingredients are the same as before expect swap a few spoonfuls of Bulgarian yogurt for the packet of starter.

The process was also the same as attempt 2.

Results

I have only had a small taste of this batch so far. I think it tastes almost the same as the previous batch. It is not tangy like the Bulgarian yogurt I cultured it with.

It is also not very thick.

Further Ideas

Taste

It is very likely that the Yogourmet starter culture and the Bulgarian yogurt include varieties of bacteria that only eat lactose and not sucrose. It may be that the bacteria that eat sucrose are the same in both. This could help explain why attempt 2 and attempt 3 taste about the same. It could also be that when fed lactose they taste different than when fed sucrose.

I could test this by making a batch with lactose free milk.

Texture

I could fix this the same way as commercial producers: pectin. They add pectin at the beginning to consistently make thick yogurt. I don't need my yogurt to be so thick though. I always eat it mixed with granola.

Any ideas, questions, or suggestions?