Recipes/Second_Gen_Yoghurt

Initially prepare a batch of yoghurt using a store-bought starter, following the directions on the box. Immediately after the yoghurt is done, fill ice cube trays with yoghurt, aiming for about 25g of yoghurt in each cube. Put the trays in the freezer, and when frozen transfer to a sealed container and keep in the freezer. Each cube will make another batch of yoghurt, so you can judge how many batches you want to aim for.

Eat the rest of the batch as you like

To make the second generation yoghurt, take one of the cubes out of the freezer and put it in a covered container (to avoid contamination) on the counter, and put 2l of high fat milk in the instant pot, and set the pot to yoghurt mode in ‘boil’ state. When the instant pot beeps, take the inner lining out and leave it on the counter to cool until it is below 46C (you can put it in an ice bath, or set ice packs against the side to accellerate this.

Once it is cool enough, check on the yoghurt ice cube. if it is still partially frozen, or particularly thick, take a clean spoon and transfer a few spoonfuls of the warm milk into the container, and stir until fully melted, and liquid, then pour it into the instant pot liner and gently stir until fully distributed. put the liner back in the instant pot, and set the instant pot to the other yoghurt mode where you see the timer. Most likely you can use the same time as you did for the original batch, but if it isn’t thick enough, just let it continue to sit and check at 30m intervals.

Troubleshooting

1: if your yoghurt starter gets contaminated with yeast, you’ll end up with yoghurt with a ‘stringy’ texture - so don’t leave the starter uncovered on the counter for any longer than you need to. If you try to go beyond a ‘second generation’, you might run into this problem. If so, go back and start again from a store-bought starter.

2: If your yoghurt ends up with a texture more like cottage cheese, you either incubated too long, or put too much starter in. Don’t throw it out though - just use it like cottage cheese or ricotta.