Doug Hively in Tucson, Arizona: Making Yogurt

We were delighted when Doug wrote to us about his yogurt experiences (and triumphs). We knew you would want to hear about his process for making it and the lessons he has learned. We are honored that he uses our starter cultures.

Doug’s Story:

For years, my partner and I have started our day with yogurt with fresh fruit and have bought quart containers of yogurt from Trader Joe’s, (she’s a Trader Joe’s fan). I travel for about 3 months every summer as a food concessionaire in the NW and because of long days working, I would buy the small yogurt containers available at every grocery store when I had the chance to shop.

This past summer, while shopping at a food co-op, I saw yogurt culture and decided to buy some. Now, I didn’t have any equipment or know what I was going to do to make my own yogurt, but reading the instructions – it didn’t sound to hard or complicated so I thought, “why not?”

My first attempts were in an Instapot that I have and while it was ok, the more I read and tried repeatedly, I decided that there had to be a better way.

When I returned to Tucson from my summer work, I did more research and bought a Yogourmet 104 Electric Yogurt Maker.

I purchased it in the fall of 2019 on Amazon but I see it’s no longer available (although you may be able to find it on eBay). I don’t know if it’s been discontinued, as Amazon doesn’t have it, and what I see available now is an insulated container. The one I have is a warm water bath with an inner container for the yogurt.

I did find additional containers from a cheese company in Canada and Yogourmet is a Canadian company, but I really had to search to find them.

The outer piece is electrically heated and there is about 1-1/2 cup of water in the base. When the inner container is placed into it, the water rises nearly to the top so the inner container is totally surrounded by a water bath.

I put on the cover and set a timer for 4 1/2 hours. After the timer goes off, I remove the inner container with the yogurt and often wrap it in a large towel and allow to sit for several hours, usually until just before going to bed.

I had some failures in the beginning, but I pretty quickly started producing a half gallon of yogurt for the cost of a commercially sold quart of yogurt. As they say “the rest is history” and I’ve been making yogurt for almost a year, trying different cultures and methods and enjoying having an unlimited supply.

A Better Whey

From the beginning, I’ve heated the milk on the stove – sometimes in a double boiler and sometimes in a 3 quart stainless steel pot. All has been well, but it needs to be closely watched and in the process there is a loss of volume, and clean up takes a bit of time.

When using the stove top method, either with a double boiler or heating in a pan, there is loss due to evaporation and a skin forming on the surface of the milk which I skim off periodically. I don’t put a lid on either one because I need to monitor the temp and have a thermometer in the milk.

An Even Better Whey

On another cheese website, there was mention of someone using a Sous Vide machine to heat the milk they were using to make cheese. My thought was if it worked for that, it should work for yogurt too, so I tried it.

Well, I’m never going back to the stove top!! I put 1/2 gal of milk in a gallon ziplock bag, put it in the water bath, set the Sous Vide machine to 180F and holding for 20 minutes. I continued working on whatever was going on at the time.

The machine beeped when it hit temperature, held for 20 minutes and shut off. I let it cool (still in the bag) to about 120F and put the milk in the Yogotherm container. NO LOSS of milk, yea!!

After it cooled to 112F, I added your yogurt starter, waited 2 minutes, whisked it in, put on the lid, put the container in the machine and 4 1/2 hours later I had my yogurt.

Clean up was a snap – I washed the gallon bag, the whisk and thermometer and I was done!! Easy Peasy.

This may not be news to you, but if others out there have a Sous Vide machine they should definitely try it!

I should add that I have started adding some powdered milk at the end before adding the culture, as we prefer a slightly thicker yogurt. I found and am using Judee’s Whole Milk Powder (40 oz-2.5 lb): NonGMO, rBST Hormone Free, USA Made. I use 1/2 or 1 cup mixed into 1 cup of water or the heated milk.

I take a cup of milk from the bag, add a cup of powdered milk and mix it together. Then, I add the milk + powdered milk back into the Yogourmet inner container, allow all of that to cool to 112F and then add the culture, wait 2 minutes, whisk, put on the lid and gently place the container in the heated outer container.

Thank you for great starter. We really enjoy the yogurt that we make with it. Now that the milk heating has been made so simple, I may try cheese next!

What do you usually do for a living when you aren’t selling lemonade?

The rest of the year, I work for companies called “Destination Management Companies” and a limo company. The DMCs contract with people to be staff or guides for groups that come to the area for conferences and want to do off site events – desert Jeep tours, horseback riding, tours of the Pima Air & Space museum, all kinds of things.

So, staff loads the vehicles, perhaps talks while traveling to the destination about the Sonoran desert area or the venue they are headed toward, accompanies them to the event and then loads them back onboard and returns them to the resort.

It’s been a great experience and I’ve been to places I never even knew about. In the process, I’ve learned a lot about the SW and Tucson. Big problem now is, because of the pandemic, there are no conferences so no work. So, plenty of time to learn new things!

I don’t have any pictures of driving or leading tours here in Tucson. People always ask “have you driven anyone famous?,” and yes, I have but I know of only one driver who has a picture of herself and her passenger. Transportation companies frown on drivers asking for pictures (hers was a suggestion/question from the security people and former president Clinton was happy to have his picture taken).

I drove a “press bus” for Bernie Sanders when he visited Tucson about 4 years ago. It was interesting being part of the caravan of marked and unmarked vehicles as we drove to the border so he could have a press conference with the local sheriff with the border wall as a backdrop.

The next spring, after Bernie was here, the dispatcher at the company I drive for called me and said “I can’t tell you who is coming but it’s someone big and if you’re interested I’ll schedule you for the pickup.” Turns out it was Paul McCartney, his wife and two of his daughters and their families who came to Tucson and stayed one night at his ranch here. I asked the caretakers of his property about photos or an autograph but was told “No” so I didn’t ask. I just have the text messages with his name, arrival time and tail number of the private jet they all arrived and departed on. I do have the tip money that he gave me (stupid to save it, but I know that that money was in Paul McCartney’s wallet and that he personally handed it to me!).

After those two events, I said that, in my mind, it wouldn’t get any better than that and started driving less and doing more resort work. That work has been interesting in that I get to hang out in resorts that I didn’t even know existed and could never afford to stay at. I can enjoy the concerts that are put on for conference attendees, get into tons of venues here in Tucson for free as the guide and get paid very well. Unfortunately that has all come to a screeching halt with the pandemic we find ourselves in.