Well, this is actually a combination of pictures from the first and fourth time I made the SCD yogurt. I recently received my first yogurt maker in the mail about 4 weeks ago, and it has been an absolute blast making yogurt with it. The actual yogurt maker is a Waring Pro YM350 Professional Yogurt Maker
I purchased off Amazon.
Why am I making Yogurt for my Colitis all of a sudden?
- To assist my colon in getting better, as it is one of the foundation rules of the SCD diet which I use to treat my Colitis
- Also, I have never made yogurt before so I want to know how easy it is to make yogurt from scratch from home
- If yogurt is so easy to make, and if the live bacteria that is inside the yogurt is good for my autoimmune disease, that is a bonus
How is the yogurt going to make a difference with my colon and gut bacteria?
- The idea is that the colon will benefit from the “GOOD” bacteria that exists in home made yogurt
- This is a topic that has been discussed for ages, perhaps thousands of years as yogurt is not something new, and since our gut is filled with bacteria, beneficial bacteria from yogurt can be helpful
Is making the yogurt fun and easy, and does it make your house smell nice?
- YES, YES, YES…. I wouldn’t be attempting this if it was a pain in the arse. Oh, and it goes GREAT with my morning smoothies too!
- Anybody can make home made yogurt. It is really simple and I will explain all you need to do it yourself.
- Best thing is the cost, the yogurt maker was the most expensive thing, and there are many for sale. You can find a yogurt maker online for less than $30 most of the time. After that, you will need just some yogurt starter and milk. All very cheap and easy to buy the starter online too.
Getting Started
Well, I’m sure everyone has their own thoughts on unpacking things. The yogurt maker left overs took up a good portion of the recycle bin that week, but well worth it!
Nothing too fancy as far as the screen, but it does exactly what it needs to do, it tells you how long the yogurt is set to ferment for once you put it in there.
I love skipping important steps, just like most of us right, but you need to make sure to clean everything before using it. Since you are trying to get the most benefit from the good bacteria that is inside the yogurt you are going to make, its important to get rid of all other potential bacteria that might be living inside your yogurt making goodies.
You want to make sure to kill off any bad bacteria that has formed within your milk. We used whole milk(a HALF GALLON CONTAINER or about 64 ounces) to start out with as others have said that it makes better yogurt. Anyways, you don’t want to boil the milk for hours an hour, no, you just want to bring it up to about 180 degrees. I suggest you use a thermometer that is easy to read to make sure you are not heating it up too little or too cold. In another picture below, you can see what I mean for using a thermometer for the yogurt making.
Now you just mix it all together for a short while until you feel its all mixed up nicely.
After you have mixed it all up, fill the yogurt containers and place them into the machine. Don’t put the lids on the containers. Just place them in the tray of the yogurt machine like you see above. And then you’ll just want to put on the big plastic lid that comes with the whole machine(you can see that to the right of the machine in the picture above). And then turn on the machine. You will need to set this particular machine for 19 hours since that is its maximum time, and then add on another 5 hours by pressing the (+) button once it reaches 14 hours or less, for a total of 24 hours of cooking/fermenting.
And that is pretty much the final product of the SCD home made yogurt.
The keys to success here are:
- Make sure to clean everything before using it.
- Use a thermometer to find out when the milk has reached 180 degrees and when it has cooled to 110 degrees
- Definitely make sure to stir the milk while you are heating it up, otherwise it will stick to your pot(believe me on that one)
- Once you set the milk in the yogurt machine, make sure not to move the yogurt machine at all, just let it rest and cook your yogurt
- After you are done, you can put it in the fridge for a few hours to let it cool down, and then go ahead and eat it
- Remember, a key is to take the 24 hours to cook the yogurt as I explained, this will allow almost all of the lactose to be eaten up by the bacteria which is a good thing for digestion and our colon
Most people who follow the SCD diet for their ulcerative colitis or other inflammatory bowel diseases suggest to only try a very little amount of the yogurt the first several times you make it. You don’t want to overload your body with the healthy bacterias that come in this yogurt. So, I for example, started out taking just a spoonful the first 4-5 days, and then slowly moved up to more.
Also, if for any reason you find you cannot tolerate the cow milk, you should try making a batch of yogurt with goat’s milk instead. I personally don’t really love the taste of the goat’s milk compared to the cow’s milk, but I’ve made it to test it out and its not that bad, and some people prefer it over cow’s milk. Its a personal taste thing I think.
Most importantly, have fun with making your yogurt. You can use it to add to banana muffins, and you can add it to all kinds of stuff that is friendly for colitis people and for the SCD diet.
Again, here is the stuff I ordered to make the yogurt:
Waring Pro YM350 Professional Yogurt Maker
Yogurt Culture 2-Packs (Sealed Together) of 5-Gram Each 
Taylor Classic Instant-Read Pocket Thermometer 
I started site shortly after being diagnosed in October of 2008 with severe pancolitis (when my whole colon was inflamed).
For me, it was a very rough start with severe symptoms. Getting bounced from medication to medication was not easy or too helpful. But, I did meet another UC’er, changes several parts of my diet, and of course the rest is history.
Leave a comment, ask a question, take advantage of our past experiences here, use the search boxes, they are your friends to0:)
I’ve written 2 different ulcerative colitis ebooks, you can check them out here.
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You say to use both packets of the starter. It looks like each packet makes 6 yogurts. I’m confused.
Hey Bethany,
Sorry to confuse you, When I was making the yogurt, I only used 1 packet.
Thanks so much for putting this up!!! I really do appreciate it. I am 17 and have Crohn’s disease and my father has Colitis. I was diagnosed in fourth grade, and I am just now starting up the SCD for good. I started yesterday after being on yet another 30-day liquid diet. I am quite excited to see how this goes for me. Do you have any tips on the SCD and how to be most successful? Especially when you go out with friends, as that seems to be a large part of teenage get-togethers. Thank you again. This was encouraging for me, mostly because I love regular yogurt as it is. Might as well try it now :)
Probably what has helped me to most with SCD is staying consistent with foods, especially in the early days. And by that I mean not getting too creative and slowly finding out what works “BEST” and then moving forward with that. Also, staying away from Nut flour foods that are SCD legal until complete healing has taken place. Far too many people get out of control (including myself at one time) with nut flour foods like almond flour muffins for example. Best in my opinion to leave that stuff for after healing has taken place. Otherwise an overdose of that can send you back to square one. Best of luck to you!
i made my first batch of SCD yogurt last week. the oven method did not work at all and my yogurt has the consistency of milk. it tastes delicious and is nice and sour, so i’ve been putting it in fruit smoothies. i need to get a yogurt maker so hopefully it will thicken. i was definitely sad because it was A LOT of work and very tiring.
I currently take VSL#3 as a daily probiotic. Can I use that as a starter?
Hey Amy,
Great question, and I’m not sure of the answer. But if it was me, and since you can afford VSL#3 (which isn’t cheap) I’d for sure spend a couple dollars on a proper yogurt starter that’s been tested to work. A well worth it investment in my opinion.
Can you add any fruit or flavoring to the yogurt?
Most definitely, I’ve added honey, and strawberries and blueberries (but add the flavorings after you’re done making it, not before).
So I’m starting the SCD right now and I have two questions. 1. Since I’m not very symptomatic right now( on prednisone ) is is really that critical to ease into this diet? For the last two days I’ve just been eating approved only foods, but not necessarily beginner foods… 2. The yogurt making overwhelms and scares me (which is how I found this page) it seems hard :-(. In breaking the vicious cycle they recommend getting yogurt supplies through http://www.scdkitchen.com. Does anyone think that yogurt maker/ process is simpler? Thank you I appreciate any and all tips!!!
definitely get the yogurt maker!! it really makes great yogurt and once you make it a few times, it’s really easy. I started SCD, too, in august and waited to make the yogurt until January because SCD wasn’t helping enough. I just thought it would be a big deal to have to do all that work for a little yogurt, but it’s really delicious, too. I use a DASH yogurt maker and yogourmet starter. I never have to change the temp of the yogurt machine the whole 24 hours- it stays pretty constant at 110 F.
I ordered the waring pro the Adam used…. But I’ll order your starter. Thank you for the comment! What are your thoughts on easing into the diet? You mentioned the SCD didn’t work well in the beginning, do you think the yogurt made the difference? How are you doing now?
hey laurie.
for the diet, i’d stick to the SCD book but if there are foods that bother you, obviously leave those out. I have strong sensitivities to eggs and chicken so when I started eating them on the SCD diet (I was a vegan before I started), I was still having symptoms. obviously, I am far from remission since I cannot fix my bleeding/iron problems. I’ve had 5 blood transfusions and 19 iron infusions and I started scd in aug 2012. I don’t think diet can get me in remission since I’ve been strict for 10 months now. I keep getting c diff, too, and that doesn’t help my situation out at all.
Hey Joanna and fellow UCers :) – I am looking at the posts in the yogurt making section of the site and I was wondering how you’re doing and how the SCD diet is going for you. I have only been able to eat plain rice and bits of chicken (maybe 1/4 cup of plain cooked chicken once a day). It’s all I’ve been able to tolerate. I still have some symptoms but pretty minimal since I started the Renew Life probiotics (30 – 50 billion), Vit B complex and I still take lialda twice a day and a suppository at night. BUT I just bought a yogurt maker. You seem to know a lot about diet and how to start the SCD, so I was wondering if you or anyone else had any ideas or suggestions on how to progress the diet. I tried the chicken soup made from home made stock, added chicken bits to it, like the SCD book Vicious Cycle suggested, then pureed the carrots and I was sick for days with the colitis. I know I have to start real slow on the yogurt. And I’m not complaining – eating chicken bits with rice is more than what I could eat for almost two years! But any ideas on diet would be appreciated. I have allergies that are life threatening (I have to carry an epi injector) to peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pecans — any nut – and a lot of SCD is using almond or pecan flour :( Thanks for any input!
Hey hope. Have you tried other meats like beef or fish or do you stick to chicken? Thats where i would expand first since i find low fiber does me good. Meats are also so filling. What about gelatin? I make kefir smoothies with gelatin and a banana. I wa making the yogurt for a while but switched to kefir just because its way easier to make. The smoothies are so good and feel like a dessert. I still dont eat eggs just because they give me bad cramps but some people do fine with them.
I just got out of the hospital and am on imuran and prednisone now. Scd has helped my body get stronger but it hasnt done a thing for my UC unfortunately. I wish i could say something better about it. My colon just rebels against everything i try. I still want to stick to scd until i get my colon out. Things arent looking good so i have a feeling it will be this year.
Hi Joanna — Thanks for getting back. I’m really sorry you were just in the hospital. That’s too bad. It really gets discouraging when you try everything and feel so bad you have to go in anyway. Prednisone and imuran might be what it takes for now to get you out of that flare. Hang in there. I will be praying for you – I know how hard it is. Us “UC people” are pretty tough people, I have to say. Wouldn’t you say so? Even when we get hit the hardest, we keep going! I think it’s sweet that you responded back to my question when you’ve been going through so much yourself, so hang in there and one step at a time. I will say, on the side, tho, that having read people’s success stories after surgery, it’s helped me have a better outlook on that. Serious decision, I know, but I am thankful people have been writing to tell us all how it went when they have surgery and the positives of it. On the food side, I tried hamburger and that lasted for three days but I had less than 1 /4 cup of that a day too, and it sent me into a little tail spin, so I backed off that. I also tried blueberries once which weren’t a good idea, and of course the pureed carrots. That did not go well. I’ll look into the smoothies and see how that goes. Could it be that you’re having allergies too? Allergies are an autoimmune condition – and so is UC. I am also allergic to eggs – along with the other list of foods I posted in my last post. I appreciate hearing from you – thanks for writing. All the best – Hope
Hi Adam,
Are you still using the same yogurt starter mentioned above? Does it include bifidus? I am trying to find a starter which does not include bifidus.
Also wanted to know whether they require to deliver it in ice packs? As this would be difficult in my case since I will be having my order delivered to the Middle East.
Thanks in advance:)
Hi Laila,
Here is a link to the most recent batch of yogurt I made. I have not made any since, but if I was going to make up some more again, this is what I’d do https://ihaveuc.com/home-made-yogurt-major-bacteria/
(the link pretty much details out the program, and there is a link to the exact starter along with a list of the bacteria strains it contains.
As for shipping and ice packs..I’m not sure about that. You may want to try and contact the vendor directly with that question.
Best regards,
Adam
Laila- Can I ask you why you don’t want bifidus in your starter? I am just learning about making yogurt and thought bifidus had to be part of that. Are there side effects to bifidus? I know my starter – which I just bought – does have bifidus in it – Thanks, Hope
Hey Adam, I’m 19 and just started SCD almost a month ago but I KNOW SCD is working for me. I was just wondering if this yogurtmaker has any overheating issues like the yogurmet. I have the yogurmet and it’s a pain to get the temperature right with a light dimmer so I’m looking for other yogurtmakers. ( I don’t want to get a dehydrator because they’re wayyy expensive.)
Hi Karen,
I myself did not have any issues with overheating, although its always a good idea to do a few temperature checks along the way.
I just started the GAPS diet this week. I bought the Cuisinart Electric Yogurtmaker from Williams-Sonoma. It was expensive (I think $125) but I can set it for the full 24 hours then it switches to cooling mode for up to 12 more hours. Since I have a hectic schedule, I didn’t want to wait 24 hours for my yogurt then have it spoil if I happened to not be home when it finished fermenting. I did a test run and checked the temperature at 20 hours and every hour after until it was done. The temp never went above 111 even at the very end. I realize it is a lot more money than some of the others on the market but I am happy I splurged on this one. btw, our local Targets all have their yogurt maker on clearance now. I noticed a few days ago the $30 machine is down to $15 and some stores have quite a few left which means very soon they will be under $10. I plan to buy one to make yogurt for my kids who don’t need the longer fermentation.
Thank you-!
Hello- do you ever have a problem with the mile curdling when heating it?