Is it OK to use home-made yogurt as the starter for a new batch of home-made yogurt - and so on and so on?

I have been making my own yogurt at home using a few spoonfuls of the previous batch of home-made yoghurt as the starter for the next batch. It has been months since I used any commercially-made yoghurt as a starter. My yogurt tastes excellent. Is there anything wrong with keeping the same bacterial culture going on and on ad infinitum? Do the proportions of the different strains of bacteria in the yogurt change over time?

That is what my mom always did. We had cows and lots of extra milk and she made yogurt all the time. She's just put in a bit from the previous batch.

As long as the yogurt tastes good, your strain is ok. If it tastes off from the start of a batch, it's time for a new culture.

It is ok, it is the same process as making sour dough starter, you are just feeding the bact... thats all. if you don't it will eventualy die.

My aunt does the same and I don't think there is anything wrong. We have never fallen ill.

There's nothing wrong with it at all, that is how yogurt is traditionally made.

Well think of it this way, your reheating this process over and over and over again. Three times is the rule, so then you don't and won't get a nasty strain of food poisoning.

In my country, there is no commercially prepared yoghurt, because the ones you buy in shops are made the same way as the ones at home. Those bacteria could have been living there for thousands of years! lol. Anyway, it tastes excellent, and we always put a little bit in the freezer for the next batch, and no one I know every got food poisoning from it. I should say its pretty safe. :)

That Is How You Do It Mate. You Have To Start With Yogurt Containing The Live Culture To Make Yogurt In the First Place. You Just Keep Some Back Each Time To Make The Next Batch.