soy milk beginner needs help

[Guest guest]

I love love love my Vitamix 5200, my Mother's

Day/Birthday/Anniversary/Christmas gift. And I've made a lots of

lovely recipes with delightful results. One of them, however, is NOT

my first try at soy milk. I thought I was following the Vitamix

recipe but what I got is extremely thick. The nice lady at Vitamix

customer service explained that the recipe was very tried and true

(although she has never made it herself). So can someone on this

helpful list tell me which step I didn't follow correctly? First I

soaked 1 1/2 cups of dry soy beans (for at least 8 hours). Then I

rinsed them (and removed loose hulls). Then I steamed them in a

vegetable steamer for about 25 minutes (15 min + 10 just to be sure).

Then I let them cool. Then I processed them for about 1 1/2 minutes

with 3 1/2 cups of water and the sugar the recipe calls for. And

what I got is pourable, but too thick to go through anything like a

nut milk bag, cheesecloth, or even a metal strainer/sifter.

So what did I do wrong? Or can someone point me to a better set of instructions?

(1) Was I supposed to START with 1 1/2 cups of beans, or was it

supposed to be 1 1/2 cups AFTER they were soaked.

(2) I drained them before I steamed them - were they supposed to be

'steamed' in their soaking water?

(3) The beans were cool (room temperature) when I processed them and I

used cold water. Did I misinterpret the amount of cooling?

Thanks in advance for all the advice I am hoping to get.

P.S. I'm not entirely convinced I WANT to make soy milk, but my

husband is and he bought a 50 pound bag of organic soy beans for me so

I'd better figure out SOMETHING!