Yogurt Questions

[Guest guest]

Does anyone know if it is necessary to heat raw milk to 185 degrees and then

cool to 115 before adding yogurt culture? I would rather not heat it that much

to retain the enzymes etc. Can I just go up to 115 and add culture or will it

not work?

[Guest guest]

I heat to 110, stir in 1 Tbsp of gelatin per quart and 1/3 cup starter. Make

nice, thick creamy yogurt.

Deanna

On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 1:30 PM, Dawn & Jim Purtle <purtlefam@...>wrote:

> **

>

>

> Does anyone know if it is necessary to heat raw milk to 185 degrees and

> then cool to 115 before adding yogurt culture? I would rather not heat it

> that much to retain the enzymes etc. Can I just go up to 115 and add culture

> or will it not work?

>

>

[Guest guest]

I heat to 110, stir in 1 Tbsp of gelatin per quart and 1/3 cup starter. Make

nice, thick creamy yogurt.

Deanna

On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 1:30 PM, Dawn & Jim Purtle <purtlefam@...>wrote:

> **

>

>

> Does anyone know if it is necessary to heat raw milk to 185 degrees and

> then cool to 115 before adding yogurt culture? I would rather not heat it

> that much to retain the enzymes etc. Can I just go up to 115 and add culture

> or will it not work?

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi,

It depends if your yogurt culture that you are using is reculturable or not. If

it is reculturable, then by making a mother culture is usually the best way to

go when you want to make raw yogurt.

If your culture is not reculturable, then you can just go up to 105-115 and be

fine.

Below is the info sheet I give out with my yogurt starter.

Yogurt Culturing info

This is how I recommend to culture the reculturable strains of yogurt I have

available.

You can make raw milk yogurt but to keep your MOTHER CULTURE pure, you should

heat the milk.

So now before you snap your mind completely shut, this is what you are doing and

why.

You will be making a MOTHER CULTURE—this is one that you want to keep to make

your next culture and so on down the line. If you heat your milk to 185 and

then let it cool to between 105-115 degrees and then add your culture, you have

a very good chance of maintaining that culture for who knows how long.

That is the MOTHER CULTURE—you can make your yogurt to eat differently.

To make your yogurt, warm up the milk to 105-115 degrees (warm enough to hold

your finger in the milk and not burn) and gently add your MOTHER CULTURE. The

resulting yogurt will be raw if raw milk was used.

For a quart to 2 quarts of yogurt, I add a blop (about ¼ cup) of mother culture.

I mix this together and then pour it into my yogurt maker cups and let it sit

for anywhere from 6-12 hours.

You can also put the yogurt into a jar and place the jar into a cooler with warm

water and towels to keep the temp warm so the yogurt can culture. I have not

tried the cooler method yet.

You can also culture it in a food dehydrator but I have not used that either.

When you start to get low on your MOTHER CULTURE, simply repeat the heated milk

process to make more pure MOTHER CULTURE.

This method has worked well for my Bulgarian, Greek, NE European, and Isreali

yogurts that are warmed to culture as well as the room temp yogurts of Villi,

Piima, and Filmjolk. If the MOTHER CULTURE is kept consistent, then the

resulting yogurt will also be more consistent. It has also worked well on the 2

other " mystery " cultures I have in the freezer. I know they are from someplace

in Europe/Russia but can't remember exactly what they were called. All of these

yogurts taste different and if used in cheese will flavor the cheese differently

as well.

It is best to not culture more than one type of yogurt at a time.

Sometimes the Villi, Piima, and Filmjolk yogurts seem to cause kefir to grow

mold or turn some funky colors. It is best to keep the kefir away from these

cultures.

I keep my MOTHER CULTURES in cow milk with all the cream. I use that culture to

make yogurt out of goat milk with no problem.

If using goat milk, the yogurt will be thinner. You can thicken it up by adding

dry milk (yuck).

I use my yogurt and buttermilk cultures in gravy, many sauces, breads, some

candies, etc.

The Bulgarian yogurt is AWESOME to use in cheese and Buttermilk!