Making Goat's Milk Yogurt Question

[Mackay]

Is it done the exact same way as with cow's milk?
Thanks

 

[Blackbird]

The fat globules and milk proteins in goat milk are much smaller than in cow milk, so yogurt tends to be runnier, but also much more digestible (which is why those who cannot handle cow milk can tolerate goat milk). It has been recommended to use goat cream for yogurt to make it thicker. And of course there are additives, powdered milk, cassava/yuka starches like in 'tapioca', etc.

Otherwise, yes it is basically the same. You can let it incubate longer though, to make it thicker, but the taste gets tangier.

EDIT; The recipe I use to make yogurt is for any kind of milk.

 

[Country Momma]

After miking the goat (milk is warm), do you heat up the milk. The recipe I have says to heat the milk to 185'F then down to 110'F b/f adding the culture. I dont want to kill all the "good" stuff by heating up, but dont want any bad bacteria to multiply.

 

[Blackbird]

Apparently I don't know anything, so just ignore me

 

[freemotion]

110 won't pasteurize it. Certain enzymes are killed at 118, but bacteria isn't killed until it reaches much higher temps.

The higher temps also alter the proteins and calcium structure, which will make a thicker yogurt. These alterations in the shapes of the proteins make them toxic, though, and also makes the calcium unavailable. It becomes a dead food. Yummy but dead.

 

[freemotion]

After miking the goat (milk is warm), do you heat up the milk. The recipe I have says to heat the milk to 185'F then down to 110'F b/f adding the culture. I dont want to kill all the "good" stuff by heating up, but dont want any bad bacteria to multiply.

If the milk is raw, fresh, and from a healthy animal and clean milking and filtering practices were used, you should be fine. Raw milk has multiple redundant mechanisms for overwhelming pathogenic bacteria.

I worried at first about what bad beasties would be incubated along with my yogurt. I no longer worry. If there are any pathogenic bacteria present, it will be pretty obvious. I often make 6-10 quarts of yogurt at a time, and occasionally....no, rarely....have a jar that comes out of the cooler a little weird-looking. It looks clabbered instead of creamy and smooth. I give it to the chickens with no ill effects, and assume that my jar or the lid was not as clean as I thought it was.

 

[Blackbird]

Ok, I looked it up;

"A slow, gentle heating on your stove top will more effectively preserve the integrity of fragile milk proteins"

Heating to 110 will "will preserve enzymes and some of the competing naturally occurring bacteria"

I think, going by your post, that is what you want.


http://www.trit.us/motherlinda/yogurt.html

 

[freemotion]

I use a water bath to warm milk for yogurt. It is just about impossible to heat it on the stove, even with a double boiler, and not go over 110.

My tap water is 120, so I put the jars in tap water and change it every few minutes until the milk is the desired temp. I do this for mesophilic cheeses, too. Works great, and no more accidentally pasteurized milk, or long waits to cool the milk! I just have to make sure the water doesn't come up to the caps of the jars, as any seeping will contaminate the milk, especially since I am on city water.

 

[Blackbird]

Your very right Monique - that is why I edited my previous post; nothing will stay a steady 110 on our stove for an hour, I shouldn't have assumed that everyone's stove is like that. Although I suppose if someone was going to pasteurize milk, they wouldn't take an hour to do it at a lower temperature anyway.

A lot of what I have read says to heat up to 145 - 160 for 30 to 20 minutes to pasteurize, but a couple readings have claimed that you can heat up much higher for just a couple minutes, which is what I do when I (rarely) pasteurize milk. Waiting 30 minutes just doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Mackay]

Freemotion, are you saying you never take your yogurt temp over 110?

I use to purchase a raw kefir when I lived in California. It tasted so much better than their pasturized product from the same company.

Thanks for the links guys. I may try the natren product for a starter. I was going to use Dannon as I like their flavor the best on the commercial side.