Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 Chris- > Then we pour the mixture into a > mason jar, wrap in a towel, and put into an insulated container and > let sit for 24 hours. Unlike room temperature ferments, yoghurt needs to ferment at at least around 100-105 degrees if not a bit warmer. Otherwise it just won't work reliably or consistently. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 > Unlike room temperature ferments, yoghurt needs to ferment at at least > around 100-105 degrees if not a bit warmer. Otherwise it just won't > work reliably or consistently. > > - , Do you recommend using a yogurt maker to keep it at this temperature? Any particular brands you like? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 Chris- > Do you recommend using a yogurt maker to keep it at this > temperature? Any particular > brands you like? I use a Yogourmet. Works like a charm. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 > I use a Yogourmet. Works like a charm. > > - Is the interior container plastic? If so, do you think there's any concern about leeching? Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 Chris- > Is the interior container plastic? If so, do you think there's any > concern about leeching? Lucy's Kitchen Shop sells glass jars for the Yogourmet. Because of the time, temperature and acidity, yes, I'd be concerned about leeching, so IMO it's well worth the extra few bucks for the glass vessels. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 > Lucy's Kitchen Shop sells glass jars for the Yogourmet. Because of > the time, temperature and acidity, yes, I'd be concerned about > leeching, so IMO it's well worth the extra few bucks for the glass > vessels. Perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 If you want to avoid the expense and the problem of only being able to make a quart of so of yogurt at a time, you can easily use an insulated bag such as the ones they sell at Sam's or smaller lunch type ones for your yogurt. We heat the yogurt to 110, we also preheat the mason jars when needful (if the jars are very, very cold and your place is cold you can be surprised at how much heat is lost in transferring the yogurt into the jars), and place the yogurt in the jars with the starter, shake, put a big towel in the freezer bag, place the yogurt in the bag, if cold in the house place inside a mason jar or two of hot water (110-120), fold the towel around everyone, and let them be cozy together overnight. Save on a yogurt machine and one electricity perhaps, and we can make up to 8 quarts at a time;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 Hi, In what way are sour cream & yogurt different? My first guess would be bacteria vs. enzymes, yet I suspect there is more to it than what the label may read. Jim louisvillewapf <louisvillewapf@...> wrote: If you want to avoid the expense and the problem of only being able to make a quart of so of yogurt at a time, you can easily use an insulated bag such as the ones they sell at Sam's or smaller lunch type ones for your yogurt. We heat the yogurt to 110, we also preheat the mason jars when needful (if the jars are very, very cold and your place is cold you can be surprised at how much heat is lost in transferring the yogurt into the jars), and place the yogurt in the jars with the starter, shake, put a big towel in the freezer bag, place the yogurt in the bag, if cold in the house place inside a mason jar or two of hot water (110-120), fold the towel around everyone, and let them be cozy together overnight. Save on a yogurt machine and one electricity perhaps, and we can make up to 8 quarts at a time;) Well done is better than well said..., Jim Igo --------------------------------- You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 I make my yogurt in glass mason jars, 1/2 gallon and put them in a picnic cooler to " ferment " . Before I place them in the cooler I put about a quart of boiling water in the bottom. This keeps the cooler nice and warm. Another thing about yogurt is that it doesn't want to be bothered, needs to be in a place where it won't be shook or moved around. My question to you is why you bother with raw milk if you are heating it to 180? Belinda > > We're having a strange problem with our yogurt making lately. The past two or three batches > have not soured or thickened like they normally do. > > We've followed exactly the same procedure we always follow, which is to heat raw milk to 180 > degrees, allow to cool to 110, add 1 TBS. of starter (we normally use a locally-produced > organic, artisanal yogurt, but we have tried two different brands to rule out the possibility > that there weren't enough cultures in our normal brand). Then we pour the mixture into a > mason jar, wrap in a towel, and put into an insulated container and let sit for 24 hours. > > The first several times we did this it worked very well. The last three times, however, it has > not become sour or thick. Nothing else has really changed - if anything, it's warmer in the > kitchen and I would expect fermentation to go faster. > > Anyone experienced something like this before? Any ideas what might be causing the > problem? > > Thanks, > Chris > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 > > We're having a strange problem with our yogurt making lately. The past two or three batches > have not soured or thickened like they normally do. > > We've followed exactly the same procedure we always follow, which is to heat raw milk to 180 > degrees, allow to cool to 110, add 1 TBS. of starter (we normally use a locally-produced > organic, artisanal yogurt, but we have tried two different brands to rule out the possibility > that there weren't enough cultures in our normal brand). Then we pour the mixture into a > mason jar, wrap in a towel, and put into an insulated container and let sit for 24 hours. > > The first several times we did this it worked very well. The last three times, however, it has > not become sour or thick. Nothing else has really changed - if anything, it's warmer in the > kitchen and I would expect fermentation to go faster. > > Anyone experienced something like this before? Any ideas what might be causing the > problem? > > Thanks, > Chris > We make our yogurt with raw milk and a Yogourmet, raising the milk temperature to just 105. Heating raw milk any more than that destroys the naturally occurring enzymes and heat sensitive vitamins, e.g., Vitamin C. The only time I've had a problem with it setting properly is when we ran our dishwasher while the yogurt was incubating on the counter above. As another post said, yogurt doesn't like to be disturbed. We also make sure the container is pre-warmed and filled with hot water, to minimize the chance of any temperature drop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 --- In , " louisvillewapf " <louisvillewapf@...> wrote: > > If you want to avoid the expense and the problem of only being able to > make a quart of so of yogurt at a time, you can easily use an insulated > bag such as the ones they sell at Sam's or smaller lunch type ones for > your yogurt. > > We heat the yogurt to 110, we also preheat the mason jars when needful > (if the jars are very, very cold and your place is cold you can be > surprised at how much heat is lost in transferring the yogurt into the > jars), and place the yogurt in the jars with the starter, shake, put a > big towel in the freezer bag, place the yogurt in the bag, if cold in > the house place inside a mason jar or two of hot water (110-120), fold > the towel around everyone, and let them be cozy together overnight. > Save on a yogurt machine and one electricity perhaps, and we can make > up to 8 quarts at a time;) > Actually this is exactly what we have been doing. However, the last three batches did not work this way. I believe the Yogourmet makes up to 2 quarts at a time, which is plenty for us for one batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 I do the same thing, but I fill the cooler with more water (to just below the lip of the jars) and I check back in a few hours to make sure I don't need to add some boiling water to bring the water temp up. Works great. -Lana On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 8:54 PM, labelleacres <bilherbs@...> wrote: > I make my yogurt in glass mason jars, 1/2 gallon and put them in a > picnic cooler to " ferment " . Before I place them in the cooler I put > about a quart of boiling water in the bottom. This keeps the cooler > nice and warm. Another thing about yogurt is that it doesn't want to > be bothered, needs to be in a place where it won't be shook or moved > around. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 Chris- > I believe the Yogourmet makes up to 2 quarts at a time, which is > plenty for us for one > batch. Yep. It has a half-gallon container. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 > We make our yogurt with raw milk and a Yogourmet, raising the milk > temperature to just 105. Heating raw milk any more than that destroys > the naturally occurring enzymes and heat sensitive vitamins, e.g., > Vitamin C. The only time I've had a problem with it setting properly > is when we ran our dishwasher while the yogurt was incubating on the > counter above. As another post said, yogurt doesn't like to be > disturbed. We also make sure the container is pre-warmed and filled > with hot water, to minimize the chance of any temperature drop. > I'm aware that heating raw milk destroys the enzymes and heat-sensitive vitamins; however, I still think that raw milk would still be a better choice because some of the nutrients would not be destroyed by the heat, it's not homogenized, and it's generally less processed. I also much prefer supporting local, raw dairy farmers to large dairy corporations. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 > We make our yogurt with raw milk and a Yogourmet, raising the milk > temperature to just 105. Heating raw milk any more than that destroys > the naturally occurring enzymes and heat sensitive vitamins, e.g., > Vitamin C. The only time I've had a problem with it setting properly > is when we ran our dishwasher while the yogurt was incubating on the > counter above. As another post said, yogurt doesn't like to be > disturbed. We also make sure the container is pre-warmed and filled > with hot water, to minimize the chance of any temperature drop. > I forgot to ask you for clarification on this. I've never used a Yogourmet, so I'm not sure how it works. But are you saying you don't heat the milk up to 180 and cool it down to 105 before putting it in the Yogourmet? You just put in the cold milk and bring it up to 105? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 Chris- > I'm aware that heating raw milk destroys the enzymes and heat- > sensitive vitamins; however, > I still think that raw milk would still be a better choice because > some of the nutrients would > not be destroyed by the heat, it's not homogenized, and it's > generally less processed. I also > much prefer supporting local, raw dairy farmers to large dairy > corporations. If the raw milk (and/or other dairy) you get is fresh enough, there's really no need to heat the mixture to 180 degrees before culturing. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 Chris- > I forgot to ask you for clarification on this. I've never used a > Yogourmet, so I'm not sure how > it works. But are you saying you don't heat the milk up to 180 and > cool it down to 105 > before putting it in the Yogourmet? You just put in the cold milk > and bring it up to 105? That's what I do. I pour in a quart of milk, a quart of cream, add some yoghurt starter, soften it, mix it up, put it in the Yogourmet, take it out 24 hours, and voila, raw yoghurt. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 > > Chris- > > > I forgot to ask you for clarification on this. I've never used a > > Yogourmet, so I'm not sure how > > it works. But are you saying you don't heat the milk up to 180 and > > cool it down to 105 > > before putting it in the Yogourmet? You just put in the cold milk > > and bring it up to 105? > > That's what I do. I pour in a quart of milk, a quart of cream, add > some yoghurt starter, soften it, mix it up, put it in the Yogourmet, > take it out 24 hours, and voila, raw yoghurt. Sound great! Only problem with that for me is that raw cream is exceedingly difficult to come by around here, and when it is available it's about $11 for a tiny little jar. Perhaps I'll mix the raw milk with pasteurized cream, or just stick with 100% raw milk. Do you use cream to produce a thicker yogurt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 , what do you use for yogurt starter and how much? > > Chris- > > > I forgot to ask you for clarification on this. I've never used a > > Yogourmet, so I'm not sure how > > it works. But are you saying you don't heat the milk up to 180 and > > cool it down to 105 > > before putting it in the Yogourmet? You just put in the cold milk > > and bring it up to 105? > > That's what I do. I pour in a quart of milk, a quart of cream, add > some yoghurt starter, soften it, mix it up, put it in the Yogourmet, > take it out 24 hours, and voila, raw yoghurt. > > - > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 , when it's done, is all the cream on top? do you just stir it in before eating it? > > Chris- > > > I forgot to ask you for clarification on this. I've never used a > > Yogourmet, so I'm not sure how > > it works. But are you saying you don't heat the milk up to 180 and > > cool it down to 105 > > before putting it in the Yogourmet? You just put in the cold milk > > and bring it up to 105? > > That's what I do. I pour in a quart of milk, a quart of cream, add > some yoghurt starter, soften it, mix it up, put it in the Yogourmet, > take it out 24 hours, and voila, raw yoghurt. > > - > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Chris- > Do you use cream to produce a thicker yogurt? To boost the fat content and reduce the carb content, but that's not important for everyone. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Carolyn- > what do you use for yogurt starter and how much? Natren, per their recommended dose. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Carolyn- > when it's done, is all the cream on top? do you just stir it in > before eating it? The top is fattier than the bottom, but there's not a discrete cream layer like you'd find in Brown Cow or other commercial yoghurts. Perhaps that's because of the dramatically higher fat content of my yoghurt. - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 > > Chris- > > > Do you use cream to produce a thicker yogurt? > > To boost the fat content and reduce the carb content, but that's not > important for everyone. > > - Sure sounds good to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Yogurt making update: Picked up a Yogourmet Thursday. Poured a quart of raw milk without heating it first into the container, and then mixed it with a bit of commercial (local, organic) yogurt as a starter. Let it go for 24 hours. It came out quite lumpy. Certain parts are still milk-like in consistency, and then there are " chunks " of yogurt-like consistency in there. Perhaps it will be better if I stir it up a bit and refrigerate it for a while. For those of you not heating the milk before you put it in the Yogourmet... do you get thick, creamy milk with an even consistency? Do you use fresh starter each time? Thanks again, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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