# homemade yogurt from raw goat milk *pics with each step!*



## ohiogoatgirl

my first time ever making yogurt







so i took pics at every step and now i'll share with y'all how it went!


measure raw goat milk



pour into pot. heat to 100*F



put starter culture (yogurt with live culture in it) in jar



pour warm milk into jar. stir milk and culture gently but thoroughly.



lid on jar



put in pot. fill with hot water (110-120*F) to just below brim of jar lid. put lid on big pot. set on layers of towels.



cover/wrap with blankets. i used 2 thick fleece blankets. every 2 hours i dumped water and added new hot water and rewrapped in blankets. {i put mine in the tub so i knew it wouldnt get knocked over by anyone}



after 8 hrs "incubating"


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## ohiogoatgirl

after 8 more hrs (total 16.5 hours incubating) and about 2hrs in the fridge. thick enough that spoon sinks very slowly. still kinda runny though. i didnt add any thickeners or sweeteners though.



its real tart. i think its from incubating so long makes it more tart. next time i will be trying it with more milk, incubating in a cooler with hot water, adding honey for sweetness, possibly adding gelatin or do half goat milk and half store cow milk (for thicker yogurt). and probably do it all right before bed so i'm not thinkin about it the whole 8 hrs and going nuts over if it will turn out or not.


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## Lazydaisy67

I usually add about a half package of jello for flavor before I put the culture in the cooled milk. This helps with the sweetness and firmness issue. My kids won't eat yogurt if it's not firm like store bought.
Also, I think your temp of 120 in the pot for incubation is too hot. My understandng is that temp over 118 will kill the yogurt bacteria.

Good job on your first try. Keep experimenting!!


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## Melissa

I put my yogurt on a heating pad overnight- set on low.I use a heavy bottom stainless steel pot with the lid on. It is thick and a little tart but I like it like that. I don't add any sweetener or anything to thicken.


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## Barn Yarns

i set mine on a heating pad. 

then i set it in cheesecloth to let it weep for a while. that sets it up like the thicker yogurts.

I add what ever i want to it later.


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## Goats Galore

It really should not make any difference if you use raw milk or pasturized; the first step (heating to 180 degrees for cows milk and slightly less for goats milk) takes care of any bacteria lurking around. And yes, the longer you process your yogurt, the more acidic it becomes. If you want to shorten the processing time and get a thick product, mix one drop of rennet with 4 Tablespoons UNclorinated water. About 10 minutes after innoculating your yogurt with the culture, mix in 2 Tablespoons of the rennet liquid per quart. Granted, not tradional yogurt, but an excellent, smooth product and cuts processing time to about 4 to 6 hours. Worth a try!


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## ohiogoatgirl

Lazydaisy67 said:


> I usually add about a half package of jello for flavor before I put the culture in the cooled milk. This helps with the sweetness and firmness issue. My kids won't eat yogurt if it's not firm like store bought.
> Also, I think your temp of 120 in the pot for incubation is too hot. My understandng is that temp over 118 will kill the yogurt bacteria.
> 
> Good job on your first try. Keep experimenting!!


 
thank you. 

i was reading that you want the temp between 110 and 120 because thats the best temp for the yogurt to incubate. but not higher then 120 because that kills the yogurt starter?
my hot water was 110 btw. perfect because thats how hot it comes out the faucet  

i thought i'd seen somewhere about using jello packets. i'm not big on fruity flavoring other then apple but i will try that to see. 
how much milk did you use for your packet of jello? i mean like did you use a few cups of milk with packet of jello or whole gallon, etc?


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## ohiogoatgirl

Goats Galore said:


> It really should not make any difference if you use raw milk or pasturized; the first step (heating to 180 degrees for cows milk and slightly less for goats milk) takes care of any bacteria lurking around. And yes, the longer you process your yogurt, the more acidic it becomes. If you want to shorten the processing time and get a thick product, mix one drop of rennet with 4 Tablespoons clorinated water. About 10 minutes after innoculating your yogurt with the culture, mix in 2 Tablespoons of the rennet liquid per quart. Granted, not tradional yogurt, but an excellent, smooth product and cuts processing time to about 4 to 6 hours. Worth a try!


i had read about heating to 180* as well. though i was seeing on one video about heating it to only 100*F, thusly not killing all the bacteria (aka i want the good ones! not just kill it all). and i have tried the other day with a gallon of milk bringing it to 180* then letting it cool and adding culture, etc... and not a single jar of any of it was any good.
it all had a weird smell. like instead of a yogurt tart smell it had a sour smell like sourdough starter. so whole gallon on the compost and a rather frustrated me. so i'm not too keen on trying it that way again...

yes i have read about using rennet in yogurt. i'm aiming towards getting good, real yogurt with basic directions and minimal processing. then i will be tryin straining and things. but as a general rule i try to not use things like rennet. even with my cheese and butter, nothing reaches a temperature high enough to pasturize. its just personal preferance.


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## countrygal

If you want to shorten the processing time and get a thick product, mix one drop of rennet with 4 Tablespoons clorinated water.

Did you mean UNchlorinated water?
Countrygal


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## Goats Galore

Oh, you are sooo right -- use only UNclorinated water when making yogurt! Sorry for confusion.


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## tentance

i believe the reasoning for heating to 180 or boiling is twofold
- to pasteurize or repasteurize the milk so as to prevent the growth of pathogens like listeria.
- to denature some of the proteins to make the end product somewhat "thicker". denaturing the proteins has no effect on the yogurt bacteria, as they don't "eat" the protein, only the lactose. tangy flavor is due to the bacteria's waste products, lactic acid. 

i hope you've read up on listeria if you are making cheese and yogurt at home without pasteurizing... it's a very interesting microbe.


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## semimoonman

To make extra thick yogurt without additives, I let the milk stay at 180 for longer--5 min with heat under it, then cool in the double boiler. Then I yog at a lower temperature, around 95 to 100 degrees. This works really well. We yog 1.5 gallons at a time in a water bath canner, adding water from the canner to keep it at temperature all day. We then leave it to cool down over night (a 20 hour yog is optimal) and put it in the refrigerator the next morning. We are using pasteurized milk for this.


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## eclipchic

I like a drop or even a half drop of rennet to improve the texture of my goat milk yogurt


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## CAjerseychick

tentance said:


> i believe the reasoning for heating to 180 or boiling is twofold
> - to pasteurize or repasteurize the milk so as to prevent the growth of pathogens like listeria.
> - to denature some of the proteins to make the end product somewhat "thicker". denaturing the proteins has no effect on the yogurt bacteria, as they don't "eat" the protein, only the lactose. tangy flavor is due to the bacteria's waste products, lactic acid.
> 
> i hope you've read up on listeria if you are making cheese and yogurt at home without pasteurizing... it's a very interesting microbe.


OMgosh, I have been contemplating making raw goats milk yogurt for sometime, just poured a nice swig of raw milk straight out of our goat this AM, into my coffee, drinking this... and then I thought for fun I would Google listeria...

THIS came up (and its about farm families)...

http://richland.osu.edu/topics/agriculture-and-natural-resources/dairy/dairy-cleanliness


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## tentance

I'm sorry, I didn't want anyone to be scared about it, just more aware of the potential health risks. The article specifically mentionsthe dangers to children, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised. That right there is a huge proportion of rural populations.


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## offthegrid

I have had good luck making yogurt although only from cow's milk, but I also agree to the 180* for thickening because of the denaturing of protein. I usually keep milk at 180* for 10 minutes (feels like the longest 10 minutes of your life; keeping a thermometer in the milk or testing every minute or so to make sure it doesn't get too hot).

Then cool by putting pot in a sink of cold/ice water and stirring until the temp drops to....112* I think? Then innoculate with your starter and pour into your container for incubation for 8-12 hours. 

I have the yogotherm from Cheesmaking.com but you could use any type of jar inside a styrofoam cooler. And I have also had the best results using powdered yogurt cultures as well, although I can usually make a batch last several "re-makes" before it starts to change.

One thing I wonder about is your batch size...I have read that too much yogurt (or live cultures) can negatively affect your yogurt because of too much bacterial production. I typically make a 1/2 gallon at a time and I think you should use 1-2T of live yogurt if I recall (need to double check that...)

So, you may want to just double check your proportions to make sure you're not adding too much. Another thought is not to move your yogurt while it is incubating (so if you are changing water, for example, you may disturb it. I have only had a problem once when we made yogurt at our homeschool co-op and then brought it home, and it did not have the correct texture so we thought the motion of the car for half an hour may have affected it.

Good luck! I will have to ask my friend with goats for some milk so I can try goat milk yogurt too!


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