How to make Raw Goat Yogurt?

[jolenegreen]

Could anyone please explain this to me?

[wife2jason]

I don't have a good answer for you but I've tried this several times. The results were always quite thin. After much research, I found that this was typical.

When I heated the milk to 180, cooled down to 115 and put in store bought yogurt as a culture...it was considerably thicker than when I tried it w/ my room temp villi.

I haven't tried any thickeners. Not sure how I feel about adding a starch (know I wouldn't want powdered milk).

[dogmom327]

Honestly the best way to make raw goat yogurt is to use a Chevre culture. I've played with numerous yogurt starters and it's the only way I've found to get thick goat yogurt and retain the raw milk qualities.

Chevre is technically a cheese but if you culture the milk and then don't drain they whey (or even just drain a little), it results in a nice thick yogurt consistency and the taste is wonderful. Chevre is a mesophilic (low temperature) culture so you only have to heat the milk to 86 degrees (so it's still raw) and then culture it in the mid-70's for 12 hours (just a warm spot in your house).

If you are looking to simply culture raw goat milk for smoothies (rather than to eat with a spoon), Kefir grains work great as would any mesophilic (low temperature) yogurt starter such as Viili, Matsoni, etc. It's just that with goat milk, they all come out very thin.

[motherbirth]

If you don't mind heating the milk, heat it to 200, then cool in cold water to 115, then add starter mixed in a little milk.

For pure raw cultured dairy, I make kefir (which is not thick).

[TonyaW]

All I ever did was use a Yogurmet culture. I emptied one packet in a ball jar with the proper amount of milk listed in the directions. I mixed it up and put it my oven for 24 hours with the oven light on. That is it. It worked every time.

[wife2jason]

Originally Posted by dogmom327

Honestly the best way to make raw goat yogurt is to use a Chevre culture. I've played with numerous yogurt starters and it's the only way I've found to get thick goat yogurt and retain the raw milk qualities.

Can you culture the next batch from the "yogurt" you make or must you start w/ a new packet each time?

[TonyaW]

I think you can. I think I did it, but I can't remember for sure. I would maybe try making a small batch from the yogurt first to see what happens.

[dogmom327]

Originally Posted by wife2jason

Can you culture the next batch from the "yogurt" you make or must you start w/ a new packet each time?

That is the biggest negative to the Chevre culture--it's a one time use situation. You can split the packets though as each packet makes a gallon and I generally don't want any more than a half gallon of yogurt at a time.

Definitely not a perfect solution but it's still cheaper than buying goat yogurt from the store (at least around here) and it's raw which is critical for me as DS and my DD (who's nursing) react badly to pasteurized goat milk.

[motherbirth]

Oh I forgot to add, I use the ABY-2C culture from here. If you use old yogurt, it gets less powerful over time. This one is a big jar and you only use a tiny bit each time so it lasts for a long time.

There is a good tutorial here