DO I HAVE TO SCALD/HEAT PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE YOGURT?

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DO I HAVE TO SCALD/HEAT PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE YOGURT?

Postby Denise on Thu Mar 07, 2013 4:59 pm

I have learned much from this forum and would like Tim Hall's opinion on this one since I have learned so much from him in the veggie ferments.

Right now I don't have access to raw milk and need to use organic store bought PASTEURIZED milk to make yogurt. I have read almost every recipe for homemade yogurt, and all read that the milk needs to be heated to 185 degrees (then cooled down before adding the culture starter) to kill off the unfriendly bacteria that have grown in the milk from the time it was pasteurized. Is this really necessary?

If I don't scald the milk, would the probiotics grow at a faster rate than the unfriendly ones and crowd them out?
Last edited by Denise on Sat Apr 20, 2013 9:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE HOMEMADE YOG

Postby Tim Hall on Sat Mar 09, 2013 11:08 pm

Denise, I only make yogurt every so often...I'm not an expert here. Some people seem to get away with making yogurt just fine without putting much heat on it. I don't know that bringing it up to that temperature necessarily 'scalds' the milk either. In some cases the heat seems to give the yogurt a better texture, but in some cases (reported by others) it may not make all that much difference. Either way, unless you have milk with a really high microbe count, it'll still ferment.
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE HOMEMADE YOG

Postby Tim Hall on Sun Mar 10, 2013 9:42 am

Denise, also I have made zero-energy yogurt by simply setting inoculated milk outside on +100F days in the summer. It always worked, but it didn't make very thick yogurt.
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE HOMEMADE YOG

Postby r3tic on Mon Mar 11, 2013 2:29 pm

Heating the milk to 180 or so is no so much to kill the bacteria as it is to help thicken the final product. This happens due to the changes in the milk proteins at these temps. Being pasteurized, this has already happened. You can further thicken your yogurt by adding dry milk when you heat it. I add about 1/4c per quart of milk. For the most part you don't have to worry about bacteria in the milk as long as you have a good starter. I rarely heat the milk above 115f to make my yogurt anymore.

Tim...great idea on the zero energy yogurt, I'm definitely going to be doing that this summer!
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE HOMEMADE YOG

Postby Denise on Sat Mar 16, 2013 1:28 pm

Thank you Tim and r3tic for your replies. I don't want to use the dry milk, since I ferment yogurt for 24 hours to make it lactose free (see my post). I will try heating it only to the 110 degrees and report back.

I appreciate this forum so very much.
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE HOMEMADE YOG

Postby Raymondo on Sun Mar 17, 2013 3:14 am

I make yoghurt about twice a week, either from raw milk if I have it or pasteurized organic milk. I heat about 1 L (roughly a quart) of milk to the point where I can just hold my little finger in the milk for a quick count to five then take it off the heat. I sometimes miss this point but not by much. If tiny bubbles appear before I test it I take it straight off the heat because I know that's too far. I let it cool to where I can hold my little finger in the milk comfortably for a slow count to five. I then mix in a couple of tablespoons of yoghurt, which I have pre-warmed, and put the jar in a cupboard wrapped in two blankets. I leave it overnight then pop it into the fridge.
I have no idea what temperatures I'm working with. This is the way I learned to make yoghurt 40 years ago and I've used this method ever since. I often add about a quarter cup of pasteurized organic cream to the milk while it is heating to give a thicker, creamier yoghurt. The extra cream makes an excellent Greek style yoghurt once drained of a little whey or an excellent labneh if drained of a lot of whey.
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE HOMEMADE YOG

Postby Denise on Fri Mar 22, 2013 10:50 am

This is wonderful information. Thank you!
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD/HEAT PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE YOGURT?

Postby Denise on Sat Apr 20, 2013 10:05 am

I have been making the yogurt from pasteurized organic whole milk, heating it only to 110 degrees. I use the GI Prostart Culture starter, http://www.giprohealth.com/giprostart.aspx, which has L. Bulgaricus, S. Thermophilus, and L. Casei. I do not add any dry milk solids. I culture it at 110 degrees for 24 hours. The yogurt is THICK and rich! Thank you for your help.

I do think that the bacteria present is what makes the yogurt thicker.
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD/HEAT PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE YOGURT?

Postby owendavidj on Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:04 pm

I was hoping to find a better answer here, I started experimenting with yogurt about 6 months ago, and make yogurt regularly as it's part of my diet as a weightlifter ( I go through a gallon of yogurt every 4 days). I started with regular pet brand, and now buy organic pasterized. I can't find any raw milk in my area. but it would be useless anyway because I'd kill anything beneficial to the raw milk, as the only process I've gotten to work is heating the milk to at least 180 degrees, and then cooling. I've tried several times heating the milk ,to only 140 or 160, but 8 to 12 hours later it seems like all I have is something that reminds me of spoiled milk, it has all these weird chunks in it and is watery. but when I heat a 180, then cool to 111, stir in 2 tablespoons of my last batch of yogurt, seal the lid, lock it in a cooler filled with jars of hot water,. 6 hours later I have very solid very creamy yogurt. what am I doing wrong that others seem to be okay with getting a good product without having to heat their milk so high?
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Re: DO I HAVE TO SCALD/HEAT PASTEURIZED MILK TO MAKE YOGURT?

Postby owendavidj on Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:09 pm

and to add to that, when I first started experimenting( probably had 6 feel bad just before I made my first successful batch), everyone said just wrap a towel around it and put it in your oven or put it in a cupboard... this never worked, it was not until the first time I got the idea to put it in your insulated cooler with other jars of hot water to keep the cooler temperature high that I got my first batch of successful yogurt, and hundreds of perfect batches since but it still makes me think I must be doing something wrong if everyone else seems to have such an easy time just guesstimating temperature with their finger and simply rapping tiles around in a cupboard, to be successful it looks like I have lab equipment going... I would like to be able to get some raw milk, and not destroy it with heat, but I don't know what I'm doing wrong. the only thing I can think of is my very first start a batch came from Stonyfield Walmart plain yogurt. but this is what all the recipes told me to do. if I bought a" good" starter bacteria would that really make a difference? what kind of store what I find this and how much would I use?
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