How to make yogurt using RAW milk.
How To Make Yogurt Using Raw Milk
Can you use raw milk to make yogurt? As often as this question comes up, I’m surprised I haven't written up a guide yet. Well, here you go!
Before I dive in, let’s talk about raw milk and yogurt. In order to make mesophilic yogurt with raw milk there is an additional step that needs to be done to be sure you keep the starter culture pure. To make a mother culture. What is a “mother culture”? A mother culture is a basically a portion of yogurt that has been pasteurized prior to adding starter cultures.
Raw milk has not been heat treated and therefore still contains its own bacteria, those bacteria can and will compete with the bacteria inside the yogurt cultures. Eventually the starter culture will weaken and die. Which is why maintaining a mother is an important step in the process if you are using raw milk. A mother culture will keep the culture pure and prevent die off.
Making and maintaining a mother is a pretty straightforward process. Here is what you’ll need:
Stainless steel pot
Thermometer
Raw Milk
Cooking utensil to skim the skin of the milk (A fork works perfectly well for this)
Yogurt cultures ( Huge selection of yogurt cultures here! )
Basically what we are doing is killing off any dangerous pathogens as well as any rogue bacteria by heating the milk.
Heat the milk slowly to 180 degrees Fahrenheit in a stainless steel pot. Heating the milk too fast can cause a gritty/grainy/lumpy texture.
Hold the temperature for 30 minutes. The longer the milk is held at 180 the more bacteria are killed off. Skim milk skin as it appears and toss.
Cool the milk back down to room temperature between 68-78 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add the yogurt starter and stir well.
Ferment for 12-18 hours. When the yogurt has gelled and pulls from the sides its done. If the weather is cool expect this to take longer and if the weather is warm shorter. (If you are activating a culture for the first time this step can take up to 48 hours and you will need to do this pasteurization process up 3 times in order to fully awaken the cultures before fermenting in raw milk.)
At the end of fermentation process place in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
Once you have made your mother culture, you will use this culture to ferment future batches of raw yogurt. I find that making one cup of mother a week is sufficient. Just remember to save a tablespoon or two for your next batch of mother culture.
Here is the next step in making raw yogurt:
Pour raw milk into glass jars and add the mother culture you just made. ( For every one cup of raw milk use one tablespoon of mother. )
Stir well
Ferment for 12-18 hours. ( This is also just a guideline. Environmental factors may shorten/lengthen this step. )
Once fermentation is complete, place in refrigerator for 6 hours.
Phew. We did it! Now be sure to keep the mother in a separate labeled container to avoid possibly being eaten. Trust me it happens. Any leftover mother from your previous batch can be eaten.