Question for the Yogurt makers?

[Jim]

I am on my third batch of homebrew.
On my first I followed the on line tutorial exactly and got a good product after running it through a cheese cloth, very nice indeed.
On my second batch I used a slightly different tutorial and it suggested holding the milk at 185 for 1/2 hour to 45 min. This one I poured off the whey before I stirred it and refrigerated. This one was a little "tough" if yogurt could be.

This last batch I went back to the original plan and stirred the whey back in before refrigerating it.

Any thoughts? Can I pour off the whey without loosing something?

 

[Stubblefield]

I don't think pouring it off will hurt, but I never felt the need. Same goes for the cheesecloth.

What type of milk are you using?

I'm unable to locate my recipe at the moment, let me see if I can find it.

 

[Jim]

I have been using 1 or 2 % milk. I like the denser style of the Greek yogurt, so that what I am trying to accomplish. The third batch is draining now.

 

[jkh]

Link to recipe? I too am looking for a good greek style recipe (to give to my wife, since I burn peanut butter and jelly).

 

[Jim]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/dining/17mini.html

 

[Hammer]

on the second batch sounds like they are trying to pasteurize the milk, ok if you are working with raw milk.

In yogurt making the higher the temp for the culture the sharper the taste.
I make greek yogurt and use pasteurized whole non homogenized and it comes out the consistency of sour cream. Great stuff.

 

[Jim]

What temps are you running? I used 110/112. How high can you go without killing the good bacteria?