# How to Hold a Milk Temp?



## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

OK, so I have more than one set of instructions for cheese and for yogurt that encourage you to "hold at ____ temp for 20 minutes", etc. How do you do that? 

I tried to hold some milk at 185ºF and couldn't even manage it for one minute, let alone 20 minutes. If you turn the stove heat down then the temp drops. If you leave the heat as is, the temp keeps climbing. :hammer:

Someone enlighten me, please.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

Try it with the double broiler/water bath method, or a lower heat, but with a lid on.


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## dreamacresfarm2 (May 10, 2014)

I just switching between the 2 temps - It is labor intensive but you usually can't walk off and leave milk on the stove.


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

I wonder if you could put it in the oven for whatever temp you need.... my oven goes as low as 175 :chin:


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Sometimes slow cookers are the right temp too. Try it with water first and see. Then you could heat water in it up to temp and pour it out to put the milk in for holding.


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## FloatnRockRanch (Feb 7, 2015)

Following....Jill are you talking slow cookers as in crock pots?

Lacie by water bath are you talking about the small stock pot inside of the larger stock pot, like you would do when you pastuerize on the stove?


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## Little-Bits-N-Pieces (Apr 7, 2013)

FloatnRockRanch said:


> Lacie by water bath are you talking about the small stock pot inside of the larger stock pot, like you would do when you pastuerize on the stove?


Yep. It might also help to do that on a lower temp with the lid on it also.


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Yes, Crock Pots and such. They operate on a lower temp.


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

If you want to pasteurize then this is not for you......
When making yogurt or cheese I use milk straight from the goat. For yogurt I just add my starter (1/4 C yogurt from a live culture container) mix it up and put it in yogurt maker. Two one quart jars.
For cheese I use a heating pad or my electric stove to hold at 100º to "cook" curd. I_ NEVER _pasteurize. That is my:2cents:
It does not need to be as complicated as some recipes make it seem. Once your milk has reached 180º it is dead!


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

luvmyherd said:


> If you want to pasteurize then this is not for you......
> When making yogurt or cheese I use milk straight from the goat. For yogurt I just add my starter (1/4 C yogurt from a live culture container) mix it up and put it in yogurt maker. Two one quart jars.
> For cheese I use a heating pad or my electric stove to hold at 100º to "cook" curd. I_ NEVER _pasteurize. That is my:2cents:
> It does not need to be as complicated as some recipes make it seem. Once your milk has reached 180º it is dead!


I don't want to pasteurize. But my yogurt recipe says the yogurt will be thicker if I can hold the temp at 185ºF for 20 minutes before cooling to 110º-112º to start the culture. I'm fine putting the yogurt in a prewarmed thermos at that point.

There are also cheese recipes that recommend holding a particular temp for 1/2 hour or so.

I don't have the big fancy double boiler, but I suppose I could use my canning pot with hot water in it...

Thanks for the ideas!


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## coso (Sep 19, 2011)

Your yogurt will be thicker if you will hold it at that temp, like your recipe says. We tried it for years with limited success with fresh milk and just using yogurt culture, always with yogurt runnier then we would like. You can try to thicken it with corn starch etc. The heating of the milk denatures it and causes your yogurt to set up better, plus it kills out all the other bacteria, and lets your yogurt culture take over.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

Well now... I set my oven for 180ºF this last time and it held the milk beautifully! The yogurt was sweet and thick - very pleasant. Problem solved!

Thanks for all your help, folks.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

groovyoldlady said:


> Well now... I set my oven for 180ºF this last time and it held the milk beautifully! The yogurt was sweet and thick - very pleasant. Problem solved!
> 
> Thanks for all your help, folks.


What did you have the milk in? Did you leave the oven on? My oven won't go lower than 180 and I still haven't been successful with yogurt.


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## groovyoldlady (Jul 21, 2011)

ksalvagno said:


> What did you have the milk in? Did you leave the oven on? My oven won't go lower than 180 and I still haven't been successful with yogurt.


I heated the milk to temp (185º) in a pan atop the stove, then just set the pan in the oven (Also at 185º - I misspoke about the temp in my previous post) for 25 minutes.

I took it out and cooled to 112º and stirred in the culture. Then I pour it into a thermos that I had prewarmed (I prewarmed by letting it sit full of boiling water, then poured the water out before I put the cultured milk in). I ignore it for 12 hours and then pour out lovely yogurt.

The culture I use is "Y5" from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I just follow the directions on the package.

This last batch I absentmindedly heated more milk than will fit in my thermos. The extra quart HAD to stay in the oven. I did not leave it on, but since I made that batch in the morning, I was able to stick a bowl of boiling water on the lower oven rack every 2-3 hours. That batch of yogurt came out GREAT.


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