More Yogurt Cheese

I made another batch of yogurt\yogurt cheese last night. Using 8 cups of low fat Walmart milk with a pull date of June 7, I added 4Tbs of yogurt I had frozen from the batch made May 9. (Thawed and allowed to come to room temperature first.) After bringing the milk to 180F and cooled to 115F in my stainless steel 8 quart pot. I placed the lid on the pot and put it on the heating pad set on low.and covered it with two layers of bath towels.

After 6 1/2 hours the yogurt had set properly. I removed two cups and put them in storage containers and placed them into fridge to chill. I also removed 8Tbs and put 4Tbs each into two small plastic bags to freeze and use for future yogurt making.

The remainder of the yogurt went into a colander lined with 2 layers of butter muslin and set into a catch bowl in the refrigerator. Covered with some plastic wrap and allowed to drain for 16 hours, it slowly stiffened up until it was the consistency of cream cheese.

Due to the shorter ripening time the yogurt has a much milder taste that previous batches which had ripened for 10-12 hours. It is still thinner than commercial yogurt but I have noticed on previous attempts that it does seem to get thicker if it sits in the fridge for a couple days.

The yogurt cheese has stronger, tangier taste to it than the yogurt. The original 6 cups of yogurt has drained down to just slightly over one(1) cup. By weight it is now 10oz.

I'm pleased with the results this time.