Homemade yogurt plays a key role in the SCD or GAPS diet, flooding the gut with beneficial bacteria. As a matter of fact, the lactic acid bacteria and probiotics in yogurt play a key role in boosting your immune system!
Why goat milk for yogurt?
Goat milk is much more digestible than cow’s milk and is often an option if you face a cow’s milk sensitivity/allergy. According to Dr. Natasha in The Gut and Psychology Syndrome:
Goats milk is considered to be more digestible by humans as it contains less casein and different types of fats and proteins.
I believe, in most cases, goats milk is a better choice. But you might consider cow’s milk if autism is an issue:
When is comes to beta-casein, which is supposed to be the problem for autistic and schizophrenic patients, goat’s milk contains more of it compared to cow’s milk
Goat Milk SCD Yogurt: Raw Vs. Pasteurized Milk
I remember reading on the Breaking the Vicious Cycle Website that founder Elaine said that pasteurized goat milk will not make yogurt. I agree–I have tried to make it with pasteurized goat milk and it turned out watery and separated. But Naomi says she has a technique that works! Anyways, I always use raw goat milk that I buy from the Amish on the “black market.” Pasteurized cow’s milk will work, though.
You have two options when using raw milk for yogurt. Heat it to 180 degrees, which will produce basically a low temperature pasteurized yogurt. Or heat it to only 110 degrees to have raw yogurt. There is a risk that the fermenting of raw yogurt will increase any pathogenic bacteria present in the milk, and some say it is more dangerous to eat raw yogurt than raw milk. Also, raw yogurt will be pretty runny. I make my yogurt raw, and I’m still alive. It’s your call.
If you are using pasteurized cow’s milk, you must heat it to 180 degrees.
SCD Goat Milk Yogurt: Step by Step
Ingredients and Materials
Large pot
Whisk
1 quart to 1 gallon of raw goat milk (or raw or pasteurized cow’s milk)
candy or meat thermometer
Instant read thermometer
Glass bowl
Yogourmet Starter (this one, not this one which has bifidus and is not allowed on SCD) Note: The final yogurt will have a tiny amount of cow dairy due to the milk powder in the starter. This starter is dairy free, but requires pricey refrigerated shipping.
OR 1/4 cup Dannon Whole Milk Yogurt per 1 quart of milk. It contains only acidophilus and is therefore allowed as a starter for SCD
Glass jars and a Excalibur Dehydrator or other yogurt incubator
1. Sterilize the goat milk and materials
Sterilize all your materials (bowl, whisk, thermometers, and jars) by pouring boiling water over them. I don’t do this (bad me) and I’m still alive. Again, your call.
Heat the milk to 180 degrees or 110 degrees (see above), whisking often. Again, if you are using pasteurized milk, you must heat it to 180 degrees. Keep the meat or candy thermometer in the pot–I tie mine to the handle so it doesn’t fall in. Don’t use the instant read thermometer now, because you want to constantly monitor the temperature. Also, don’t leave the kitchen! The milk boils over quickly if forgotten…
Don’t heat the milk over 180 degrees. When the milk has reached 180 (or 110 if using raw milk) degrees, remove from the heat.
2. Let goat milk cool
Let the milk cool to 100-105 degrees–use the instant read thermometer for this. If the milk is too hot, the cultures will die.
To speed cooling if you’ve heated the milk to 180 degrees, transfer it to the fridge when it has stopped steaming. Check the milk every 30-60 minutes with the thermometer. Speaking from experience, turn on a timer to mark these intervals so the milk doesn’t get to cold. Don’t cool the milk past 64 degrees.
3. Mix in the Starter
I use Yogourmet starter, usually. Find it here. You will need one 5 gram packet per quart of milk. I heated a gallon of milk, so I used four packets.
Empty the packets into the glass bowl. For every packet, add about 1/2 cup cooled milk (no need to be exact). Whisk for about a minute to fully dissolve starter. Then whisk this mixture into the remaining cool milk. Mix completely–stir vigorously for about 30 seconds.
You can also use the Dannon Whole Milk Yogurt as explained in the ingredient section above.
4. Incubate Yogurt
Pour the milk/starter mixture into your sterilized glass jars or containers. Incubate in a yogurt maker or dehydrator at 105 to 110 degrees for 24-28 hours.
The key to SCD goat milk yogurt is incubating for a full 24 hours. This gives the bacteria enough time to eliminate any lactose in the yogurt. Only some yogurt makers will run for a full 24 hours, however.
A popular option is the Yogourmet yogurt maker, which I do notrecommend for SCD yogurt. It usually over heats, which means not all the lactose will be consumed. If, during the fermenting process, the yogurt temperature rises over 115 degrees, there will be some lactose in the finished yogurt, a no-no for SCD/GAPS yogurt.
The Excalibur Dehydrator is the best SCD/GAPS yogurt incubator, in my opinion. First, it holds nine pints of yogurt at a time–so you spend less time in the kitchen tediously heating and cooling milk. Second, it has precise temperature controls. SCD yogurt is very finicky, and must be incubated at exactly 105 to 110 degrees. If you take the temperature of your SCD goat milk yogurt after incubating and it is below 105 or above 115 degrees, it is not SCD legal (since the milk sugars will not be fully consumed by the bacteria).
For a helpful step-by-step video of the SCD yogurt process, watch Jill make SCD yogurt.
SCD Goat Milk Yogurt is Simple!
Making SCD goat milk yogurt for the first time seems intimidating and time consuming. But after a couple of times, you will develop your own rhythm for the process. The incredible health benefits of SCD/GAPS goat milk yogurt greatly outweighs the slight headache of preparing it.
Also, know that goat milk yogurt has a much thinner consistency than cow milk yogurt. If you want it thicker, drip it through a cheesecloth.
Shared at: Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Make Your Own! Monday, Homestead Barn Hop, Traditional Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday,
I used to make raw goat milk yogurt all the time. I just found out I have IGG allergies to cow milk, do you think the goat milk would still be ol? I stopped making it and boy, do I miss it!
It is worth a try, I think! Goat milk is usually well tolerated. Use GI ProStart starter for a dairy free alternative to the Yogourmet starters.
Thanks for your response….will give it a try! Is it true that some, if not all, food intolerances resolve after being on the Gaps/SCD diets?
Yes–that is certainly true! Food allergies are usually due to undigested food particles leaking out of the intestines into the bloodstream. These large food particles aren’t meant to be in the bloodstream, so your body attacks them, resulting in an allergic reaction. GAPS/SCD allows the intestines to heal and rebuild. After 1-2 (sometimes less, sometimes more) years on GAPS/SCD, the intestines should be able to completely break down food particles and not release allergenic molecules into the bloodstream.
I had tried the Gaps diet back in the winter when I home after surgery. I saw some improvements, but the cost was prohibitive. Is there any way to do Gaps without spending a fortune? Also, the IGG testing I recently had shows reactions to dairy, eggs, several vegetables, almonds, among other things. Now I really feel restricted in what I can eat, how hard would Gaps be with these and other intolerances?
Not sure if my response went through or not. I did try Gaps back in the winter when I home after surgery. I noticed some improvement but the diet was expensive. Is there any way to do the Gaps diet without spending a fortune? My recent bloodwork showed IGG reactions to almond, apple, several vegetables, cow milk, egg, garlic, onion, tea, among others. I already restrict what I eat, now I am feeling overwhelmed, any advise? I would love to try Gaps again, just feeling a bit overwhelmed with this new info.
Hey Robin! I just emailed you!
i cannot even begin to tell you how helpful this was! THANK YOU!!
You are welcome! The yogurt part of SCD seems confusing and overwhelming in the beginning, but it gets easier!
Thank you for this! We have milk goats. Last year I was making “Crockpot yogurt” very successfully, but for some reason, no matter what I do, I can’t get it to work this year, and have been hoping for a better method. Bless you!
I’m so glad this is helpful! If you are not following GAPS/SCD, you won’t have to ferment the yogurt for the full 24 hours–you could try anything between 8 and 24 hours. And that is awesome about having your own milk goats–I really want to get milk goats in the near future!
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back today when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts!
It’s been a while, but I believe I made this yogurt raw(with local raw goats milk)! Only warming it to 105 degrees. You can also use the goatmilk yogurt(forget the name) found at your local health food store(Whole Foods Market for me) as a starter. And if I remember correctly it took 30 hours.
Thanks for sharing your experience! Warming to 105 keeps the milk raw, but many people are concerned about making raw yogurt, because the fermentation process can exponentially increase any pathogenic bacteria in the milk. Thanks great info about using the goat milk yogurt as a starter! For SCD, though, using a pre-made yogurt as a starter must only contain acidophillus and no other bacteria. I wonder what strains of bacteria that goat milk yogurt contains?
In this link it says goats don’t produce beta casein, and is safer than cow milk. Which one is correct?
http://naturalbias.com/a1-beta-casein-the-devil-in-your-milk/
Jan, thank you for sharing this link. That is very interesting, and I don’t know which one is correct. Dr. Natasha doesn’t differentiate between A1 and A2 beta casein, though, like this article does. In my experience, goat milk is generally much better tolerated than cow’s milk. Dr. Natasha also emphasizes the importance of sourcing organic milk, because many individuals react to the non-organic milk (because the cows are so sick and filled with hormones). I’m certainly going to do more research on this issue of beta casein in goat milk!
Do you know if yogurt can go bad in the fermenting process? Like bad as in you could get sick or anything? haha. I’m paranoid. I used pasturized milk, heated up adn then forgot about it and it cooled down too low – 90* then the pan was too big to fit in the deydrator, so it cooled further as I found another pan to pour it in…but all wouldn’t fit. Later (while it’s feremnting) I went to rinse the original pan out and there was a good amount of starter yogurt on the bottom. Sheesh. Talk ab a flop. Not sure if I should keep it or toss it? Do have any idea? Maybe I will try goats milk next!
Thank you for such a thorough and concise explanation for how to make goat’s milk yogurt. This is the best I’ve seen! It gave me confidence to make my first batch and it came out great!
I’ve tried every way to incubate yogurt apart from buying a yogurt incubator (I’ve been drooling over this one though http://brodandtaylor.com/). The absolute best way I’ve found is to run to Walmart and buy a cheap $10 Sunbeam heating pad with NO auto-shutoff. I keep the water in the large pot that I sterilized my jars in, get the water to 110 degrees, put the yogurt jars into the water to incubate. Set the pot of water onto the heating pad on HIGH (you might need to experiment if your heating pad is different), wrap it in towels and then… leave it alone. It’s the only method I’ve found that I don’t have to adjust the temperature ten thousand times (thereby wasting a whole day!). I can fit 5 quart sized jars in there at a time.
Lauren,
And your recipes… so creative, wholesome, and beautiful. What an encouragement you are! May God bless you.
You are amazingly gifted. This blog is by far one of the best healing/food conscious blogs out there; so well thought out, clear, articulate, organized, and really lovely
You have just made my day! Thank you so much for the kind words!
I’m not very educated about SCD however since you can use the Dannon yogurt for a starter, why does one have to make your own yogurt instead of just using Dannon?
Dannon yogurt is not incubated for a sufficient amount of time (only a few hours vs the 24 hours we need to do), so it has large amounts of lactose.
Ok … I do almost everything else except the homemade yogurt. I’ll have to get organized and make some! Thanks! I need to quit doing this part way.