homemade buttermilk

[George]

In Clyde's thread about making cultured butter the idea of making homemade buttermilk came up. To avoid hijacking that thread, I moved that idea to a new thread.

In doing research about this I ran across an interesting idea. Commercial buttermilk is pasteurized before being inoculated with the bacteria, so it is a live culture when you drink it. You can apparently use 3/4 of it then refill the container with plain milk, regular or low fat, let it sit at room temperature for a day or so, and voila! a new jug of buttermilk. Gotta try that.

Did try it. Inoculated 2 cups skim milk with 1/4 cup commercial cultured buttermilk, shook it well, covered the jar with cloth, kept it at room temperature, and in 36 hours I have 2 cups of homemade buttermilk. It is surprisingly thick, since it has none of the list of thickeners used in the commercial buttermilk, and the taste is pleasantly sour. I like very sour buttermilk, so I'm letting it sit at 75°-80° for another 12 hours to see if sourness will increase, as the directions say it will.

Apparently, you can keep this up, use the last of every batch to inoculate the next and have an endless supply of cheap buttermilk. In our area cultured buttermilk costs about $5.50 a gallon, skim milk is $.99.

I feel like the drunk I heard about. He was staggering along the beach and found an old oil lamp. He rubbed off the sand and a genie appeared, told him he was his slave and would grant any three wishes. The drunk wished for a bottle of whiskey he couldn't drink dry, and, poof, it was in his hand. He took a big swig, and the bottle went glug, glug, glug and refilled itself. Another big swig, and the same thing happened. The genie said, "Master, you have two more wishes", the drunk said "I'll have two more of these".

The milk is very much as I remember it almost 80 years ago, when Grandmother churned her butter. When the time is up I'm having a glass of cold homemade buttermilk with cornbread broken into it. I'm going to eat it with a spoon just as I did when I was five, while remembering all the loved ones there then, but gone now.

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[NeilMacleod]

lol, Nice !
Thats what I do with Kefir, add the last of it to a new batch, dont know how many years old it is.

 

[Ames]

I understand why you use skim milk to do this.
My question is the what would happen. Same ratio, what would happen if you used whole milk to top off the old buttermilk? Would it culture the same but need to be separated? Or because it does not as much fat as cream, no chance of separating the result?

 

[NeilMacleod]

I use 2%, the reason for that is the "whole milk" is homogenized and does not congeal well. Skim and 2% are much easier to use when making cheese, you also have to look at if its processed in some of the other ways,uht or something like that.

 

[George]

I understand why you use skim milk to do this.
My question is the what would happen. Same ratio, what would happen if you used whole milk to top off the old buttermilk? Would it culture the same but need to be separated? Or because it does not as much fat as cream, no chance of separating the result?

I can't answer that, I have no experience with other than skim milk, very little of that. We use only skim milk, have for decades, so I won't be trying with "wholer" milk. :grin:

In the various instructions I used to figure how to do my experiment, most of them pointed out that the homemade buttermilk would not be as thick as commercial, because commercial has a half-dozen various additives to thicken it. They also said that if you used milk with more fat, 1%, 2%, whole milk, your homemade buttermilk would be progressively thicker and smoother. They made no mention of any special techniques needed if you used fatter milk.

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[Ames]

I'll look into it tonight. I have 1/3 cup B milk, and a whole lotta whole.

 

[George]

My instructions suggested 1/2 cup commercial buttermilk to 1/2 gallon of milk. I know that you get quicker, more certain action on such bacterial cultures if you increase the amount of inoculant, so I used 1/4 cup commercial to only 2 cups skim milk. I'll cut back on future batches, but will always use more inoculant than suggested.

Mixing the commercial buttermilk into the other milk extremely well is very important.

My homemade buttermilk and cornbread was excellent. I'll have two more of these. :haha:

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[Ames]

Well, I just mixed 1/4 cup BM to 2 cups whole and shook it up. On the counter now for the next 36 hours. I'm afraid I may get buttermilkish stuff with extra fat, but not enough fat to shake out the butter like when you start with cream.
This may prove interesting.
If not, the setter will enjoy it.

 

[George]

Let us know what happens, that will be interesting.

I started a new batch to see if the buttermilk I made works as well as a starter as the commercial cultured buttermilk did. I used 1/4 cup of my new buttermilk and 2 cups skim, hope to have new buttermilk in 48 hours. In order to keep a culture going and have a steady supply of homemade cultured buttermilk, this is the crucial step.

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[Ames]

I wish. Skim runs about $3.50 a gallon, Buttermilk about $12 up here. That's what caught my eye about perpetual Buttermilk.

 

[George]

Buttermilk $12...? You have some prima donna cows in Maine.

My second run using the newly made buttermilk as starter went very well. Using the commercial buttermilk the first run was nearly finished at 36 hours, with the homemade it reached the same stage in 19 hours, temperatures for the two runs essentially the same. I will let this second batch continue to 48 hours because I like very sour milk, but I'm impressed with its activity. I expected it to take longer time, not shorter.

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[Ames]

Mine turned into nothing. I suspect it will take a fresher batch of starter rather than what I had.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

So, how is the bacteria in the DIY buttermilk when it comes to making cheese?

LD

 

[George]

I have no experience making cheese and don't know exactly what bacteria is in the buttermilk except some species of lactobacillus, so I'm not qualified to answer that.

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[George]

One advantage of having buttermilk around is in cooking, as leavening. To test whether my homemade was up to that job I made a small loaf of Irish soda bread. It passed with flying colors.



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[NeilMacleod]

Great looking Piece.

 

[Ames]

I'll send you a box with my address on it. :grin:

 

[George]

Sorry, that loaf was gone before the film was developed. :haha:

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[Ames]

Story of my life. Late for the loaf. :haha:

 

[George]

I have continued experimenting with the homemade cultured buttermilk and have just about worked it out to my satisfaction. I've made about 6-7 batches increasing from 2 to 5 cups, trying various ideas, and have now successfully made a 3+ quart batch. That will be as far as I go for the time being, It's what my largest fermenting jug holds.

This was a good idea, I'm really enjoying the milk, mostly for the taste and mouth feel, but it's also fat free, healthy stuff. Win-win.

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