skimming cream

petefarms · #1 02/26/12, 03:19 AM

Having to milk a jeresey cow and have a gallon of milk left over am and pm. Whats best way to skim the cream off the top, used a scoop (large spoon) just wondering if there's an easier or better way without investing any money in this. Dont know if any family will use or want the butter so I want to keep this low cost at the moment. I know I can buy a seperator but dont think the cost will be worth it at this time.

piglady · #2 02/26/12, 04:18 AM

I bought a seperator and used it once. It took way too long to take apart and clean so now I just use a gravy spoon. It's fast, free (had it in the drawer), and works for me.

Tad · #3 02/26/12, 04:51 AM

I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup I just hold it as flat as I can and push it down on top of the pitcher the cream flows over the top and you can see the cream line go down on the side of the pitcher.

7thswan · #4 02/26/12, 05:18 AM

Why wouldn't anyone want the butter? The #1 I reason I get raw milk is for the cream to make butter.

Horseyrider · #5 02/26/12, 05:32 AM

When I had a cow I took the pail of warm milk directly to the pigs and poured some off for them. The rest went into the house and was strained into a clean flat plastic pan, where it would stay until the cream would rise. There was a morning pan and an evening pan, as well as a morning pitcher and an evening pitcher. I'd skim cream into quart jars with a large flat serving spoon. She was a Jersey so her milk was very rich in butterfat, and we got plenty. I'd save the cream and churn once a week or so.

Extra skim (which we didn't skim any too diligently) was poured down the sink every 24 hours or we would have drowned. The the remains of the previous morning's pitcher was dumped and the contents of the morning milk pan, after skimming, went into the pitcher after it was washed in soapy water with about 5% bleach, and put back in the fridge. The milk pan was washed and then filled with the strained milk to cool. Then the stainless steel buckets and lids, as well as the strip cup were then washed to await evening milking.

Sometimes I didn't pour out the milk so I could make cottage cheese or mozzarella. But I didn't get any too deep into cheese making.

Now I buy it all. I drive an hour each way once a week to a woman with a small artisan dairy, which some consider extravagant. But I figure it's less time than I'd spend choring every day, less commitment, and less wasted milk.

We gave away some butter here and there, but never any milk. I didn't want anyone in my face that often. Between the critters and the garden, we've always had more than we can use. And a separator always seemed like a lot of expense and a lot of washing, and I had plenty of washing.

Harry Chickpea · #6 02/26/12, 09:39 AM

The old glass milk bottles were designed to make it easy to just pour off the cream.

haypoint · #7 02/26/12, 05:45 PM

A big ladle works good. Remember, you can scoop some milk with the cream without hurting the butter. The buttermilk comes right out in the churning and kneeding process.

AverageJo · #8 02/26/12, 06:04 PM

We have suggested to our customers to put their milk into a glass sun-tea jar. Use the spigot for a 2% type milk and then you're left with the cream which you can then pour out the top. The longer you let it sit, the heavier of a cream you'll get. Great for ice cream! Yummo. The down side to this is cleaning the spigot. It HAS to be cleaned to make your milk last. And it's true that it won't matter if there's milk along with the cream either. As for equipment, spoon the cream into a mason jar. We use a quart and fill it half to 3/4 full leaving plenty of space for the cream to shake up. We put it on the table next to our chair in the living room while watching TV. Shake during commercials. If it doesn't 'come to butter' by the end of the commercials, let it rest some more and warm up a bit more. You'll notice that it will get really thick and frothy just before it starts to turn to butter. Once you're done shaking, spoon off the butter into a curved bowl (cereal bowl works for us) and work the butter with the back of a spoon or a spatula to remove as much of the additional buttermilk as you can. This will make your butter last longer. Some people rinse their butter with cold water, but our water isn't the best. We use a bit of cold water though if the butter starts to melt too much in the summer. Salt it or add herbs and you're done.

texican · #9 02/26/12, 08:38 PM

It's all about the cream!!! What's the point of spending bookoodles of money to produce home grown milk, and then not want the cream... if it weren't for the cream, might as well be drinking powdered milk... Any kind of milk without full cream, is just cloudy flavored water.

If I lived in shouting distance, I'd take that nasty old precious cream off your hands!

Tad · #10 02/27/12, 04:53 AM

I don'y skim the cream to throw it away, I put it in a quart jar in the freezer and add to it everytrime I bring milk home from the farm. When the jar is full I thaw and churn butter.

birdman1 · #11 02/27/12, 07:54 AM

the ice tea jar with the spickit at the bottom works great they are usally only a few dollars at the dollar store or walmart the glass ones are easy to clean and as you drain the milk out the bottom you can see the cream floating does not stirr up everything as in the dipper method .there was an old meatle one made for this with a thin window to watch the cream line i'm guessing this would be a expensive antquie now