sterilizing jars for milk?

[vaponydoc]

Hi, all,

I am new to the milking game -- our Jersey freshened March 9 and we have a beautiful heifer calf.

One of many questions I have is do folks routinely sterilize glass jars for milk storage? I am keeping milk in quart and 1/2 gallon jars, raw for us and pasteurizing to give to friends. I can't decide if the extra step of boiling my jars is worth the time -- this is sure a time consuming enterprise!

Thanks!

[Spinner]

After washing the jars in hot soapy water we rinse them in hot water with a few drops of bleach in it, then air dry them with a towel covering them. When they aren't in use, they are stored with lids screwed on tight, then dipped in bleach water to refresh them before pouring milk into them. I don't know if we go overboard or not, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[vaponydoc]

Thanks -- this is a good idea.

Here's another question -- I am using a portable milk machine and I have been cleaning post milking by sucking up two buckets of hot water then washing again in the sink inside w/ hot soapy water. I have added bleach to the water every other day -- how do folks sterilize equipment and how often?

One thing that is really a pain is that my tubing is virtually impossible to detach -- hose from claw to bucket especially -- so I have not been able to take everything apart as I would like. Any ideas?

Thanks!

[sagehill]

For the last three years, I've had a 15-customer goat-share business using 1/2 gallon mason jars, and have used these jars for rw milk use for 9 years, myself.

The best way I've found to clean milk jars is to rinse the milk out of jars first in lukewarm water (cold water won't release milkfats, and hot water will set proteins on the glass, causing buildup). Then wash in hot soapy water, rinse with more hot water and air dry before capping loosely. I've found that capping tightly allows mustiness/mildew to develop if the jars aren't completely, 100% dry. I now tell my customers to cap their jars loosely.

There's no reason to be afraid of raw milk.. it's natural good bacteria will protect against the bad ones. If you haven't already, I suggest reading "The Untold Store of Milk", by Ron Schmid. I bought a copy several years ago to loan to my new customers, especially if they are wary about drinking raw milk.

Don't know about milking machines, since I milk by hand.

Hope this helps
Jenny

[Up North]

For cleaning inflations you want an inflation Brush. It has two right angles in the handle so you just turn the crank for good brushing action while immersed in wash solution. If you are sucking wash solution through claw and hose to bucket followed by sanitizing solution, you shouldn't need to disassemble the whole works every milking.
Modern commercial dairy farms wash claws and lines by drawing solutions thru them, and only disassemble completely on a scheduled maintance periodic basis, varying by the number of cows being milked, etc.

Our milk storage tank is washed and sanitized every 48 hours after the milk truck empties it. The rest of the equipment is washed and sanitized after every milking, then sanitized just prior to every milking using an equipment sanitizer solution.
Also, our cow wash rags are machine washed in hot water and detergent after every milking. When we go to milk, they are in a 5 gallon bucket of hot water with sanitizer solution added. Killing bacteria on cow wash towels is needed as well. Then we wash cow using 1 rag, then wipe cow dry with 1 single use paper towel. A washrag used to wash one cow never touchs another cow until it is washed again. I know lots of folks on here use dish soap on their cow wash rags. Both the State and Federal Milk inspectors say dish soap doesn't cut the mustard. They require sanitizer be used in cow washrag solution.

[jerzeygurl]

most dishwashers have a cycle that will heat to 161 for a period of time

the rest of the time the dishwasher is at 145 (for apx 1-2 hours) so they will most likely get sanitized that way, but i go ahead and use the 161 for extra

they will also dry from the heat of the rinse with out having to use a towel so you are not putting them away wet...