Cream Separator question.

[homebirtha]

I tried my cream separator for the first time today and I have a few questions. Hopefully someone on here has one and can give me some input.

It did separate the cream out, but it was VEEERRRRY thick. So thick that it wouldn't come out of the spout, but was stuck inside the bowl. How thick is the cream usually? I was figuring it would be like heavy cream from the grocery store, but this was much much thicker then that. Is there something I can do to make it thinner? Also, how do I know how much skim the milk is? Can I run it through again to get the butterfat lower in the milk?

I got about 2 cups of cream from 2 gallons of milk. Is that a good amount?

Any other tips or hints greatly appreciated.

[Laura Workman]

I've never used a cream separator, but have several (don't ask), and have read a lot about them. There is a little screw you can turn to adjust the thickness of the cream. On a cream separator, the "bowl" is the assembly that holds the disks, not the big round thing that holds the milk. OK, when you put the bowl together, you have the bowl base, then the lower disk, with a chimney-looking thing on it, then the stack of disks that go on the chimney-looking thing, then the upper dividing disk, then the shell that goes over the stack of disks and seals to the base. The bowl nut holds the whole thing together. Toward the top of the shell is a little allen-head screw. That's the cream screw. If you want thinner cream, on one of mine, you turn the screw clockwise. The manual I'm looking at suggests trying 1/4 turn at a time, as the effect on the cream density is quite rapid.

You should be getting way more than a cup per gallon, especially if it's normal-textured cream.

Hope that helps!

[Jillis]

Read post #9 on THIS thread:

http://homesteadingtoday.com/showthr...ream+separator

If you use the search engine on this site, you will find a lot of info on cream separators!

Apparently the milk needs to be at least 72 degrees F in order not to be so thick that it stays in the bowl and doesn't come out the spout.

I can't wait to make butter and cheese!!!