Pasteurizing

[mygoat]

A long time ago, a discussion was going on this forum about using a turkey frier as a pasteurizer. I thought this quite interesting because the price tag of a turkey frier (on sale sometimes for like 50.00 or so I hear) is a LOT less than a 300.00 fancy pasteurizer, especially if I only plan on using it to raise kids on prevention.

Last year I did pretty well using my little Multi Cooker to pasteurize milk as needed by baby goats. It was rather frustrating however, because I would get distracted and leave the heat turned way up, causing it to melt the baggie and ruin said bag of milk...

Anywho, I was wondering how a turkey frier works and if anybody actually uses it as a pasteurizer.

[DocM]

I do, but it doesn't have an automatic shut off, as my regular 1 gallon pasteurizer does, so you can't "get distracted" and forget about it. I usually do 3 or 4 gallons at a time, and set the timer on my watch to go check it after about 25 minutes, about 2 or 3 minutes before I expect it to reach 165 degrees. I set the thermostat so that supposedly it won't go over 167 degrees, but it isn't very accurate, I use a candy thermometer in the milk as back up. It works well for me. You can put 5 gallons in it, but it's pretty hard to handle the weight of the hot "pot" to lift and chill. I pour it off into smaller containers (1/2 gal canning jars) set in a big ice chest that has a broken lid. Pack ice around the jars and fill with water, the milk cools super fast.

[Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians]

I love mine. blissberry.com is who told me about them and she uses several since she free choice feeds her babies. I not only double check the temp on it that is above 165, but I also have one of those probe temp things that have a magnet on the body, this temperature guage has an alarm on it...this double checks my temp before I turn it off. My turkey fryer only keeps it's temp and won't boil your milk, it does not turn off.

Honestly the whole turning off on it's own pasturiezer method freaks me out, so did the milk really get to temp before it turned off? Nope didn't like my pasteurizer at all, sold it after the first year, kept double checking myself Just a little OCD. Vicki