pastuerization questions

[desertshi]

We now have two goats freshened!! :banana02:

One kidded on the night of the 30th and I would like to try her milk starting tomarrow...(is that too soon?) My question is this. I do not at this point in time have a thermometor and have no way of getting one soon. The soonest I can have one here at the homestead is by July 17th. So, I have been reading about how I can pastuerize without the thermometor and have read mixed information. Some say you have to heat and hold at 150 for 30 minutes, another says 145 for 20.... Well, I did find one that says that you heat to 165 for 15 seconds...that is boiling point for milk. So would I be safe if I heat till it begins to boil, count to 15 and cool?? Or is this too risky? I am wanting to pastuerize because my goats haven't been tested for ANYTHING and can't be so I am working with what I have with my new found confidence thanks to Vicki!! Thanks once again!!!

[mary,tx]

Are you not going to the store before July? I use a regular probe thermometer that you can pick up in the cooking gadget department at the grocery store or Walmart. It is not expensive.

Pasteurization is 165 degrees. Get it there, stir, and you're done. That's not a real boil. If you get to boiling, you'll have scortched milk.

Really, I'd pick up a thermometer.

Just a hint, since you haven't done it. Sit your pan of milk in a pan of water, so that it doesn't scortch on the bottom, to heat. When you are done, sit the pan in a sink of ice water to cool it down.

[desertshi]

Originally Posted by mary,tx

Are you not going to the store before July? I use a regular probe thermometer that you can pick up in the cooking gadget department at the grocery store or Walmart. It is not expensive.

Pasteurization is 165 degrees. Get it there, stir, and you're done. That's not a real boil. If you get to boiling, you'll have scortched milk.

Really, I'd pick up a thermometer.

Just a hint, since you haven't done it. Sit your pan of milk in a pan of water, so that it doesn't scortch on the bottom, to heat. When you are done, sit the pan in a sink of ice water to cool it down.

LOL. I do go to the store...but I live in a rural agriculture town in Mexico and we just don't find things like that around here. A regular thermometor yes, but not a cooking one. I will have to wait till mid July to be able to pick one up! So I am looking for ways to do it in the meantime.

[steff bugielski]

Not real scientific but when the milk gets a "skin" on top it has reached and just gone past 165. Not yet boiling.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I pasteurize for cheese making, and when it just starts to form a skin and the surface just begins to steam, it's at 145 on the thermometer. I turn off the heat, put a lid on, cover it with towels, and wait for 30 minutes. Then, cool the milk quickly by setting the pan in a sink of ice water.

If you will PM me your address, I'll mail you a thermometer.