Goaty Tasting Milk - Suddenly

[Rechellef]

For months, my girls milk has tasted wonderful and sweet even up to 4 days old. However, over the past two weeks, my DH has noticed a goaty flavor to milk even at 2 days old. It's not bad or salty and they do not have mastitis, but it's just "goaty". I milk in as sanitary a fashion as I can and since I use the Udderly EZ for most of the milking, the milk is going directly into a clean container anyhow. After I am done, I take the milk directly to the house to be double filtered and chilled. Could it be the time that the bottles of milk are sitting in the summer heat while I finish up making it taste off? Their grain mix is pretty much the same with the addition of oats, but that was about 6-8 weeks ago and this change in taste is far more recent. I moved the temp in the fridge to be another notch cooler tonight as there are at least 6 half gallon mason jars in there at any time, so maybe they need to be chilled a little more now that there are more jars in the fridge. Is their anything else I should do?

[Alice In TX/MO]

What are you using to clean the Udderly EZ bottles?

Exactly what temperature is your fridge?

How much milk are you putting into the fridge at a time and what temperature is it going into the fridge?

[Rechellef]

I wash the bottles either by hand with Dawn and a bottle brush or in the dishwasher.

I do not know the temp of my fridge.

I put about 1 1/2 gallon and sometimes 1 quart jar in the fridge at a time. The milk is brought in right after milking, so it is still warm.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I think you need to use an acid based dairy soap. http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/xca...&cat=15&page=1

Detergents don't cut the milk fat completely. Also rinse with bleach once a week or so.

If you don't know the temp of your fridge, it's a problem. You can get an inexpensive fridge thermometer and check it. The temperature *where the bottles are* should be 34 to 36 degrees.

That's too much milk going in the refrigerator at once to chill quickly, especially if the bottles are next to each other. Also, location in the fridge is important. Never store milk on the door of the fridge, as it's the warmest spot. Bottom shelf toward the back is the coldest.

I'm betting the problem is a combination of the bottles needing acid wash detergent, plus your fridge temp.

OR, you could have the problem that LoneStarChic had and someone is drinking out of the bottles and shaking them.

[francismilker]

I've posted this suggeston before and it's seems that folks just ignore me, but have you tried feeding your goat a little baking soda mixed in with their feed? Sodium bicarbonate is very good for getting their rumen chugging like it should.

BTW, I'm no goat expert and don't claim to be. I"ve been around milk cows all my life and pulled on many a teat. However, I was told to try this by a little old lady a few months back and it works for me.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Vacuum your fridge coils, too.

[grandmajo]

What Alice said! The defrost heater went out on my fridge and it made everything in the fridge warmer than it should have been. Makes for some NASTY tasting milk. I've had the defrost heater go out 2 times on my fridge, so I now keep a fridge thermometer in there all the time.

Also, I've got a cooler that I use to chill the milk prior to putting it in the fridge. It will hold 2 of the half gallon mason jars and 4 of the 16 oz. soda bottles. I put water in the soda bottle, then freeze them. I then have enough water in the cooler to come to the top of the lip on the mason jars when the 4 frozen bottles of water are in there. It creates a nice ice water bath, which chills the milk down to 40 degrees in an hour or less. After an hour in the cooler the milk goes right into the fridge. I put the frozen bottles in there just before I go out to milk, so the water is nice and icy cold by the time I get back in the house.

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

I think you need to use an acid based dairy soap. http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/xca...&cat=15&page=1

Detergents don't cut the milk fat completely. Also rinse with bleach once a week or so.

If you don't know the temp of your fridge, it's a problem. You can get an inexpensive fridge thermometer and check it. The temperature *where the bottles are* should be 34 to 36 degrees.

That's too much milk going in the refrigerator at once to chill quickly, especially if the bottles are next to each other. Also, location in the fridge is important. Never store milk on the door of the fridge, as it's the warmest spot. Bottom shelf toward the back is the coldest.

I'm betting the problem is a combination of the bottles needing acid wash detergent, plus your fridge temp.

OR, you could have the problem that LoneStarChic had and someone is drinking out of the bottles and shaking them.

LOL if my daughter is sneaking over to slurp cream off the top of your milk & shaking your jars, I apologize!!!

I too have an Udderly EZ & stopped using it before because of funky milk taste...just couldn't get those jars clean enough. I use the cleaning system Alice posted, works like a charm!!

But in a pinch you can use vinegar, let it sit for a bit, scrub well, then river rewash & rinse like crazy (takes a lot of rinsing)...then I soaked in a 10:1 bleach water mix for about 10 minutes, then allowed to air dry completly. Pain in the butt to do, but it did help some.

All in all though the Hoeggers wash system makes my life easier

[MDKatie]

Have you sent in milk samples to a lab to be tested, or are you just using a CMT? Sometimes staph can cause funky milk and it can be hard to detect.

[topside1]

I keep a stainless steel bucket of chilled water in my milk fridge. Immediately after milking/filtering the fresh milk inside mason jars are submersed into the chilled water till the next milking. Never had any problems in 7 years and milk will remain perfect for over 7 days. Summertime heat plays a big role in how to handle raw milk...Keep in touch...Topside

[Heritagefarm]

Are you placing your jars in water vats? Air does not work as well to wick heat away from the milk. How long does it take your milk to cool? It takes ours 2-3 hours, which is still not that good but we still get to use our "GUARANTEED NO GOAT FLAVOR!" slogan. Of course was when we were killing ourselves to sell 3 gallons a week to people. EEK! Also I have never been able to drink anyone's milk that was not chilled in water vats.

[Rechellef]

Originally Posted by MDKatie

Have you sent in milk samples to a lab to be tested, or are you just using a CMT? Sometimes staph can cause funky milk and it can be hard to detect.

No, I have been using the CMT. I will have to send some away later this week.

Another weird note - I just tasted milk from 7/7/11 and it was perfect, but the milk from 7/9 was goaty - hmmmmmmmm. Just performed the vinegar/bleach wash that was presented AND put baking soda in today's grain AND turned fridge colder. Let us see what happens.

[prairiedog]

One our does milk tasty goaty for a day or two every month as she came into heat. After a few days it was always fine.

[mammabooh]

I keep my mason jars in the freezer, strain the milk into them, pop them back into the freezer for 45 minutes or so, and then into the fridge after that.

[topside1]

That's a neat idea mamma....Topside

[LoneStrChic23]

Originally Posted by mammabooh

I keep my mason jars in the freezer, strain the milk into them, pop them back into the freezer for 45 minutes or so, and then into the fridge after that.

This is what I do too because I don't have room for an ice bath to put my jars in.

Works well... I usually leave half gallon jars for an hour or so and my milk keeps good flavor for 2 weeks (if it manages to go that long without being used which is rare)

[CarolT]

_If_ you don't get distracted and forget the jars in the freezer!

[Tallabred]

I had a problem like that and then took apart and cleaned or replaced every connection in the tubes that the milk went thru - problem went away.

[topside1]

CarolT, that's the whole reason I prefer the chilled water technique. On several occasions I've been known to forget and freeze...

[KimM]

Could your goats be browsing on something different?
I milk into a stainless steel bowl (NDs), and after each goat, I filter the milk right into the 1/2 gallon mason jar that is sitting in a frozen slush of water/alcohol. It chills down to 38° within about 15 minutes. When I'm done, the lid goes on the jar and it stays in the slush until I get to the house and put it in the fridge. Then everything gets rinsed in cool water, then soaked in hot soapy bleach water until it goes into the dishwasher. I'm overdue to do an acid rinse though. If I hand wash, I final rinse with StarSan to sanitize.