Chilling milk quickly the easy way!

Laura Workman · #1 10/28/04, 10:46 PM

I filter my milk into a one-half gallon canning jar as soon as I milk a doe, and then put the jar into a bucket of ice water up to the neck of the jar while I milk the next doe. Once I'm finished milking, I bring the bucket, with the jar of milk, back into the house and (here's the cool part) drop my little submersible fountain pump into the bucket. This circulates the water, and it cools the milk about twice as fast as without the pump. The pump cost around $10. The milk hits 42 degrees within half an hour of turning on the pump. Once the milk is cooled down, I put the jar into the fridge, turn off the pump, take it out of the bucket and hang it on a hook until next time. The pump is the kind you buy for personal fountains, available at craft stores. This cools the milk so fast, it's perilously close to Grade A!

Hank - Narita · #2 10/28/04, 11:13 PM

We put our milk in gallon jars after we filter it. Then we put the jar in the freezer for an hour or more. That works best for us.

Laura Workman · #3 10/29/04, 01:29 AM

If putting gallon jars in the freezer works for you, great. However, we've had a lot of questions on the board about off-flavored milk. Mary Jane Toth ran some tests and in her book "Goats Produce Too" and says:

"How close to Grade-A are your milk handling practices? According to the USDA, milk should be cooled to 40 degrees in 30 minutes or less, to meet their Grade-A standards. Improper cooling can be the number one cause of off-flavored milk. . . .

"Grade B: Milk is placed in containers small enough to place in tubs of ice water. Not as good as Grade A, but acceptable for the home use. This method cools the milk to 48 degrees in 30 minutes, 42 degrees in 60 minutes and 40 degrees in 90 minutes. Results would be considerably better if some form of stirring the milk could be used to speed up the cooling. . . .

"Grade D: Milk placed in freezer. Cooled to 66 degrees in 30 minutes, 50 degrees in 60 minutes, 43 degrees in 90 minutes, finally reached 40 degrees in 105 minutes. . . .

"These tests were done with milk in 1 quart jars. If you were using a gallon size container, the results would be about the same for the water or water/ice cooling methods. However, the refrigerator or freezer methods would take a considerably longer amount of time to reach the correct temperature."

I got the idea of stirring the water instead of stirring the milk when I saw the quick wine cooler in a fancy shmancy grocery store. It was essentially a small whirlpool with very cold water. Chills a fifth of wine in about 10 minutes.

Ark · #4 10/29/04, 06:48 AM

Good idea!

Our milk always tastes great, but you have inspired me to see how fast I am actually getting it down to 40 degrees.

I milk 2 Nubians and a LaMancha and bring the milk into the house about 15 minutes from the time I started. Then I filter the milk into 2 quart jars (yes, I only get a 1/2 gallon from 3 goats! :waa: ) and place them into a tub of ice water. I swirl the jar and the water every 5 or 10 minutes. Then, after about 45 minutes of that I put the milk into the fridge if it's going to get used that day, OR into the freezer.

Today, I finally have enough milk saved up to make cheese!!!
I had to ration the kefir to save the milk for cheese, LOL! :haha:

OKAY - time to go milk. I'll let you know how my experiment turns out!
Rachel in Texas

Milking Mom · #5 10/29/04, 07:07 AM

Oh WOW!!! I strain my milk into a gallon jar when I get in the house and set it in the kitchen sink with ice water. I think I'll snitch my little pump out of the fountain and try that.
.......Cool.

Ark · #6 10/29/04, 08:51 AM

[SIZE=5] :waa:
I cant believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here I thought I was doing so well, and the milk only got down to 56 degrees after 30 minutes. And I was counting from the time I started milking the FIRST doe. I milked all 3, then brought the milk in, strained and chilled.

Oh, I'm heart broken.

How can I go on after this???????????

Allright.... gotta come up with a plan here. Even though the milk tastes GREAT, I want to get it chilled faster.

Hmmmm.....

Rachel - Crying in Texas....

nappy · #7 10/29/04, 09:27 AM

I do as some of you have said...put the 1/2 gal. canning jars into the freezer after straining the milk. But because of the "aging brain" some of those glass jars are now gone!!! Yep, they froze and broke because I forgot them.

Now I did try using a little red wagon with an ice chest on it. As I milked each doe I strained the milk into the jars which were kept cold by freezer packs in the cooler and then pulled the wagon back to the house. I don't have an icemaker to get the quantity of ice needed to keep ice water in the cooler. That endeavor seemed too much of a hassle so back to bringing the bucket quickly into the house to strain and freeze....oops, chill!! As long as I don't forget (I usually set the timer and sometimes that doesn't even help), I'll continue this way as the milk has no off flavor.

Not to get too off topic but what type of milk filters do you use? I had been using 6 1/2" KenAg (orange box) but switched to 4 9/16" Schwartz (green box and available from Hoeggers) because the weave is tighter. I noticed some large holes in the KenAg filter that could allow some sediment into the milk. If the milk is going to be filtered, I want a filter that does the best job.

Nappy

boren · #8 10/29/04, 10:43 AM

Hi Laura,

I'll have to try that. I was trying to think of ways to stir the milk, stirring the water around the container is interesting. This way you don't have even more cleanup to do. Interesting.

NewlandNubians · #9 10/29/04, 06:34 PM

Hahaha. For milk for my family, I milk right into clean glass half gallon small-necked juice-type jars. Sometimes I forget to put it in the fridge right away and it may set on the counter for a half hour or so. I like to make things easy <grin> Oh, and it tastes GREAT to myself, my husband, and to people who are forced to take my blind taste tests. Makes great cheese, butter and ice cream too. You folks are making it waaaaay too complicated.

The only time I have milk that's not fit to drink is when the buck is in the barn where I milk. THEN the milk tastes bad and I doubt doing a bunch of fancy cooling would help it. It's mainly what's in the air that affects my milk taste, not how quickly its cooled.

Laura Workman · #10 10/29/04, 07:03 PM

Wow, Cathy, no noticeable cooling at all, and milk that still tastes great. That's pretty impressive. So how long does your milk keep on tasting great? 12 hours? A day? Three days? A week?

mpillow · #11 10/30/04, 08:24 AM

Hmmmm....

Cover off into the freezer 1qt bottle for 1 hr ALWAYS Set the TIMER!!
Coffee filter into a designated funnel....we like low tech!

day old milk is fed to critters even back to does who like milk. We also freeze extra for kidding season to supplement if any goat has trips or more. If we dont use it its fed to calf or dog or given to other goat keepers who might need it. Also wildlife refuges will make use of it for orphaned animals.

Al. Countryboy · #12 10/30/04, 07:00 PM

After I filter my milk in quart jars, I put it right in front of my ice maker. It is so hot here in the south during the summer months that I am constantly getting ice out of the frig. and see the milk setting there and move it when it is chilled. Now with cool weather just around the corner, I will have to come up with a new plan.

bethlaf · #13 10/31/04, 08:30 AM

wow, you guys are getting complex, but you know what, when i had my girls i did almost exactly what laura did , with the exception of the pump ..
iadmit i am so low tech i never bothered to measure temp , but thats ok too.. i know it got nice and cold . in the winter ( since we are talkign ND) we just put the milk in the snow , until we finished the next goat, etc...

day old milk was always for cheese or animals, why drink day old when you have great fresh milk available

Tricia Smith · #14 10/31/04, 02:33 PM

Here are the cooling requirements for Grade A milk, federal and for Massachusetts:

1. Grade A standard from the Federal Pasteurized Milk Ordinance:

ITEM 18r. RAW MILK COOLING
Raw milk for pasteurization shall be cooled to 10ºC (50ºF) or less within four (4) hours or less, of the commencement of the first milking, and to 7ºC (45ºF) or less, within two (2) hours after the completion of milking. Provided, that the blend temperature after the first milking and subsequent milkings does not exceed 10ºC (50ºF).

2. Grade A cooling requirements for both pasteurized and raw milk, Massachusetts:

Cooled to 40ºF (4.45ºC) or less within two hours after milking, provided that the blend temperature after the first and subsequent milkings does not exceed 50ºF (10ºC).

NewlandNubians · #15 11/03/04, 06:30 PM

In late response to the question about the keeping quality of the flavor of my milk, here's my answer.

When other people have drank my milk before, I used to tell them that I would prefer they keep it no longer than a week. Usually they went two weeks.

I have a personal story to tell you that you might not believe. I had 20 quarts in the fridge that was slated to go to a friend. I had a pinkeye outbreak and had to put everyone on antibiotics and decided to dry everyone up (this was in November). I started drinking the quarts one by one... three months later, yes, THREE MONTHS, I opened the last quart and drank it. It did at the very last have a very VERY slight off taste and it did go bad faster after exposed to air, but it was still drinkable. I was totally prepared to pour it all down the drain if I opened one and found it was bad, but the funny thing was it never did go bad. I wonder how long it would've lasted had I not drank it all up...

TwoAcresAndAGoat · #16 11/06/04, 11:19 PM

When I want to cool my milk (usually only a gallon at a time) I pour the fesh milk into my icecream freezer. Put ice water in the bucket and turn it on. Works great even without adding the salt to the ice.

susanne · #17 11/09/04, 04:46 PM

i talked with my husband about this topik and he said if i use metal cans insted of glass jars the milk would cool down faster.

Betty · #18 11/09/04, 11:22 PM

I agree with Susanne’s husband about using metal pails to cool the milk in.

I bring the milk in and strain it (I have one of the larger strainers) into a 4-quart stainless steel pail and put it into the freezer uncovered. I leave it in for 50 minutes to an hour depending on how much milk there is.

The stainless steel pail cools the milk down pretty fast, and if it was hectic and I forgot to set the timer, freezing does not break or crack it. Tractor Supply has stainless steel 4-quart pails for under $9.

We love our goat's milk. Life is good!

debitaber · #19 11/11/04, 10:49 PM

nov. throu march, here in michigan, the milk is pretty cool by the time you get it in the house. and in another couple of weeks, the problem will be , how to keep it unfroze until you get it in the house. It was in the 20's tonight, and this morning when i milked the milk, was cool, by the time I got it in. doesn't take long, for it to get cold. We only have to worry about it mid march throu sept. some years, others are colder sooner.

AndreaNZ · #20 11/13/04, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Betty

I agree with Susanne’s husband about using metal pails to cool the milk in.

I agree with Susanne's hubby also!

I strain mine into a gallon-sized milk can (aluminium) or a larger milking pail (stainless steel) if I've got more than a gallon, and it goes immediately into a bucket of ice water, and there it stays for 30 minutes. It's usually down to just about 40F by then, and then it just goes into the fridge in storage containers (or gets made straight away into cheese).

Cheers
Andrea
NZ