[JoannaCW]

We milk a couple of goats. Our usual process for cleaning milking pails, the milk filter and the milk storage jars has been to rinse with cool water, scrub with hot soapy water, and then run through our rickety old commercial dishwasher which had detergent and sanitizer as well as very hot water. There's some visible cloudiness--milk stone, I think--on the metal equipment, but no smell, and the milk stays fresh. The dishwasher is dying and we're thinking of not replacing it. We're trying to figure out what we'd then need to do to clean up milk residue..prefer something reasonably nontoxic. What do you folks do?

 

[mzgarden]

Before we had the dishwasher I scrubbed everything in Dawn and hot water, rinsed thoroughly and let air dry. If you're concerned about losing out on the heat of the dishwasher drying cycle, I suppose you could turn your oven to warm turn it off and set things in there for a bit.

 

[Seth]

After milking 115 cows, we wash down with hot water. Seth

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

I used the foaming acid cleaner as part of my washing process. The dairy supply companies have several kinds.

 

[JoannaCW]

Thank you very much, everyone! It's good to see the range of practices that work for different people.

 

[arnie]

wash with vinager now n then to disolve the milkstone,

 

[Evons hubby]

Most any detergent in warm to hot water will clean everything, rinse with clean water and allow to dry. You can also clean them with high pressure steam, with Clorox and other dissenfectants, dry in an oven for two hours set at 450 degrees. They won't be any cleaner or safer but you might feel better. Me? I use ivory liquid and clean water, let air dry and get on with life.

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

Milk stone is a bit different.

 

[altair]

When I milked for my aunt and mother-in-law, they used detergent then an acid rinse just like in cow dairy farms. Then air dried. They used to make cheese and to the best of my knowledge that practice worked.

 

[Evons hubby]

Milk stone is a bit different.

I'm thinking vinegar would dissolve calcium as well as other lime like minerals. It works for me on other stuff.

 

[Alice In TX/MO]

Milk stone isn’t just calcium. It’s the minerals and proteins and scummy stuff.

 

[Ronney]

Alice is talking sense and it would pay to listen to her! I milk cows but the procedure is exactly the same. I use an acidic detergent every milking to clean the machine and any other utensils I may have used. Once a week I put through an alkaline detergent that will quite literally strip paint. This will clean up the milk stone that Alice refers to as well as going a long way to dealing with any bacteria lurking about in your milk lines, receivers etc. The acidic and alkaline detergents are non-foaming and registered (in NZ) for use in dairy sheds and operations.

Vinegar, despite all it's properties, is not going to cut the mustard when it comes to keeping milking plant and utensils clean and free of milk stone. PLEASE do not use the likes of Dawn in your machine or utensils. It is highly foaming, therefore difficult to rinse and likely to contaminate your milk.

Cheers,
Ronnie

 

[Evons hubby]

Alice is talking sense and it would pay to listen to her! I milk cows but the procedure is exactly the same. I use an acidic detergent every milking to clean the machine and any other utensils I may have used. Once a week I put through an alkaline detergent that will quite literally strip paint. This will clean up the milk stone that Alice refers to as well as going a long way to dealing with any bacteria lurking about in your milk lines, receivers etc. The acidic and alkaline detergents are non-foaming and registered (in NZ) for use in dairy sheds and operations.

Vinegar, despite all it's properties, is not going to cut the mustard when it comes to keeping milking plant and utensils clean and free of milk stone. PLEASE do not use the likes of Dawn in your machine or utensils. It is highly foaming, therefore difficult to rinse and likely to contaminate your milk.

Cheers,
Ronnie

I get the difference between cleaning dairy equipment on a large scale operation and a few quart jars and an open pail. (No machines, lines, tanks, nooks and crannies for stuff to hide in) I milked goats and "processed" the milk for home use for years. Washed well and rinse, air dry was simple easy and effective. Never had any milkstone build up either. Not even in the cream separator. I'm thinking maybe the milk didn't have time enough to dry out leaving residues as I cleaned everything up immediately after using? Pretty much the same experience as a kid growing up with one milk cow, milk the cow in open bucket, carry to house, run through strainer filter into stainless pan, scald on the cook stove then off to the freezer for a quick chill. From there it went into glass jars or stone crock in the fridge to be skimmed later. cleanup strainer and bucket while scalding. Didn't have to separate then, just wait a couple days and skim off the top. Goats milk? Need a separator of some sort if you want the cream.

 

[Amtown]

Wow, is there anyone that still do that. I think it's very hard to wash dishes by hand, especially milk dishes. Right now I am using IFB Neptune FX Fully Electronic Dishwasher that I found on https://hellodiya.in/best-dishwasher-reviews/, and I can imagine my life without it, it's very helpful to have one of these in your home, I can assure you that. In case someone is still washing the dishes by hand, I really recommend you to buy a dishwasher, you won't regret it. Hope my message will be helpful for someone. Good luck.

 

[honey20miss]

I do not use the dishwasher, only wash the dishes with my hands and always add soda