# How Fast Should Milk to Be Chilled?



## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

So I know that milk should be chilled as fast as possible, but how fast is fast? What I'm trying to decide is where to set up my milking parlor. My two options are in my barn which is about 100 feet from the nearest refrigerator or in my garage where I have a fridge and I could basically milk and immediately put it in the fridge. I know that plenty of people don't have a fridge in their milking parlor, but I'm just wondering since have the option, would it be ideal to be able to put the milk right into the fridge or is it not that big of a deal?


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

A fridge actually takes a long time to cool milk to a safe temp (35-37ºF). An ice bath chills faster- take milk and strain into clean containers, put in ice and water and chill, then refrigerate. 

My milk shipping license says for milk safety, my bulk tank has to have milk down to 38º F within 30 min. and then 34-35ºF in under an hour after being milked from the goat. Any longer and rapid bacterial growth occurs.


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

My milk stand is by my back door so getting to a fridge is easy but in warmer months, I use an ice bath so I can milk one doe put it in the bath then milk the next doe and then run both in. I try to get it as cold as I can as quick as I can. It seems to taste better this way and it doesn’t separate as quickly it seems.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Yup..ice bath is fastest. Be sure to strain in smaller jars like a quart jar. Too large takes too long to cool.


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## IHEARTGOATS (Jun 14, 2016)

We just walk it to the house and put it in the fridge. No problems so far.


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

I have a tub of water that I keep in the bottom of the fridge, and I put the jars in there to cool, along with some ice packs. It works the best if the water is up to the lid of the jar. The best ice packs I've found so far are those disposable plastic water bottles, frozen. I'll put 6 or so of them in there with the milk. I also like to keep a thermometer in the fridge, so I can monitor the temp.
I currently milk each goat separately, though I only have one goat in milk at the moment. When I was milking two, I would milk the first one, strain the milk and get it cooling in the ice bath, then go back and milk the second one. When I have a larger herd, I may look into getting some sort of a milk tote. But I really think the milk is going to be better if it's chilled more quickly, and I like being able to monitor each doe's milk quality and production separately.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I just walk it to the house and put it in the fridge. No problems with my milk.


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

When we first started milking, we put the milk in the freezer for 30 minutes, right after straining, and then into the fridge. We did that for about a year. We found that when life got busy the milk was forgotten, and we accidentally froze more milk than we wanted to.
To avoid freezing milk, we shortened the freezer time to 15 minutes. We didn’t notice a difference in taste or quality.
Then we read on TGS some people just put it in the fridge. So we tried that and found there was no difference. 
We like that it seperates after about 3 days.


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## Sfgwife (Feb 18, 2018)

I just take mine to the fridge. In summer i use an ice pack in my bucketas i milk.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Great! Then it's a go to milk in the barn. I think that will really be more convenient for me. Thanks for all the advice everyone!


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## Gooseberry Creek (Jun 3, 2020)

How long can one keep fresh goat milk in the fridge before it starts tasting off.


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

Gooseberry Creek said:


> How long can one keep fresh goat milk in the fridge before it starts tasting off.


Depends on the temperature in your fridge, and how clean your goat's milk was to start with, and how quickly it was chilled. It should keep at least a week. Mine generally keeps about 10 days or so.
I HATE a goaty taste in my milk, so when it begins to get goaty, I don't drink it any more. I'll cook with it or give it to my chickens. But just because it's goaty, doesn't mean that it's bad to drink. 
Sometimes, I've been able to keep it non-goaty for 14 days, but that is tricky to do. I have to keep it really cold.


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

We might have managed to keep a jar or two in the fridge for 8 or 9 days, and I never noticed any goaty smell or flavour. 
It freezes well too, if you have too much to use.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Mine lasts about 2 weeks.


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

If you keep it in the back of the fridge away from the door it seems to last longer than if you keep it in the front or on the door. Mine doesn’t last long because we use it pretty quick or freeze it.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

How about how long it lasts in the freezer?


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

1 year.


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## Gooseberry Creek (Jun 3, 2020)

Thanks! Those are good answers. If mine gets goaty I will give it to the cats or the pigs. They won't care lol. Good to know that it can freeze for up to a year. We have a big xtra upright freezer. I will have to get it better organized to make some room for milk. 
Do you guys just freeze in Ziplocks or Mason jars or what? Do Ziplocks have issues with leaking when thawing them out?


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## Cedarwinds Farm (Dec 2, 2019)

Gooseberry Creek said:


> Thanks! Those are good answers. If mine gets goaty I will give it to the cats or the pigs. They won't care lol. Good to know that it can freeze for up to a year. We have a big xtra upright freezer. I will have to get it better organized to make some room for milk.
> Do you guys just freeze in Ziplocks or Mason jars or what? Do Ziplocks have issues with leaking when thawing them out?


I have frozen in Ziploc freezer bags, and I would think you would probably want to thaw them in a bowl or something, in case they leaked. If you freeze in a mason jar, be careful to leave plenty of headspace in the jar, so the milk can expand as it freezes. I also don't know that all mason jars are safe for freezing. Because they're glass, there's a risk they might break. I know some people do freeze in jars, but I have never done it intentionally. I have had milk freeze in the jars back when I still chilled my milk in the freezer, and I never broke a jar that way, but I think the bags are better, and if you freeze them flat, you can store them in your freezer really easily.


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## GoofyGoat (Sep 21, 2018)

I use mason jars, and mark them with the does name on blue painters tape and date.
I’ve had trouble with leaky ziplocks and plastic can absorb odors from other things in the freezer.
I’ll fill a pint size jar to about an inch from the top and have never had a problem. When it’s over a year old, I’ll defrost it in the refrigerator and then shake it up really well and pour the milk into silicone ice cube trays and refreeze it for making soap, lotion and balms. Don’t use plastic ice cube trays the crack after repeated twisting. 
Colostrum though, goes straight into my silicone trays because each cube is just about an ounce and easy to pull out what’s needed to warm up. I remove it from the trays when it’s frozen and double bag it in sandwhich, then quart sized bags with the does name in it. One bag will be day 1, the next bag day 2, finally day 3. This way if I have to pull a kid I can return it to mum and the kid will smell “right” to the doe.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Make sure that your freezer isn't a self defrosting freezer. (like the freezer compartment in a side by side fridge or on top or bottom of the fridge.) Those actually heat the sides to keep that frost buildup off the inside of the freezer. That thaw and freeze cycle will not be good for the milk or colostrum. Especially the colostrum- it is delicate anyway and partially thawing and refreezing will ruin it. Chest freezers staying at 0ºF work the best.


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## MellonFriend (Aug 8, 2017)

Does the milk quality change after it's been frozen? This thread has been so educational so far!


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## MadHouse (Oct 3, 2019)

MellonFriend said:


> Does the milk quality change after it's been frozen? This thread has been so educational so far!


For ours, no. We steam it for lattees, and that swirls it up well.
We also freeze it in mason jars. Once we didn't leave enough room at the top and the glas cracked. Learned our lesson there.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

It can. It can be "lumpy" and then you will have to blend it.


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## Gooseberry Creek (Jun 3, 2020)

Thanks this is so great! I only use the Ball/Mason jars that are supposed to be freezer safe. I freeze spaghetti sauce and Salsa/ Enchilada sauce that I make up fresh in big batches then freeze for quick meals. I also use the small mason jars for freezer jams and jellies.

So nobody recommends plastic freezer containers? Good to know. I hadn't thought of them making the milk taste off..yuck!

Thats a fantastic idea on labeling the Colostrum with the doe's name and which day it was from!
Makes sense.

I would love a chest freezer. I have been looking at them. I want a really big one because we are currently raising a breeding pair of Kunekune and will probably keep a few males from their first litter for processing. We also raise chickens, ducks and turkeys so it makes sense to get a big chest freezer. They seem to be sold out of the big ones almost everywhere around here since the Pandemic started. I saw a 14.1 cu ft one at a nearby store but its not as big as I would like.


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## TexasGoatMan (Jul 4, 2015)

When I started milking a goat, the milk would be taken to the house and put in the refrigerator. It would keep for 2 weeks but I would usually freeze it in gallon freezer bags laying flat so it was easy to break up for soap making. I also froze some in washed and sanitized orange juice jugs. Normally a half gallon type. That works out real well and keeps good for a long time maybe a year but I prefer to use it in a couple of months. Now we have a refrigerator in the feed building and the milk stands are under a shed attacked to the building so a few steps and the milk is in the refrigerator. I do think too much is made of ASAP putting the milk into a cooling bath or refrigerator. I am of the opinion that anytime in 20 minuter or so is ok for the milk to be as good as if it was instantly placed in cold water. I have been milking cows and or goats for 63 years and have never had any issues with milk spoiling from getting warm before going into a cooler. I mean it is 100 degrees warm when you milk it, so if the weather is not over 100 degrees, then when it leaves the animal it has to start cooling. So with some common sense it makes sense that getting it into a cooling bath or refrigerator with in a few minuter is good enough to keep the milk safe to drink.


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## fivemoremiles (Jan 19, 2010)

We found that the faster you get the milk cold the better it taste. 
we have a tub that our belly milker fits in. fill it with water and freeze the water. We take the frozen tub set the milker on it and milk. by the time we fill the mason jars it is cool.


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## Jubillee (Dec 22, 2017)

We used to do all the chilling and such quickly when we first started milking. It was so much effort. Now, we milk, finish chores, and then strain and put in the fridge. Ours never taste bad, people who try it love it. And it lasts 10-14 days without flavor change. It does get super creamy by then, but usually, we don't have any that's more than 4 days old. I make stuff with it fairly quickly to keep it rotating. 

Sometimes it may sit in the barn for 15 minutes at most while we finish up what we are doing before we take it inside. Never an off-taste and lasts a long while. 

When we freeze, we do it in gallon ziplocs laid flat. Early on we had some lumpiness when defrosted but we haven't had that in a while. I tend to shake real good before dumping into the zipoloc, I think that helps some.


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