# Cooling milk



## Momma2many (Aug 3, 2012)

I have read that you have to rapidly cool fresh milk or pasteurize it. How do you cool it for your family?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

What I do may not be good for others but I use those "Freezie Sticks" that you would use in a bottled beverage.... Walmart carries them in the sporting goods section. They are plastic and filled with a non toxic freezeable gel, I strain milk directly over them into my Stainless pail. They are only good for so many uses but with each use I wash in soapy water, rinse then rinse again in a weak bleach solution. Thus far, I've not had any issues with milk tasting off.

Some will use a cooler with ice water and filter directly into a jar that is in the ice bath.


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## xymenah (Jul 1, 2011)

Once I get done milking I put it in the freezer while I take care of my goats which normally takes around 30 minuets then filter it when I come back in. I put it back in for how ever long it takes to get super cold then put it in the frig if I'm going to use it within the next three days or leave it if I'm not.


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## Momma2many (Aug 3, 2012)

Ok so a different question. How long is fresh milk good for sitting in the fridge?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

My raw milk is good for a minimum of 10 days..... though it's usually used up by 7 days, if I'm using it to make cheese I like to use "older" milk, freshest stuff is drank and used on cereal.


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## Goat Song (May 4, 2011)

Hoegger Dairy Supply wrote up an excellent blog post about cooling milk and the resulting quality from each method. You can read the article at: http://hoeggerfarmyard.com/milk-cooling ... important/

I keep an old pot in my spare fridge and the pot stays full of ice water 24/7. I usually put fresh ice in there at each milking and I often have to break a layer of ice to put the jars in! This gets my milk down to 40 degrees or less in about 25 minutes; which is grade A quality.  I sell my milk, so I have to insure that it gets cold fast. You may notice that the Hoegger article says that putting milk in the freezer produced Grade D milk; I thought that was interesting...

I also have dairy cows and since I get so much more milk from them than the goats I have to use a large cooler that is filled with ice water. This gets my milk down to 40 degrees in about 30-35 minutes, which is still considered Grade A quality.


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## 8566 (Jul 18, 2012)

thanks for the article link GoatSong.
That was very interesting to learn about the freezer.

Iced water it is!
:clap:


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## rosti (Feb 1, 2011)

I put mine in quart jars and put it in ice water for 30 minutes. We used to put the ice water in the freezer, but found out it doesn't make a difference wether it is out or in. It is down to 38 degrees by the time it comes out.


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## nubians2 (Feb 20, 2011)

I keep a bucket of water filled with 4inches of water or so in my milking parlor. Ib then carry ice cubes and a couple of ice packs out and pour those in the bucket. I put my milking tote in the bucket of ice water. I milk each goat into a SS bucket then pour the milk into the tote after each milking. My tote has a lid so the milk chills while I finish feeding them for the day.


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## ThreeHavens (Oct 20, 2011)

We've just been putting it in the fridge ... but then again we do drink our supply up every day.


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

I just put mine in the back of my refrigerator. It will last me up to 2 weeks.


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## DavyHollow (Jul 14, 2011)

We bought an ice cream maker for like, 10 or 20 bucks on sale. We strain the milk and put it in the maker for about 20-30 minutes, which gets it down below 40 degrees. We used to put it in ice buckets, but found it wasn't cooling quickly enough, same with the fridge or freezer. I have to swear by our ice cream makers, they work great! Plus they stir the milk to even out the coolness. We have two, a bigger one that we used and holds a gallon or two at a time (but the inner pot thing wasn't made of good stuff so started to corrode a bit) and a smaller one that holds about half a gallon; I love this one, the inner bucket thing is ceramic and you put it in the freezer to chill it, then it chills the milk extra good.

Of course, in our smaller one, if we leave it in for too long it becomes rather . . . icey lol, like pre-ice cream.

Our milk lasts easily 7 days, and after 7 days or so we tend to use it for other stuff like cheese, or cajeta, which will keep even longer.


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