# Cleaning your milking equipment



## Cinder (Mar 3, 2008)

How do you milkers clean your buckets, strainers, etc. between every milking? Do you sterilize them, just use soap and water and hand wash, run them through a dishwasher or what?


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Actually I hand wash with dish soap and use a teeny bit of bleach in the wash water....When the well permits me to use the dishwasher, I do that too. Rinse with cool water after you strain and have an empty pail...it will help prevent a milkstone buildup on your everyday milking supplies.


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## Cinder (Mar 3, 2008)

I'd really love to hear from everyone else who milks on how you all clean your equipment. Anyone else willing to chime in and share that info.?


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## BeeLady (Dec 12, 2008)

This is reviving an old post but I spent a lot of time trying to find info on this subject.

The Fiasco Farm website recommends rinsing in clorox water, I believe 2 T per gallon which would be around 200 ppm which is proper for dairy sanitation (dairy equipment should be sanitized; there is no requirement for it to be sterilized).

I don't like using the bleach; for one thing I'm on a septic system and bleach is not good for the system. I read a lot also about using hydrogen peroxide and for dairy equipment 550 - 1,100 ppm is adequate. Like using bleach the HP is left to dry on the equipment without rinsing off.

Now, figuring out what 550-1,100 ppm is the next challenge, especially since I would like to stick with the 3% solution of HP found in every grocery store. Anybody out there done the figuring on this?

I think I will finally settle on changing methods to ensure I cover all basis. Maybe "boil" several days, clorox one day and HP one day. But I do have to keep this in perspective. I may keep my goat's milk for 2 days before it is used; that's not a lot of time for most bacteria or germs I'm trying to kill to do a lot of growing in refrigerated milk. Also, I intend on using an acid wash every week or two so milk stone won't build up.

And of course this is all contingent on whether I can ever learn to milk my goats!!

From University of Florida extension http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FS077:

Hot Water
Hot-water sanitizing--through immersion (small parts, knives, etc.), spray (dishwashers), or circulating systems--is commonly used. The time required is determined by the temperature of the water. Typical regulatory requirements (Food Code 1995) for use of hot water in dishwashing and utensil sanitizing applications specify: immersion for at least 30 sec. at 77°C (170°F) for manual operations; a final rinse temperature of 74°C (165°F) in single tank, single temperature machines and 82°C (180°F) for other machines.
Many state regulations require a utensil surface temperature of 71°C (160°F) as measured by an irreversibly registering temperature indicator in warewashing machines. Recommendations andrequirements for hot-water sanitizing in food processing may vary. *The Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance specifies a minimum of 77°C (170°F) for 5 min.* Other recommendations for processing operations are: 85°C (185°F) for 15 min., or 80°C (176°F) for 20 min.


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## RunAround (Feb 17, 2008)

I just hand wash mine. Never had an issue with milk stone build up or anything like that. Every once and a while I will use bleach or the dishwasher.


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## kannm (Mar 18, 2009)

We use bleach solution and then rinse with fresh water. Also, we scrub with liquid dish soap to remove fat deposits, at least 1x a week, sometimes every day. It gets hot here so we have to be pretty careful.

That's on a milk machine by the way, if we were milking into a pail we would use hot water and dish soap.


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## FunnyRiverFarm (Sep 13, 2008)

To BeeLady:

I am quite sure that 3% hydrogen peroxide contains about 1020ppm of hydrogen peroxide...if my math and chemistry skills haven't failed me, that is...LOL!  

To Cinder:

I have always mainly used regular dish soap and water to wash milking equipment. I usually rinse everything well with cool water first and then wash thoroughly. Never had any trouble with "off" tasting milk or milk stone build up.


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## goathappy (Oct 5, 2007)

We rinse once with cold or warm water then wash with dishsoap and rinse again with hot water. Always use hot water last, as the hot will cook the milkstone to your SS milking pails, strainers, etc.


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## grandmajo (Oct 14, 2008)

Ok, I'm a bit weird, but I hand wash everything after the morning milking, then run the stuff through the dishwasher after the evening milking. (Only because I only run the dishwasher once a day.)


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## keren (Oct 26, 2008)

when I milk into a stainless steel bucket, I do a cold rinse, then a hot soapy wash, then a hot rinse. 

at the moment I'm milking into a plastic kitchen jug (not much milk atm) and I just put it straight into the hot soapy wash with the rest of the dishes. Never had a problem


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## rebelshope (Sep 21, 2008)

liz said:


> Actually I hand wash with dish soap and use a teeny bit of bleach in the wash water....When the well permits me to use the dishwasher, I do that too.


This is just about what I do too. I don't always use bleach though.


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## Zelda (May 2, 2009)

grandmajo said:


> Ok, I'm a bit weird, but I hand wash everything after the morning milking, then run the stuff through the dishwasher after the evening milking. (Only because I only run the dishwasher once a day.)


Yeah, I wash my stainless bucket and strainer in the DW at least once a day, more often than not it gets washed in there twice day. But first, it all gets washed in the sink with cool water with some soap and whatever is left of the teat wash (which contains a tsp of bleach). Once in a while I hand wash it out with vinegar/water instead to give it an acid wash to remove any milkstone.

I like to let things get steam blasted in the DW.


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## irisflowerz (Jan 2, 2010)

I have a stainless steel milking bucket and nice strainer from Hoeggers and so I wash them before milking with as hot of water as I can stand (and I like HOT water) and a dab of Dawn dishwashing soap that has the bleach alternative added. I do scrub a bit as I was told that you can still get a film on them from the milk. I just do that and then again after I milk. I use Rubbermaid one quart storage containers with the screw on lids, that way we can refridgerate or freeze. Then they go immediately into the BACK of the fridge on the top shelf so that the one being used currently is at the front of the line. I try to date them too with a black marker that washes off when I wash the containers just so we know when they were milked. If I start getting a surplus, then I just make a batch of cheese. 

I have also found that I personally don't like the taste of the milk when it has been frozen, so we plan to just use that on our babies if necessary this winter (either lambs or kids), and are in the process of buying two more Nigerian does so that between them and my pure bred Oberhasli, I have milkers year round by spacing them out.


Gina


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## 4kids (Jul 21, 2009)

We rinse in running water and run through the dishwasher.


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## nutmegfarm (Dec 23, 2009)

I have a Hoegger milk machine, and all that needs cleaned is the bucket, inflations, and hoses if you fill the pail, it backs up into the hose. I use the soap with the machine, but dish soap works great also! Twice a day, I feel like I spend more time cleaning all the equipment than milking it! (strip cup, buckets, iodine dip bucket...it keeps going on!!!!!)


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