How do you filter your milk?

[Green Acres Farm]

I'm wondering how everyone filters their milk. Right now I am straining it in a colander and 2-3 coffee filters before pasteurizing it, but it takes a while. Are there any faster methods? Thanks!

 

[NH homesteader]

Caprine Supply (and probably other places) has filters and strainers. They're kind of pricey but they are awesome. I ran out and because I'm cheap, switched to coffee filters but it took forever. My phone doesn't cooperate well enough to get you a link but if you go to their site you'll see what I mean.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I use a strainer like the one pictured in the link-
http://www.shenandoahhomesteadsupply.com/?page_id=11

We use several at a time. In peak production we might get 6 or so gallons a day. It is time consuming to strain but we haven't found a big strainer that we like.

I personally wouldn't use coffee filters.
Years ago, after seeing so many rave about coffee filters we decided to do a test. Ran the milk through a coffee filter (took forever) and then ran it through a milk filter. OMGosh it was so gross
Lots of debris went right through the coffee filter!

Showed some friends that used coffee filters and they have all gone to real milk filters.

 

[Nathan Justice]

I'm wondering how everyone filters their milk. Right now I am straining it in a colander and 2-3 coffee filters before pasteurizing it, but it takes a while. Are there any faster methods? Thanks!

View attachment 29891

I just use cheese cloth and drape it over a gallon jar, kind of poke the middle into the jar and pour it through! Seems to catch all the hair and filth...

 

[animalmom]

A piece of light weight muslin works well too, and you can wash it and reuse. You could continue to use your strainer with a layer of the muslin instead of the coffee filters. Cheesecloth would be ok as long as it is not the stuff sold in the craft section of your store. That "cheesecloth" is too loosely woven to catch anything. Good for painting effects but not milk straining.

I use a strainer from Caprine Supply. It works well. I have noticed, at times, that the milk takes a long time to strain. I figured it had something to do with the ambient temperature and the amount of fat in the milk. Seems the fat clogs the filter and it takes forever to drain. Scared the daylights out of me the first time it happened. I thought there was something really wrong with the milk. Nah, just a clogged filter.

 

[babsbag]

http://www.caprinesupply.com/products/milking/milk-handling/stainless-steel-4-quart-strainer.html

I am not crazy about the strainer ring and sometime the milk goes between the strainer and the filter unless I pour it slowly. This year I bought BIG filters, like 15". No milk is going to sneak around that but they are pricey. I am thinking about sterilizing them and trying to reuse them. We'll see how that works.

 

[NH homesteader]

Yes that's what I use too. But I have WAY less milk than you so pouring it slowly is not a big deal!

 

[NH homesteader]

Oh, I'm not so sure about cheesecloth. I use it to strain my chicken broth and I see a lot of particles make it through.

 

[Green Acres Farm]

Oh, I'm not so sure aboit cheesecloth. I use it to strain my chicken broth and I see a lot of particles make it through.

I wouldn't do it- too many holes.
When I first started milking I used just the colander until someone found a big white Saanen hair in their smoothie.

 

[norseofcourse]

I use Schwartz Filter-Clean gravity (inline) milk filters. I usually fold them up into a funnel shape and pour the milk through. I either hold it by hand for small quantities, or put it in a funnel for larger quantities. I pour slowly enough so the milk doesn't go higher than the top of the filter, but it goes through pretty fast. They come in at least a couple different sizes, I got the 6.5" ones to use this year. A box of 100 was about 5 dollars.