Milk sanitation - dishwasher ok?

[BeanJeepin]

We have a dishwasher with a sanitize cycle - is that enough for sanitizing milking equipment (pail, jars, strainer only, not a milking machine)? I'd like to stop bleach-watering things if possible, I'm having a hard time getting the ratio right and everything is just so chlorine-y. Ugh.

We do consume the milk raw, so this is extra important to us.

Jean

 

[that's*satyrical]

Well we milk into clean mason jars & I rinse them then run them through the dishwasher between uses. If they look clean & clear after washing I use them. If not I run them again. This is the way I've been doing it forever & have not gotten sick at all so I'm guessing it's ok. We also drink it raw. Put it in the freezer directly after milking to chill, then an hour or 2 later tranfer to the refrigerator.

 

[mama24]

I use the dishwasher. I figure it was good enough for breastmilk, it's good enough for goat milk! I don't bother with the bleaching or antibacterial this or that. In reality, pasteurized milk is more likely to harbor harmful bacteria. Raw milk usually contains more beneficial bacteria (like what makes yogurt) plus antibodies that will actually kill some of the bad stuff, at least for a few hours after milking.

 

[BeanJeepin]

I use the dishwasher. I figure it was good enough for breastmilk, it's good enough for goat milk!

Having dealt with breastmilk for 8.5 years, that was my thinking. Do you have tips for raw milk yogurt? I've made yogurt heated to 180, cooled to 112, cultured and incubated at 110 but never raw yet...

Jean

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I usually just handwash things and every other day (or whenever there's room) put them in the DW. And I don't think I'd like to make yogurt w/ raw milk, since I really want the "good" bacteria to do the work adn flavor the yogurt. I worry that if there happened to be any "bad" bacteria in there, it would really have the perfect conditions for multiplying.

 

[that's*satyrical]

Sour raw milk can be used to make cheese/yogurt/sour cream while sour store bought pasteurized milk cannot, pasteurized milk is a "dead" food. I think the good bacteria found in raw milk keep the bad bacteria from flourishing. We haven't actually used any "sour" milk for anything yet, but I have read that you can and we probably will at some point. We made our first goat cheese this week-end with fresh rosemary. It was good, but we should have added a wee bit more salt. Honestly, the milk never seems to hang around long enough to get sour here. There is always a use for it!! That is not to say you shouldn't keep the raw milk as sterile as possible & we do. But, I don't obsess about it. Cleansing the udder well before milking with a baby wipe & keeping it shaved, dishwasher cleaned glass mason jars and popping it into the freezer directly after milking is enough for us.

 

[wannacow]

I make yogurt with our raw milk all the time. I warm the milk in a sink of hot water, then place it on a warm source to culture. We keep our house cool in the winter, so I used a heating pad on low, placed in a stainless steel bowl, then place the jar on top of that and wrapped in towels. Now that the weather is warmer, I warm the milk in the jar and place it into the crockpot on warm, then fill the crock with warm water. I don't bother wrapping it now. I usually let it set all night or all day, then I drain it in a collander with a coffee filter. That takes all day too, but I LOVE the thick creamy yogurt. Then, the chickens or the dogs get the whey. They all love it.

For sour milk, you will notice a difference. It doesn't "curdle" like store bought milk. It gets thick and creamy. I believe it's called "clabber". You can use this for WEEKS as long as you keep it in the fridge. Use it anything that calls for buttermilk or sour cream. It makes WONDERFUL pancakes.

 

[marliah]

I use the dishwasher for our milk jars, glad to see this asked though cause I wasn't sure if I was doing the right thing

 

[sawfish99]

My answer is no, the dishwasher alone is not enough UNLESS your sanitation cycle is actually heating the water to boiling. We sanitize our milking pails and bottles for storing milk. My main reason is, milking pails sit on the milk stand that has manure and old hay and everything else off goat hooves on the stand. I just don't see a reason to take a chance with getting sick from improperly storing the milk.

As for the right ration, we always fill the sink 2/3 full and put in 3 capfuls of bleach.