Milk Strainers

[Southern by choice]

We need a larger strainer it is getting ridiculous to keep using the small one... takes forever because it only hold 1 pint at a time.

Looking at these 2.... any suggestions?

https://www.homesteadersupply.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73_164&products_id=1318

http://hambydairysupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=18818

 

[Hens and Roos]

no idea- we only strain a small amount at a time but will watch and learn!

 

[SteveElms]

I'm watching this thread as well. We just got the mini strainer a couple of weeks ago from Caprine Supply, but had seriously considered the one from Hamby. Since we store our milk in quart jars, we thought having a large capacity strainer would lead to lots of overflows. We love the pint strainer, but in fairness most anything would have beat the coffee filter in a mesh strainer over a glass bowl that we were using.

 

[babsbag]

I have the mini strainer from Caprine supply and it served me well. I bought the bigger strainer from them and I don't care for it. The ring the holds the filter in place lets milk go between the filter and the strainer which defeats the purpose. I am going to buy 15" diameter filters from Hamby and use them in the big strainer. I think that will solve my problem. The filters aren't cheap but neither or goats so what else is new. Right now I am straining over 3 gallons a day and I am not even milking all of the goats yet so the mini one just doesn't fly anymore. I store my milk in 1/2 gallon jars so it needs to fit in that opening too.

 

[mysunwolf]

This means I should probably be using something other than a cheesecloth?

 

[Southern by choice]

Babs told me about the big strainer and what a waste of money... so... we just have 2 small strainers that we use at the same time.

We strain into 1/2 gallon jars or 3 qt containers... we do 3 1/2 -4 gallons in the am and around 3 in the pm.

Still not the best solution and I have found using the little strainers if we open milk then we either have to rinse a strainer or replace a filter...

By open milk I mean not using lid on the bucket... we open milk when all the milk is going to the kids... we don't when we are saving the milk for us. We strain either way.

 

[misfitmorgan]

When i was growing up, my grandparents had a large diary farm. Grandma always used flour sack towels to strain the milk before pasteurizing. She had all white flour sack towels that she bleached to clean and kept in their own drawer in the kitchen. I still remember loving to watch her strain the milk. My grandpa or my Uncle would bring her in roughly 5 gallons of milk in a stainless steel pail and she would wrap the towl around the top of the pail and pour it in the stainless pot she used to pasturize. So i do the same thing...flour sack towels are fairly popular again so they can be pricey..i bought a few yards of fabric off ebay, cut it to the sizes i wanted and hemmed the edges...works great for milk straining and no filters to replace, definitely no milk getting around it either.

If your going to do this make sure you rinse the towels out as soon as your done, then mine goes straight into a bucket of mild bleach water in the laundry room until i have enough to wash a small load. It doesnt take long to get that if your milking twice a day.

 

[babsbag]

I wonder if you could use the butter muslin they sell for straining cheese curds?

 

[misfitmorgan]

I wonder if you could use the butter muslin they sell for straining cheese curds?

Yes you can babs i used it before i got the flower sack towels made or found them at the store...i will say the butter muslin is not as finely/tightly woven as the flour sack. I have also use cheese cloth folded over so it was an entire piece over a mason jar.

The best test to see if your straining well...other then obvious chunks. I strain the milk into a mason jar then lid it and put in the fridge, wait until the next day and careful lift up the jar and look at the bottom without tilting or shaking. If you see anything other then "clean" milk your strainer isnt getting everything else. That is the problem we had sometimes with cheese cloth and the butter muslin....there would be dirt/a grey tint to the bottom of the jars and if you slowly poured the milk out it was indeed dirt. We just poured off the top and made cheese then fed the bottom third of the jars to the pigs but if you dont have a lot of milk or are selling milk that's not ideal.

 

[samssimonsays]

And I am over here all like, "We need more coffee filters, I used the last ones for straining the milk." Maybe I need to invest in a legitimate strainer