Pasteurising

I collected 5 litres of milk from the cowshed this morning. 

It is raw when it comes out of the tank. And although it is tested for bugs twice a day, I chose to pasteurise it when I get it home just be on the safe side.

There are two ways to pasteurise milk: the low-heat-long-time method and the higher-heat-shorter-time method. 

The double  boiler, in which I heat the milk, holds a maximum of 1.75 litres, so it takes three fills to pasteurise 5 litres. The faster method takes me 50 minutes in total, heating the milk from 8C to 72C and holding it there for 16 seconds. The pan is then plunged into cold water and the milk cooled rapidly to 40C, bottled and refrigerated.

Handily, the thermometer I use for milk and cheese has a blue band on its face: the top of which is 72C, which makes things very easy. As long as I keep an eye on it. Milk heated higher than that is useless for cheese making and it tastes cooked. Yes, it’s happened once or twice…

The vet theory that whey might have caused Bean’s pancreatitis turns out to be very unlikely. Whey has less than 1% fat and I wasn’t giving her much. It remains a mystery.

And she continues to bounce back. 

Happy days.