Guest guest Posted July 9, 2006 Report Share Posted July 9, 2006 ROTFL, I raise livestock, my skin's so think it takes a hatchet cut to get my attention LOL. Your comments were in no way percieved as 'negative' or anything other than your trying to get that very important point across that time spent warm and taste are inversely related- the more time warm the the less good the taste. My response was just to shed more light upon what I mentioned in passing without a clearer explanation. You are so right, it's hard sometimes to cover all the bases when you have such a wide level of expertise (and lack there of!) on the list. Things I just take for granted that EVERYONE knows because I learned it so early on it's like knowing how to breathe or scratch where it itches, might be total mystery to someone raised on concrete in the city. About the ice water bath. You want to always have some ice in it. As the milk chills it warms up the water and ice melts so having some more handy is a good idea. There are two ice chests I use and they have ice/water in them, too. I start milk out in the five gallon bucket and that helps keep my ice chests cleaner. I can't help but splatter, overfill, etc... and get milk on the outside of the containers. Once it's chilled for about fifteen minutes, it goes from bucket to ice chest. I use a clean five gallon bucket filled with ice and water. The disposble/reusable Glad lidded containers are my favorite for freezing. I use the ones that are about half the size of a loaf of bread. Trying to get an open container of water into the deep freeze always gets me wet, so I like the tight fitting lids on the containers. I also have a couple of gallon lidded plastic pitchers that are straight sided so ice comes right out of them. I am a recycler (see next parragraph for East Tennesee credo about wearing it out? so I reuse containers, but make CERTAIN you label!!! Right now my favorite spray bottles are those that make it foam as it is sprayed for better coverage) Some things handy to have in cleaning out the bucket, ice chests, etc... are labeled spray bottle with vinegar, labeled spray bottle with ten percent bleach water, labeled shaker can with baking soda. I buy my baking soda in 50# bag at feed store- it's MUCH cheaper!!! When I am done with the bucket/ice chest, I hose it out, spray it down with vinegar, then sprinkle on the baking soda, wait a couple of minutes, take a scrub brush (the car/RV brushs are great!) to it, rinse it clean and if needed spritz with the 10% bleach water, turn over to drain dry. And, there is nothing going to hurt you straining through a clean (that's the key word!) cloth, either, or a lot of us would be dead LOL as that's how it was done for thousands of years! A dear friend shared with me last night that he still has some hand woven 'cheesecloth' that his grandmother had made. Here in eastern Tennessee we lived by 'use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without' right up until the 1960s. Especially back before TVA came in and 'electrified' the whole place, everything was made onsite and from what you raised/grew yourself. There are plenty of homes here that are made from timber harvested on site and bricks from the clay dug out for the basement, etc... Even when I first started milking for myself back in 1991, I had a set of dish cloths that were only for straining milk. Washed promptly after use in hot soapy bleach water, dried in the dryer, promptly removed and put away in a zip loc baggie they were about as sterile as you could ask for! Since I have a nice stainless strainer now, I use the one use milk filters as they are so much easier. Did you know that cotton cloth birdseye baby diapers make excellent cheesecloth for hanging curds? They are hemmed so they won't ravel, tough and take a lot of use/washing and just the perfect closeness of weave to use for any curds. Donna Safehaven Nubians Dandridge, TN > > > > > > I went and bought a jersey...know I have milk crowding out the > food > > in > > > the fridge. I live in Monroe county in the state of ohio which > is > > the > > > southeastern part. Any takers? Maxine > > > > > > > > > > > > > > PLEASE BE KIND AND TRIM YOUR POSTS WHEN REPLYING! > Visit our Raw Dairy Files for a wealth of information! > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RawDairy/files/ > > Archive search: http://onibasu.com > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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