Monday, November 28, 2011

Hillbilly Cream Separator & Making Butter

I've been working for a few months on a way to separate cream without buying an expensive gadget. I read that it is easier to drain the milk off the bottom than to try to skim the cream off the top, and after one failed attempt at buying a second-hand glass jug with a spigot at Goodwill, I decided to go very low-tech:


After several tries where I ended up spraying milk all over the place,
the trick seems to be to stab, twist and pull the knife out in one fluid motion:


If you look close you can see the line where the cream has separated from the milk after sitting in the fridge for a day:


Today I decided to put the cream right in the mixer and make butter:





5 comments:

  1. Stab, Twist & pull the knife...made me laugh while envisioning a horror flick {I dont do scarey movies... I'm a woos} GREAT how to & idea! I love simple methods without all the equipment {and disappearing green backs}.

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    1. Simple and no expensive tools is always good! I guess that did sound a little gory when I described it.

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  2. Very cool! Totally simple (if you have access to milk jugs which we actually don't in Germany) but totally practical.

    www.noordinaryhomestead.com

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    1. That would be a drawback to glass containers. I've also seen some old cream seperators on ebay that also use the method of draining the milk off the bottom of the cream.

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  3. How much cream did you get from a gallon? I am guessing you were using whole milk and organic or was it raw from a farmer? I found your blog via your sweet wife ......... waving good morning to Lindsay!!

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