Dairy Science
Modern buttermilk?
Hi, Milk Fans
Traditionally buttermilk is the milk that is released once butter has been churned from cream. It has the composition of skim milk basically and about the same nutritional value. These days buttermilk is mostly made from adding some lactic acid bacteria to skim milk. This is done, because buttermilk does not have the stability that is required to repasteurise it, so that it can stand in the shops for some time.
Traditional buttermilk can thus be sweet or acidified by lactic acid bacteria and is much thinner in consistency than the “buttermilk” we buy in the shops today. Â
With the modern way the consumer gets a product of better physical quality and that has the same nutritional value as traditional buttermilk.
Thought you would like to know 😉
Leon the Milkman
Freezing milk bulk tank
Hi, Milk Fans
If your bulk tank is freezing it’s set too cold and you stand a chance of developing rancidity in the milk. This is because the formed ice crystals puncture the fat globules, releasing lipase. Be sure to not switch the tank on too early – some people like to do this to give the tank a “running start”, before the milk is pumped in.
When the milk freezes, it also concentrates the milk solids, making the milk sweet and increasing the viscosity.
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
Solving QC problems with outsourcing
Hi, Guys
When solving a dairy QC problem be sure that you can trace everything from its origin and be sure what info you can give away to an outside source.
On the other hand be sure that you can give enough info for the person to help you – I get loads of requests for help, where I am not allowed to enter the premises or may not see the recipe or changes or whatever!  How can you help someone like that!
Hope this helps somebody, somewhere 😉
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
Where did that yoghurt taste come from?
Hi, Yoghurt Fans
When you have a funny taste in your yoghurt it is not always funny 😉
If the factory manufactures an unflavoured yoghurt and then add flavours, the first question should be if the taste is present in the unflavoured yoghurt as well. If it is, then it cannot have come from the flavour or fruit that was added, right?
So now it must come from anything that is added before that point, like the milk itself, the stabilisers, the sugar/sweeteners or base.  Get to every ingredient, and make sure it is from the same batch.  For example, get milk from the same farmer on the same day, etc.
Some of the yoghurt can be used to innoculate autoclaved/UHT/longlife milk and if the same taste is perceived after the milk is set, then the taste is microbial, right?  I say this because if the 3% or so yoghurt with the funny taste was mixed into milk and no taste was evident and after incubation the taste is there, then it must be microbial, I think.
Hope you found this of value.
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
Factors affecting Somatic Cell Counts (SCC)
Hi, Dairy Farmers
Read this great new article on my www.dairy-info.org site.
Have you had your milk today?
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
Milkman mixes
Hi, Folks
I mixed some calibration standards for dairy composition testing yesterday. We made up a set of ten samples with butterfat ranging from skimmed to 5%.
The whole process starts off with me collecting different milks from nearby farms – by different I mean milk that comes from different races of cows that feed on different feeds.
Once the milk is mixed to give it a range of fat it is tested by internationally accepted methods and distributed to factories to calibrate their testing equipment.
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
Mozzarella not stretching?
Hi, Cheese lovers
If you have the above problem I would recommend that you taste the milk first to see if you can detect something that way. If the milk is not very sweet – chances are that water was added.  After doing a freezing point to eliminate that possibility, I would do solids, meaning fat and protein in this case.Â
I would also do a phosphatase test to see if the milk was not pasteurized previously, because that would denature the protein so that it will not stretch on a second heating.  You might have pasteurized at too high a temperature yourself as well.
The milk could have a high SCC(somatic cell count) which is an indication of mastitis and this would lower the casein protein in the milk, which would lead to lower yields of cheese and slower, weaker setting of the curd.
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
Does this mean the end of milk recording schemes?
Hi, Dairy People
If you are part of a milk recording scheme you should check out this new research:
http://www.farminguk.com/bsp/10130/ews.asp?DBID=103-281-013-098&iPage=1&id=4659
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
Alternative for Alfalfa
Hi, Dairy Farmers
Here is some research that you should keep an eye on:
http://www.kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=27166&cat=NMTOPSTORIES
Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman
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Sarel Moore visits Elsenburg
Hi, Milk Fans
Sarel Moore of the South African Milk Recording Scheme visited today and gave the thumbs up for Elsenburg Dairy Lab to do analysis for them in the Western Cape!
The tests to be done are fat, protein, lactose, urea and somatical cell count.
Thanks, Sarel
Leon the Milkman
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