How do you separate your cream?

[blessedwithboys]

I get that milk should be consumed full-fat but I do like plain cream in my tea and coffee and buying cream in addition to milk that's already $10/gallon isn't a sustainable plan. So... what's the easiest way to separate it? Skimming with a spoon drives me batty. I was thinking of a borosilicate gravy fat separator. Thoughts?

[haurelia]

Gravy separator seems like a good idea...I use a small gravy serving ladle to dip cream off the top, then put it in a separate jar. I don't get every speck out, but don't need to for any reason at this point.  The one time I had enough extra milk to make cottage cheese, I didn't get all the cream off the milk and the cottage cheese tasted really farm-y, like inedibly so. 

[blessedwithboys]

I just had a brainstorm...I've always bought my raw milk straight from the farmer in glass jars but the HFS sells it in plastic jugs.  I'm thinking of setting up mason jars side by side and poking a hole in the bottom of the jug to drain out the milk and then when it gets down to the cream, moving it over the other jar.

Anyone else tried this?

[gardenmommy]

We always put the milk in a big pan overnight.  The cream will rise to the top, and it is easy to skim it off the milk in the morning.