Milk skimming questions

[mama-a-llama]

First, how long does it take for milk to separate? Ours has "wisps" of cream floating, but nothing you could skim. My expressed milk separates to skimmable in a couple hours.

And how much cream do you usually get from what volume of milk?

[twins10705]

Originally Posted by mama-a-llama

First, how long does it take for milk to separate? Ours has "wisps" of cream floating, but nothing you could skim. My expressed milk separates to skimmable in a couple hours.

If your dairy mixes the milk in a vat(not sure what the process is called ) then it can take a long time, like 2-3 days undisturbed to separate fully. Otherwise, it should all be at the top within 24 hours IME.

And how much cream do you usually get from what volume of milk?

There is such huge variability here it is impossible to predict. Some jersey cows give almost half cream! Whereas with the holstein milk we get, there is probably only about 6 ounces of the good stuff per gallon. Some dairies separate all the cream and then just add 3.5% back to each gallon and sell it as "whole" milk. You could ask your source what they do.

[MamaTessa]

What kind of milk are you using? If it's goats milk, it doesn't really separate.