Cream separators

[tayndrewsmama]

Is there such a thing as a small home cream separator that isn't for high volume? I'd really like to find one, but I am not having much luck.

[TonyaW]

I am interested in this too. So if any of you know, please do share!

[tabitha]

what sort of volume are you dealing with?

[tayndrewsmama]

Small. Like for my family and a friend's family to make butter and ice cream and stuff. Really not a lot at all. The farm we buy our milk from feels that they are too busy to sell cream so we are sucking it off the top of our milk jars with turkey basters.

[tabitha]

i honestly do not think something like this exists. as far as i know, a separator is only worthwhile if you are milking more than one cow, for example, and have more than say 5 gallons/ day to deal with. i may be wrong, but i know lot of other dairying folk and this is the general sentiment.

[tayndrewsmama]

Is there some other way to separate milk decently? I want raw cream and cannot get it here.

[mama2tzatziki]

I have heard of people using teapots like these:

http://www.adagio.com/teaware/ingenuiTEA_teapot.html

We have one, and I think it would work very well, since the milk could drain out of the bottom and leave the cream undisturbed. I haven't tried it since ours has seen a lot of use as a teapot and I am afraid of it making the cream taste like tea...

[bobandjess99]

we've been using the turkey baster method also.....our farmer does sell cream, but it is very expensive, we get a better value buying a gallon of milk and seperating it ourselves....

[ustasmom]

I get 2 cups of cream off the top of our raw milk gallons and I only take half of the cream. I just use a stainless steel measuring cup. I just buy more milk to accomodate the fact that at the end of the week, I will have 22 cups of heavy cream.

[tayndrewsmama]

Originally Posted by mama2tzatziki

I have heard of people using teapots like these:

http://www.adagio.com/teaware/ingenuiTEA_teapot.html

We have one, and I think it would work very well, since the milk could drain out of the bottom and leave the cream undisturbed. I haven't tried it since ours has seen a lot of use as a teapot and I am afraid of it making the cream taste like tea...

That is really neat! I may get one of those, even if I don't use if for cream, it would be nice to have.

I can pull two cups off a half gallon of milk. The thing is that we really prefer to have our milk with the cream mixed in. Everyone complains that I wreck the milk when I pull off the cream.

[tayndrewsmama]

I found a 32oz one. http://www.sereneteaz.com/ingenuitea...32oz-p-26.html

[bobandjess99]

I understand, what we do is buy 1 extra gallon with the understanding that is the "cream" gallon, and then that milk, essentiall "skim" milk, doesnt get drank like the rest, it gets used in other ways.....or else, i do not take ALL the cream, i will onyl skinm a little bit off of several gallons, so each retains some.

[tayndrewsmama]

Hey, wouldn't using a sun tea jar work as well? You should be able to get those in half gallon and gallon sizes, right?

[tayndrewsmama]

http://www.freshpreserving.com/produ..._spigot/20.php

[MyLittleWarrior]

For the cheap and easy among us, I've heard of people putting milk into a plastic gallon container, (like store milk) and just poking a hole in the bottom and letting the milk run thru, and then plugging it to keep the cream in.

[MRJmama]

I've been doing the turkey baster thing too! Just because I have to spend more money to buy extra cream. No one in my house drinks milk just plain so I guess I have just make my own skim milk huh?

[tabitha]

i use a stainless steel ladle. it is small- holds about 2 ounces a dip- but is the most effective means for me and i am often skimming gallons at a time.

plastic is almost impossible to clean well, and over time will build up bacteria (not harmful) that can keep your culturing efforts from working well if that is what you are up to. additionally, the spigot-style methods can be really annoying because chilled cream will stick to the sides of the container as the cream lowers when you empty the milk. it is pretty wasteful.

[tayndrewsmama]

Originally Posted by tabitha

additionally, the spigot-style methods can be really annoying because chilled cream will stick to the sides of the container as the cream lowers when you empty the milk. it is pretty wasteful.

Wouldn't it make more sense to transfer the cream to another container once it gets down to only cream in the bottle? That would be a lot of wasted space in the fridge just having cream in the bottom. It never occurred to me to even try and run cream through a spigot.

OMG, I totally have no idea what I read. Why wouldn't you do this on the counter top? It only takes a few hours or so for the milk to separate.