Freezing Point

Posted on March 16th, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Milk, Dairy Science.

Hi, Milkfans

The freezing point of milk is used to detect added water. As you should know water freezes at 0° C and because milk has some salts and lactose that are in solution the freezing point of milk is slightly lower than water - to the point of about a half a degree Celsius.
In fact for the test, the freezing point of milk should fall between -0.512° C and -0.550° C. If it is closer to zero water is added and if it lies beyond -0.550° C the milk is either going sour or solids, like whey powder was added.

Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman

1 comment.

Cheese Yield vs. Milk Solids

Posted on March 13th, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Cheese, Milk, Dairy Science.

Hi, Cheesefans

This is a topic not many lay cheesefanatics know about: the influence of milk solids on the yield of cheese.
The higher the Solids - being Fat, Protein( these are the ones important in cheese making) - the higher the yield of cheese out of a certain volume of milk.

Generally cow’s milk gives a higher yield than goat’s milk.

Thus you need more goat’s milk to make a kilo/pound of cheese than you would with cow’s milk.

Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman

 

 

Cheese Yield and Factors Affecting Its Control: Proceedings of the IDF Seminar Held in Cork, Ireland

0 comments.

Density vs. Specific Gravity

Posted on March 12th, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Milk, Dairy Science.

Hi, Milkfans

Density is measured as mass per volume (g/ml) at a specific temperature.

Specific Gravity is the relationship of the mass of a volume of a substance to the mass of an equal volume of water at the same temperature.

In dairy both the density and the specific gravity are influenced by the fat percentage and the SNF-percentage.

Top of the day to you,

Leon the Milkman

0 comments.

Yeast in cheese.

Posted on March 7th, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Cheese, Dairy Science.

Hi, Cheesefans

If you made cheese and you end up with a spongy curd that smells like beer brewing, bread or pineapple when you press on it and smell close by at the same time, then it is a pretty sure thing that you have yeast in that curd. To confirm you will have to have a yeast-and-mold test done at a microbiology lab. This takes a full 5 days.

You’ll have to make processed cheese ;-)

Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman

0 comments.

Holes in cheese

Posted on March 6th, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Cheese, Dairy Science.

Hi, Milkfans

Two types of holes to be found in cheese. The one is a mechanical , irregular hole, mainly caused by too little pressure. The other is a gashole which is round, smooth and shiny, and is caused by bacterial growth( hopefully the good kind).

Regards,
Leon the Milkman

0 comments.

Microbiology Waterbath Hygiene

Posted on March 2nd, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Dairy Science.

Hi, Milkfans

Still waiting for all those votes to be counted.

In the meantime, here’s a bit of advise - if you have a waterbath in your lab, put some Formalin in the water - that will keep it clean. Take care to wipe the outside of the bottle clean before pouring agar to prevent Formalin water running into your petri dish.

Goodday,
Leon

0 comments.

Cow Breeds : Solids Content

Posted on February 25th, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Milk, Cows, Dairy Science.

Hi, Milkfans

Here’s some quick dairy-info on breeds and their milksolids ratios to volume. In South Africa the main breeds are : Jersey - Guernsey - Ayrshire - Friesen. They display a decrease in milksolids and a corresponding increase in volume of production from left to right.

There may be some overlap in figures between individual cows and herds, but the above is generally accepted to be the case.

Goodday to you,
Leon the Milkman

0 comments.

Cheese Courses

Posted on February 23rd, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Cheese, Dairy Science.

Hi,

As some of you may know, we present a cheese course here at our lab.
We have always had opposition from the dairy industry, because of this. The reasoning being that we are teaching people their secrets!
Now with info being so freely available these days I find these statements naive and unfair.
In fact people that are so interested in cheese that they pay good money to learn more about it, buy more cheese than the average person out there!
I also try to sell as little cheese-making supplies to the people on the course, ;-) because like with any thing else, I know people are excited in the moment and most of them will buy a box of stuff and never open that box once they are back at home!

So let us get our buyers involved into this wonderful dairy world of ours. That’s true generic dairy marketing!

Kind regards,
Leon the Milkman

0 comments.

Fast Casein Test

Posted on February 22nd, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Cheese, Dairy Science.

Hi,

Reasoning that rennet will set mainly casein and that the whey proteins will be free to run away with the whey(hey, it rhymes!) I have thought of using this to determine the casein content of milk.
This with a cheap little milk analyser like an Ekomilk. I would test the milk protein and then set the milk with rennet and then put the resulting whey through the Ekomilk. Subtracting the 2 figures from each other would then theoretically give the casein content of the milk.
Well, this sounds logical to me, but that does not say a lot and I don’t know how that would compare to a Kjeldahl determination, which would be the official way of doing it.
May be a project for a rainy day. Any comments?

See ya!
Leon the Milkman

0 comments.

Milkoscan 133B

Posted on February 21st, 2006 by Leon the Milkman.
Categories: Dairy Science.

Hi, Milkfans

Have some time to write, because my FOSS Milkoscan 133b has a problem with the “filter wheel not running OK” at the correct speed. For you other lab techies out there the procedure to check for this is to turn the key to horizontal and to type in Program 9824 from the Standby Menu. You should get a reading of 14400 if everything is alright. Slight variations from 14400 is OK, but preferably it should be constant.
When finished testing turn the key back to vertical and press the RESET button on the back of the machine.

Till next time,
Leon the Milkman

0 comments.

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