Safely using raw goats milk?

[Dace]

I have raw goats milk that I bought to make some chevre. It has been frozen and now I am getting ready to use it.

I met a lady in the cheese shop who makes cheese and buys her milk from the same source (crazy Ellie). She says the milk is fantastic, but she does heat it up to 140* for safety reasons.

Since these are not my goats and I do not really know how the goats or the milk are handled, I am thiking that low temp pasteurization would be wise.

Any thoughts?

How can I get my own goat in an area where one can't have goats and one has no room anyway? Poo.

 

[savingdogs]

I'm raising my own milk so I do have that extra measure of knowing how it was handled, but can you check out the place you bought it from? I would NOT want someone coming here to inspect even though I feel my methods are extremely clean regarding the milk, so if someone was willing for you to come observe the animals, etc., I think that would show they are doing things correctly. Are they making and producing things themselves with it?

I had never had raw milk before this year and even though I was raising my own goats I was a bit nervous trying it, but I really like it now and feel spoiled and do not like store milk anymore, I feel like I just found "real" milk. But my husband feels more comfortable whenever I use a cooking process to prepare the milk in some fashion and doesn't drink it raw. It can be a personal choice, even among your family members, but it has worked out just fine here, but I must admit that the two milk drinkers here in the house are the same two that enjoyed milk before we had goat milk. Maybe that is how it is, if you liked milk as a beverage you will probably like goat milk.

I'm trying to figure out how to freeze enough for the "off" season and I don't have nearly enough freezer space!

 

[freemotion]

I just double checked and it is 145F for 30 minutes (fairly impossible without a pasteurizing unit) or 161F for 30 seconds. I pasteurize by putting the milk in a large stainless steel mixing bowl covered with foil, set on a stock pot or sauce pan (depending on how much milk I am pasteurizing) with simmering water in it. I don't have a double boiler.

I poke a tiny hole in the center of the foil and stick the probe of my dairy thermometer in it. I lift the foil on one side slightly and leave my skimmer in the milk for occasional stirring. I set a timer for maybe 5 minutes if I am doing a gallon or more, if it is cold from the fridge. Then I watch it closely. Once the thermometer reaches about 140 or so, it can climb quite quickly. If you keep the milk moving as it approaches 161F, you won't get a skin on it.

I have a sink ready with very warm water in it and quickly set the bowl in it, foil removed, trying to keep the milk moving as much as possible to avoid the skin. Then I fill the other sink with cool water and transfer it. Then I fill the first sink with cold water and transfer it again, stirring the entire time, monitoring the temperature. At this point, the bowl goes back and forth between the two sinks, changing the water often, until the temp goes down. Then into the fridge it goes, bottled.

If you are making cheese that day, just get it down to the temp you are looking for, then transfer it to your sterilized cheese pot (ss stock pot.)

Problem is, if you pasteurize it, you will need to add calcium chloride to it. But it might be ok since you are not using the ultra high temps used commercially nowadays. I think. I've never made cheese with pasteurized milk other than to add 25% purchased cow's milk, and I got that from a dairy that uses the 145F method. It worked out great. No calcium chloride added.

If you are worried about it, you might make yogurt from this batch, which comes out thicker when the milk is pasteurized. You only got a gallon, right? Homemade yogurt lasts a LOOOOONG time in the fridge!

As far as having a goat....I think I may have mentioned this before, maybe not to you though....network, network, network. If you contacted me and we met and I liked you (I would!), I would be thrilled to work out a trade with you for milk, or a goat share. This is not something I would advertise in fear of crazies and milk nazis, but if you came along through the grapevine, I'd be ecstatic. I'd teach you to milk and would be very grateful to have someone to fill in when I'm working or away. With four does in milk (soon!) you'd get a lot of milk to take home in one milking.

Check out the 4H again. I know a local one that tosses milk, milking only to get the udders for show sometimes. They use a machine, too. If I'd known then what I know now, I'd have offered a similar arrangement and might not have so many goats right now!

But that would be very, very sad! No Ginger, no Peach, no Plum, no Mya.....no harrowing tales of stuck kids and tangled triplets!!!

 

[Dace]

Thanks for the great instructions Free!

One question.....why alternate with warm and cool water baths for the milk? Can't you just use a cool water bath, maybe even with some ice added to cool the milk down more quickly?

We are going back to the cheese store today to watch a winemaking demo, I will ask about the adding calcium chloride.

I am pretty sure that if I keep my eyes open and keep talking to people I will eventually find the right situation. I doubt that I will own a goat anytime soon,but if I can just find a nice clean little family farm I would be oh so happy!

 

[savingdogs]

I would LOVE to have someone buy a little of this goat milk from me every week. But Free is right, I would never advertise to find such a family, it isn't even legal in my state to sell raw milk except as "agricultural" use, so I would only share it for human consumption to someone I already knew pretty well and never a stranger.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Someone I know very well P) sells milk and doesn't mind at all if people come over to inspect. She has a few regular customers and is surprised none of them show much interest in the procedures much less even asked to see the goat.

 

[freemotion]

One question.....why alternate with warm and cool water baths for the milk? Can't you just use a cool water bath, maybe even with some ice added to cool the milk down more quickly?

I only do that so I don't risk warping my stainless steel mixing bowls by plunging a hot bowl into ice water. It is still only a couple of minutes, max, before it is in the ice cold water. I could always add ice to the sink, but I never seem to have enough ice readily available.

 

[Neko-chan]

The milk needs heating anyway to make the cheese, to kill off any potential bacteria that could alter the taste or ruin the cheese flavor. You want just the culture you're adding to be alive and active.

 

[tamlynn]

ooo, you bought raw goats milk in CA? Living on the wild side! I love the name Crazy Ellie!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Check out the 4H again. I know a local one that tosses milk, milking only to get the udders for show sometimes.

and check with breeders also! they milk for shows also. i know a gal who tossed 50 gallons of milk A DAY. wow! she was too nervous to even sell it for pet use so she just dumped it. what a cryin' shame.